Liverpool win derby, Tottenham close gap on Chelsea: Premier League results and round-up

Christian Benteke, second right, celebrates with Mamadou Sakho after scoring Crystal Palace's winning goal in the 2-1 win over Chelsea. Tony O'Brien / Reuters

A round-up of reports and results from this weekend’s Premier League action. All kick-off times UAE.

SUNDAY

Swansea City 0 Middlesbrough 0

• Swansea City missed the opportunity to pull away from the relegation zone when they were held 0-0 at home by Middlesbrough in a tetchy encounter.

Swansea had conceded 63 goals before the visit of their fellow strugglers, but even the home side’s defensive failings could not prompt an improvement from goal-shy Middlesbrough, who have now drawn 0-0 on six occasions this term, a league high.

Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson looked the player most likely to make something happen, but a thumping effort from outside the area was saved spectacularly by Victor Valdes on 64 minutes, while a free kick by the Iceland international flew just wide four minutes from time.

The draw pulls 18th-placed Swansea up to 28 points, one clear of the relegation zone ahead of the visit of Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, while Middlesbrough, in 19th, move up to 23 points, five off safety.

Boro, who have not won in 12 league games, visit Hull in midweek.

* Reuters

Still to come:

Arsenal v Manchester City (7pm)

SATURDAY

Liverpool 3 Everton 1

Liverpool: Mané (8'), Coutinho (31'), Origi (60')

Everton: Pennington (28')

• Philippe Coutinho inspired Liverpool to a comfortable 3-1 home win over Everton in the 228th Merseyside derby to move provisionally up to third in the Premier League.

Sadio Mane exploited poor Everton defending in the eighth minute to net his 13th goal of the season, playing a one-two with Roberto Firmino and holding off two opponents before firing low past Joel Robles.

Everton’s Matthew Pennington marked his first appearance of the season with an equaliser in the 28th minute, prodding home after Dejan Lovren’s clearance, but was caught out less than three minutes later when Coutinho tore past Idrissa Gueye, cut in past the defender and slammed the ball into the far corner.

Divock Origi added a third shortly after replacing the injured Mane with a thumping strike from outside the area after being played in by the outstanding Coutinho to take Liverpool up to 59 points. Everton, who have not won at Anfield since 1999 or in any Merseyside derby in the past 15 games, remain in seventh on 50.

* Reuters

Burnley 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Tottenham: Dier (66'), Son Heung-min (77')

• Tottenham Hotspur breathed fresh life into the Premier League title race as Eric Dier and Son Heung-Min inspired a 2-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor.

With Chelsea surprisingly losing 2-1 at home to Crystal Palace, Mauricio Pochettino’s second placed side closed the gap to seven points on the leaders to set up an enthralling last six weeks of the season.

England international Dier opened the scoring midway through the second half and South Korea forward Son sealed the points soon after.

* Agence France-Presse

Chelsea 1 Crystal Palace 2

Chelsea: Fabregas (5')

Palace: Zaha (9'), C Benteke (11')

• Chelsea’s march towards the title was stalled as goals from Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke earned Crystal Palace a shock 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge.

Defeat ended Chelsea’s run of 13 successive home wins and enabled second-place Tottenham Hotspur to cut their lead to seven points with nine games remaining.

Antonio Conte’s side had taken the lead through Cesc Fabregas’s fifth-minute effort, but the visitors hit back first through the outstanding Zaha, four minutes later, and then Benteke.

The visitors then held on to claim a fourth successive win that strengthened their bid to avoid relegation.

* Agence France-Presse

Hull City 2 West Ham United 1

Hull: Robertson (53'), Ranocchia (85')

West Ham: Carroll (18')

• Andrea Ranocchia headed home a late winner as Hull City beat West Ham United 2-1 to boost their survival hopes and extend the visitors’ winless streak to six matches.

Ranocchia met a corner from substitute Kamil Grosicki and flicked his header past Darren Randolph in the 85th minute to take 18th-placed Hull up to 27 points, provisionally level with Swansea City in 17th, ahead of the Welsh side’s home game against Middlesbrough on Sunday.

West Ham striker Andy Carroll opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Hull centre back Curtis Davies misjudged Aaron Cresswell’s ambitious cross and the towering forward controlled the ball on his chest and finished calmly past Eldin Jakupovic.

Hull had never lost a Premier League home game against West Ham and Andrew Robertson dragged them level with his 53rd-minute equaliser against the run of play, firing low past Randolph after fine interplay with the impressive Grosicki.

West Ham are on 33 points and will hope to secure their first league victory since early February at Arsenal on Wednesday when Hull host Middlesbrough in a relegation six-pointer.

* Reuters

Leicester City 2 Stoke City 0

Leicester: Ndidi (25'), Vardy (47')

• Leicester midfielder Wilfred Ndidi scored a stunning goal to set his side on the road to a fourth Premier League win in a row as they beat Stoke City 2-0 at the King Power Stadium.

The 20-year-old Nigerian, who arrived from Belgian side Genk in January, fired a stinging long-range shot into the top right corner to put caretaker manager Craig Shakespeare’s side ahead in the 25th minute.

Jamie Vardy needed just two minutes of the second half to double his side’s advantage, rifling the ball home with his right foot from the centre of the penalty area to secure all three points.

Leicester climbed to 13th in the table, four places below Stoke.

* Reuters

Manchester United 0 West Bromwich Albion 0

• Jose Mourinho’s fears that a gruelling schedule could prove problematic for Manchester United were confirmed in a drab 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion.

The first of nine fixtures to come in April ended with United having to settle for a draw at Old Trafford for the eighth time in the Premier League this season.

Without six key players due to injury and suspension, it was a sign that United’s taxing campaign may finally be catching up with them as they attempt to secure a place in next season’s Champions League.

United remain fifth, four points behind fourth placed Manchester City, who face Arsenal on Sunday.

* Agence France-Presse

Watford 1 Sunderland 0

Watford: Britos (59')

• Uruguayan defender Miguel Britos scored his first goal for Watford to secure a deserved 1-0 Premier League victory over Sunderland at Vicarage Road and deepen the visitors’ relegation woes.

The result left bottom side Sunderland with 20 points from 29 matches, seven adrift of safety, while Watford moved up to 10th with 34 points.

The home side were ahead on 59 minutes when Britos headed home at the back post. Stefano Okaka had headed a corner goalwards, but Sunderland’s Fabio Borini deflected it on to the crossbar, only for Craig Cathcart to send the rebound to the back post where Britos rose above Jack Rodwell to score.

Substitute Isaac Success had an opportunity to make it 2-0 for the home side when he raced clear, but visiting goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made a fine save.

* Reuters

Southampton 0 Bournemouth 0

• A late missed penalty from Harry Arter cost Bournemouth victory in the south coast derby as they drew 0-0 at Southampton.

After they had resisted much of the hosts’ pressure, Arter struck well over the crossbar when he could have secured all three points and further eased the fading threat of relegation.

A draw instead leaves Bournemouth 11th in the Premier League and level on 34 points with their 10th-placed rivals, who have two games in hand. They also sit seven points clear of the bottom three.

* Press Association

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