The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Jimenez goal keeps Wolves in hunt for Champions League
Raul Jimenez underlined Wolves’ Champions League credentials after a gritty win over Bournemouth yesterday.
The striker’s 15th Premier League goal of the season earned a 1-0 win and delivered another blow to the Cherries’ survival hopes.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves sent a warning to Chelsea and kept pace with Manchester United to record their second win of the top flight’s restart.
They remain sixth, level with United after their own win over Sheffield United, but closed the gap on fourth placed Chelsea to two points.
If Manchester City’s two-year ban for breaking Uefa’s financial fair play rules – currently under appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport – is confirmed the team who finishes fifth this season will qualify for the Champions League.
Bournemouth can only dream of such heights with their five-year stay in the top flight looking increasingly precarious.
The Cherries are in the relegation zone on goal difference but face Manchester United, Tottenham, Leicester and Manchester City in four of their next five games.
Former Sunderland winger Ahmed Elmohamady scored from the bench to deny Newcastle victory and boost Aston Villa’s bid for Premier League survival.
The Magpies looked to be heading for a second win in four days when Dwight Gayle, who had replaced Matt Ritchie just seconds earlier, fired them into a 68th-minute lead with his first Newcastle goal in more than two years.
However Elmohamady, who was signed by Steve Bruce during his time in charge of the Black Cats, Hull and Villa, squeezed an 83rd-minute header past Martin Dubravka to force a 1-1 draw which few could deny they deserved on a night when the Magpies struggled to replicate the form they showed in beating Sheffield United impressively at the weekend.
Norwich’s slim survival hopes were dealt a blow as Everton kept their hopes of European football alive thanks to a Michael Keane header.
Daniel Farke’s side went into the game six points adrift of 19th place at the bottom of the table, and needing to force a win to narrow the gap.
Everton were frustrated in the first half as hosts Norwich kept them at bay, but Keane’s nodded goal at the start of the second half gave the Toffees the three points.