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EPL: Son fires Spurs to victory; Mahrez earns Leicester a draw

Last updated on: March 03, 2018 23:15 IST

EPL

IMAGE: Heung-Min Son of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates as he scores their second goal with Harry Kane. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 17 games after Son Heung-min's double gave them a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the Premier League at Wembley on Saturday.

 

Spurs, whose Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino became the first non-European coach to win 100 Premier League games, moved up to third on 58 points from 29 games, a point ahead of Liverpool who were playing Newcastle United later on Saturday.

South Korea's in-form forward Son stood out in a one-sided contest and bagged a fine brace after he also netted twice in Wednesday's 6-1 FA Cup fifth round replay win over League One (third division) side Rochdale.

He fired Spurs ahead with a neat finish in the 27th minute after rounding goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, who made several fine saves, and added the second with a sublime header in the 54th after a superb assist by league top scorer Harry Kane.

Wood header gives Burnley late win over Everton

EPL

IMAGE: Burnley's Aaron Lennon celebrates at the end of the match. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Burnley's 11-match winless run in the Premier League ended when a late Chris Wood goal secured a 2-1 win over Everton, who finished with 10 men in an entertaining game at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Substitute Wood headed in Johann Berg Gudmundsson's corner for the winner while Everton skipper Ashley Williams was sent off four minutes from time for a swipe at Ashley Barnes, who cancelled out Cenk Tosun's first-half opener for the visitors.

Frustrated Everton fans vocally expressed their opposition towards manager Sam Allardyce with chants against the former England boss who took over at the club in early December.

The win moves seventh-placed Burnley to 40 points, widely seen as enough for top-flight safety, with nine games to spare, while struggling Everton are 10th on 34 points.

"It's a marker of how far we have come in a short space of time," said Burnley manager Sean Dyche. "We have deserved better in recent games so we wanted to bring freedom to our performance. We went 1-0 down but it didn't knock us," he added.

Everton, with just one away win this season, had gone ahead in the 20th minute with Turkish striker Tosun's first goal for the club since he joined from Besiktas in January, a fine header after Seamus Coleman had flicked on a Theo Walcott cross.

In the last 53 games in which Burnley fell behind they had failed to win but there was a determination and positive intent to Dyche’s side on Saturday, despite a recent lack of victories.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford will have impressed watching England manager Gareth Southgate with a series of fine saves, including a brilliant effort to keep out a first half Barnes header.

Dyche introduced New Zealand international Wood, returning from a two-month injury lay off, at halftime to go with two out-and-out strikers and the more direct approach paid off.

Matthew Lowton's defence-splitting pass found Barnes who outpaced former Burnley defender Michael Keane and beat Pickford at the near post with a confident finish in the 56th.

Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson went close after 78 minutes, creating some space inside the Burnley box before firing just wide of Nick Pope's left-hand post.

But two minutes later Burnley had the lead.

Pickford was unable to get off his line to reach Gudmundsson's corner and Wood rose at the back post to power in a header from close range.

"For me to see the players under-perform in the second half is very disappointing. It's my problem to sort it out," said Allardyce.

Swansea continue revival with 4-1 crushing of West Ham

Swansea City's revival continued with a 4-1 thrashing of West Ham United in their relegation clash earning Carlos Carvalhal's side their fourth win in six Premier League games.

"There are games where you must listen to the music of the opponent. We made West Ham dance to our music and it was rock and roll," said Carvalhal.

A low shot into the corner from South Korean Ki Sung-yueng put the Swans ahead in the eighth minute and it was to get worse for David Moyes's West Ham.

Ki was influential in the second goal, with his cross reaching Dutch defender Mike van der Hoorn who scored with a stooping header.

Between the goals, West Ham lost defender Winston Reid, who was put in a neck brace and taken off on a stretcher after suffering what appeared to be a head injury in a goalmouth scramble.

Three minutes into the second half, Andy King added the third for Swansea after the Hammers failed to clear a corner and then a Jordan Ayew penalty made it 4-0 to make sure of a seventh straight home win in all competitions.

Michail Antonio scored a consolation for the visitors in the 78th minute. With the win, Swansea move above West Ham, on goal difference, into 13th place.

Mahrez earns Leicester a draw in added time

A free kick in the seventh minute of added time by Riyad Mahrez earned Leicester a dramatic draw against Bournemouth in the Premier League.

Bournemouth had got a deserved lead in the 35th minute when striker Josh King was fouled by Marc Albrighton and got up to slot home the penalty.

Leicester threw everything at them towards the end of the match and finally equalised when Mahrez took a free kick almost 30 metres out.

The point kept Leicester in eighth place with Bournemouth staying 11th.

Source: REUTERS
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