IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Southampton salvaged a point in a surprising 0-0 Premier League draw with Manchester City on Saturday that meant they avoided being the joint-worst team in Premier League history.
Rock bottom and relegated Southampton had looked likely to equal Derby County's season-low tally of 11 points in 2007-08, but the draw moved them to 12 as their fans at a sun-drenched St Mary's Stadium sung loudly in celebration.
"We've had a tough, tough season, we've had tough Monday mornings after heavy defeats," Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale told Sky Sports. "We spoke about trying to be respectful and giving our all for the football club.
"Today we put smiles on the Southampton fans' faces. It's just a relief to be honest, it was a great day for us in a really tough season."
Pep Guardiola's City remained third in the table on 65 points with two games remaining in their bid for Champions League qualification, although Newcastle United and Chelsea are only two points behind and Nottingham Forest trail by four with all three teams having a game in hand.
City's prolific striker Erling Haaland played for the first time in six weeks and the visitors dominated with 26 shots to the home side's two, but Southampton defended in numbers, particularly in the dying minutes, to deny them.
Omar Marmoush hammered a thunderous shot off the crossbar in added time, City's best chance of the match.
Although Southampton have won only two games this season, they avoided the ignominy of sharing the unwanted record with Derby and the final whistle prompted raucous celebrations from their long-suffering supporters.
Southampton posted a message to Derby on social media platform X: "Sorry if we got your hopes up @dcfcofficial" with a sheepish emoji.
"We wanted to be as strong as possible towards the end of season. We did that with abundance. We can be proud of it," Southampton's interim manager Simon Rusk told the BBC.
"I didn't know much about (Derby's record)," he added. "I understood the importance of it but it wasn't something I was focusing on. I was focusing on performances, improving and the environment."
City arrived at the south coast on a nine-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, including four successive league wins, after finally finding form and consistency in a very disappointing campaign.
Ruben Diaz forced a terrific late save from Ramsdale, who leapt to push his glancing header over the bar, and the City defender was critical of Southampton's game plan.
"It's frustrating to play against a team like them. They don't even try to play, just wasting time the whole game," Diaz said.
Guardiola, who failed to beat the bottom team in the league for the first time as City manager, described the game as difficult.
"We had chances but unfortunately couldn't score," he told Sky. "(Southampton were) playing to defend and defend and defend and waste time. We take that point still, (Champions League) in our hands."
Southampton could even won the game at the death when Cameron Archer burst into the box, but his shot from a tight angle went wide.
Brentford boost European hopes with win at Ipswich
Brentford boosted their hopes of playing European football next season as they beat already-relegated Ipswich Town 1-0 thanks to a first-half header by Kevin Schade at Portman Road in the Premier League on Saturday.
With four successive wins, Brentford are eighth in the standings with 55 points from 36 matches. Ipswich sit 18th on 22 points with just four wins.
"(Europe) is extremely exciting. There is a lot riding on the next few games. Let's see what happens, depending on other things and it is one game at a time and the next one is Fulham," Brentford manager Thomas Frank told Sky Sports.
Ipswich had made a bright start to the game and came close to an opener after just three minutes but striker Liam Delap's header was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Mark Flekken.
But it was Brentford who took the lead when Schade met a corner from fellow forward Bryan Mbeumo in the 18th minute, steering the ball into the far corner after some confusion in the box.
German Schade has now scored four goals in his last three Premier League games, while Cameroon international Mbeumo became just the third player to be directly involved in more than 25 goals in the Premier League this season after Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah and Newcastle United's Alexander Isak.
Yoane Wissa nearly put Brentford 2-0 up minutes after the interval but the forward's effort was saved by goalkeeper Alex Palmer, who made another fine save to keep out Mbeumo's right-foot volley in the 73rd minute.
Brentford, who kept up the pressure and constantly looked dangerous, were denied a penalty in the 69th minute after Axel Tuanzebe pulled fellow defender Nathan Collins to the ground.
However, it was a far from comfortable afternoon for Brentford as Ipswich pushed for an equaliser late on with Flekken having to come to their rescue in added time when he made a brilliant point-blank save to deny centre back Cameron Burgess.
"We haven't given up and that is going to be really important to the next stage of the journey. We pushed really hard for the goal at the end and we didn't get it...," Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna told BBC Match of the Day.
Brentford, who have never qualified for Europe, next host 11th-placed Fulham on May 18 before taking a trip to 14th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers for their final game of the season on May 25.
Welbeck, Gruda help Brighton to win at Wolves
Brighton & Hove Albion claimed a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday thanks to goals from Danny Welbeck and substitute Brajan Gruda, keeping them within touching distance of qualifying for European football.
Brighton moved up one place to ninth on 55 points, level with eighth-placed Brentford.
Should Manchester City defeat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final this month, an eighth-place finish in the Premier League would secure qualification for the Conference League.
"I think we were up against a good side and they're in good form. We knew we were going to be up against a tough opponent. We had a gameplan and we played it out well," Welbeck told Premier League Productions.
Wolves began well at Molineux but forward Goncalo Guedes, making his first league start since February, was unable to make the most of the two half-chances in the opening 10 minutes.
The visitors thought they had taken the lead in the 23rd minute through a Welbeck volley, but the strike was disallowed after winger Yankuba Minteh was adjudged to have interfered with play while being in an offside position.
Moments later, Brighton were awarded a penalty for a foul by Matheus Cunha on Mats Wieffer, and Welbeck stepped up to put the ball in the net and take his tally of league goals this season up to 10.
"(10 goals) is a good milestone to have and I feel like it could have been more. I'm looking forward to improving. We have two more games left and hopefully I'll get some more," Welbeck added.
Wolves piled on the pressure in a desperate search for the equaliser, with Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen saving Cunha's long-range shot before palming a dangerous cross away from Jorgen Strand Larsen.
The game swung from end to end in the last 30 minutes and Brighton's forwards made frequent forays into Wolves' final third, but were often let down by their decision-making.
One of Brighton's attacks finally worked out in the 85th minute, however, as German Gruda scored his first goal for the south-coast club, delicately dinking the ball over onrushing keeper Jose Sa after being played in by Simon Adingra.
For Wolves, 14th in the table, the loss was another step backwards after last week's 1-0 defeat by Manchester City ended a run of six successive league victories.
Vitor Pereira's side dropped to 14th in the table.
Everton dent Fulham’s European hopes with 3-1 away win
Fulham's hopes of European football next season are fading fast after they slipped to a fourth Premier League defeat in five games with a 3-1 loss to Everton at Craven Cottage on Saturday as the visitors came from behind to win.
Fulham stay in 11th in the table with 51 points from their 36 games, four points behind eighth-placed Brentford, while Everton climb one spot to 13th with 42.
Raul Jimenez gave Fulham a deserved lead in the first half with a powerful header before Vitaliy Mykolenko’s deflected shot from the edge of the box levelled the score on the stroke of halftime.
Two goals in three minutes from Michael Keane and Beto, who profited from an error by goalkeeper Bernd Leno, turned the game in Everton's favour and dealt their host's European dreams a heavy blow.
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