Toffees taste sweet success and raise survival hopes
ANTHONY Gordon grabbed a 27thminute winner as Everton boosted their hopes of Premier League survival with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Manchester United at Goodison Park.
Gordon’s deflected effort proved enough for Frank Lampard’s men to bounce back from a midweek loss to relegation rivals Burnley and move four points clear of the drop zone.
United interim boss Ralf Rangnick made half a dozen changes including bringing back Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford.
Rashford was thwarted twice by Jordan Pickford before Everton seized their chance, with Gordon’s effort deflecting off Harry Maguire and wrong-footing David De Gea as it sailed into the net.
Everton clung on in the dying stages, with Paul Pogba forcing a fine save out of Pickford then the goalkeeper also being called upon to deny Ronaldo on the half-volley in stoppage time.
Son Heung-min scored a hat-trick as Tottenham seized the advantage in the race for fourth place with a 4-0 win at Aston Villa in the late kick-off.
Son gave his side a fortunate third-minute lead but Villa dominated the opening period.
It was a different story after the break as Dejan Kulusevski rifled home to double his side’s lead then Son fired two more to send his side clear in the Champions League race.
Arsenal suffered another blow as Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu gave Brighton their first win in eight games with a 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta’s men failed to improve on last week’s 3-0 loss at Crystal Palace with Mwepu cutting the ball back for Trossard to sweep home the 28th-minute opener.
Gabriel Martinelli had an effort ruled out by VAR just before the break and Mwepu increased the visitors’ lead with a superb finish in the 66th minute before Martin Odegaard’s 89th-minute consolation.
Chelsea strengthened their grip on third place by cruising to a 6-0 win at Southampton. Goals from Marcos Alonso, Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz saw Thomas Tuchel’s men ease back from last week’s 4-1 loss to Brentford.
Werner netted his second shortly after the interval and Mount made it six after 51 minutes.
Leeds took a giant stride towards top-flight survival and surely consigned Watford to the drop as they charged to a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road.
Raphinha put the visitors in front with a shot off a post in an otherwise forgettable first half, before Rodrigo’s 73rd-minute effort all but ensured Jesse Marsch’s men would extend their unbeaten run to four games. Jack Harrison rocketed home Leeds’ third five minutes from time to send the visitors nine points clear of the bottom three.