Manchester United and Leicester City strengthened their maintain on top-four locations in the Premier League with wins on Sunday (March 14) however Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes diminished as they misplaced at Arsenal in the north London derby.
An personal objective by Craig Dawson gave United a 1-0 house win over fifth-placed West Ham United after Leicester City had thrashed visiting backside membership Sheffield United 5-0 to briefly go second. Tottenham had the possibility to go fifth however misplaced 2-1 at Arsenal regardless of a shocking Erik Lamela objective.
The Argentine produced an beautiful ‘Rabona’ in the thirty third minute to place Spurs in entrance however was later despatched off after a Martin Odegaard strike and Alexander Lacazette’s penalty had turned the sport round for the Gunners.
“The goal was sensational no doubt. But the most important thing is the result and we lost the game,” Tottenham supervisor Jose Mourinho mentioned after his workforce`s five-game successful run in all competitions got here to a disappointing finish.
In the day’s early kickoff, Brighton & Hove Albion secured a precious 2-1 win at Southampton to maneuver three factors above third-bottom Fulham in the battle to keep away from relegation. With fourth-placed Chelsea drawing and sixth-placed Everton dropping on Saturday, United and Leicester had the possibility to place some daylight between themselves and the groups instantly beneath them in the desk.
West Ham additionally had each incentive at Old Trafford figuring out victory would put them stage on factors with Chelsea and with a recreation in hand. But it was a well-known story of disappointment for his or her boss David Moyes who has now didn’t win in 14 league makes an attempt away to Manchester United as an opposing supervisor.
The Londoners didn’t register a objective try in a subdued first half and barely appeared like recovering the personal objective scored by Dawson in the 53rd minute as United stored a fourth successive clear sheet for the primary time underneath Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United’s win put them again into second place with 57 factors from 29 video games, another than Leicester and crucially 9 forward of West Ham. Manchester City are 14 factors clear on the prime after their 3-0 defeat of Fulham on Saturday.
“We could have been more comfortable towards the end,” Solskjaer mentioned. “We created massive opportunities but the final pass was missing. It was a big weekend for us this.”
Moyes, who spent 10 months as Manchester United supervisor, mentioned his workforce had slipped from their latest requirements. “I’m just disappointed we didn`t take something form the game,” he mentioned. “We did better in the last 20 minutes but there was nothing as good as what we`ve done in recent weeks.”
Iheanacho hat-trick
Leicester capitalised on crestfallen Sheffield United who parted firm with supervisor Chris Wilder on Saturday. Former Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored an outstanding hat-trick for the Foxes with Ayoze Perez additionally on the right track and an personal objective by Ethan Ampadu finishing the rout.
“Unacceptable performance. No excuses. Embarrassing performance from every single one of us. Very poor,” Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp mentioned.
“The gulf between them and us was men against boys. I`m not saying nobody tried, it was just the quality. We didn’t have a shot on goal, which is embarrassing. If we’re not careful, there will be a few more results like that.”
While Sheffield United are doomed and second-bottom West Bromwich Albion in severe peril, the battle above them is intense and Brighton did themselves an enormous favour by beating Southampton in the Premier League for the primary time.
Goals by Lewis Dunk and Leandro Trossard clinched the factors to maneuver Brighton to sixteenth with 29 factors from 28 video games. Newcastle United are actually in seventeenth spot, two factors forward of Fulham, whereas Southampton`s dreadful type has seen them slip dangerously near the canine struggle.
They nonetheless have a seven-point cushion to Fulham however have misplaced 10 of their final 12 league video games.
