IMAGE: Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scores their second goal. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Savinho and Erling Haaland scored to give Manchester City a much-needed 2-0 victory over Leicester City at King Power Stadium on Sunday, the champions’ first win in five Premier League games.
City’s second win in 14 games across all competitions meant they climbed two spots to fifth place in the standings with 31 points, 11 behind leaders Liverpool who have two games in hand. Leicester remain in the danger zone in 18th place.
Savinho netted his first goal for City in the 21st minute when he pounced on a rebound from Phil Foden’s long shot after Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed the ball into his path. The Brazilian fired into the roof of the net from a tight angle.
IMAGE: Manchester City’s Erling Haaland celebrates with Kyle Walker. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Haaland, who has just two goals in eight league games, doubled City’s lead in the 74th minute when he headed home a looping cross from Savinho.
Nottingham Forest rise to second after 2-0 win at Everton
IMAGE: Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White scores their second goal past Everton’s Jordan Pickford. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
Goals from Chris Wood and Morgan Gibbs-White gave Nottingham Forest a 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday to move up to the heady heights of second in the Premier League after another superb performance away from home.
The win gives Forest, who battled relegation for much of last season, 37 points after 19 games. They are five behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand and face West Ham United later on Sunday.
Forest are one ahead of third-placed Arsenal, who are not in action again until New Year’s Day, and two ahead of Chelsea, who can overtake them if they beat Ipswich Town on Monday.
Everton got off to a bright start as Iliman Ndiaye created the game’s first chance, slicing through the heart of the Forest defence before firing a shot high over the bar in the sixth minute.
That positive opening came to an abrupt end when the visitors took the lead in the 15th minute as Chris Wood nodded a long ball to Anthony Elanga on the counter-attack.
The Swedish winger headed it back into his path, teeing New Zealander Wood up to deftly lift it over the advancing Jordan Pickford and into the net.
Gibbs-White made it two on the hour mark as Wood rescued a broken-down counter-attack by sliding the ball through to him in the penalty area to cut back inside and fire home.
Everton did their best to knock the visitors out of their stride, picking up four yellow cards during some tough tackles, and defender James Tarkowski sailed close to the wind with a couple of challenges that could have earned him a second booking.
With Forest sitting back and protecting their lead, the Toffees enjoyed plenty of possession and registered 13 shots on goal, but only two of them were on target as their four-match unbeaten run came to an end.
The combination of Wood’s physicality and the speed of the rest of the Forest forward line may have been too much for Everton, but goal-scorer Wood was not getting carried away with his side’s high spot in the league table.
Spurs held 2-2 by Wolves in exciting clash
IMAGE: Tottenham Hotspur’s Sergio Reguilon in action with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Nelson Semedo. Photograph: Paul Childs/Reuters
Struggling Tottenham Hotspur had to settle for a 2-2 home draw against a revived Wolverhampton Wanderers side after a late strike by Norwegian substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen in an entertaining Premier League clash on Sunday.
Having suffered four defeats in their previous five league games, injury-hit Spurs were aiming for a convincing performance to take the pressure off manager Ange Postecoglou but it was the visitors under new boss Vitor Pereira who came away the happier.
Wolves had taken the lead after seven minutes through Hwang Hee-Chan who fired a low shot that went in off the post after a short free kick, but Spurs equalised five minutes later when Rodrigo Bentancur’s header beat keeper Jose Sa from a corner.
Tottenham spurned the chance to go in front when Son Heung-Min’s spot kick was saved but they did go in ahead at the break after Brennan Johnson struck from close range. The second half was an end-to-end affair with Strand Larsen scoring in the 87th.
The result left Wolves 17th on 16 points and they stand two points above the relegation zone. Spurs are languishing in 11th with 24 points from 19 games – the first time they will finish the year lower than seventh since the 2008-09 season.
Wolves started brightly and stunned the home supporters when a short free kick was played to South Korean Hwang on the edge of the box and he fired a low shot into the far corner that beat the diving Fraser Forster and went in off the post.
Spurs levelled soon after when Bentancur rose above the defence to send a powerful header past Sa from a Pedro Porro corner on the right much to the relief of Postecoglou.
Tottenham had the chance to take the lead just before halftime when they were awarded a penalty after Andre bundled Johnson over in the area but captain Son’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Portuguese Sa down to his right.
Spurs did go in front in added time at the end of the first half though when Johnson struck from close range after clever footwork inside the area by Dejan Kulusevski who cut the ball back from the right for the Welshman to finish smartly.
Wolves took off the injured Matheus Cunha, who was their most creative player in the opening period, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde at the break, and brought on Strand Larsen and Goncalo Guedes as they looked dangerous chasing an equaliser.
Spurs soon made a change themselves as Destiny Udogie hobbled off and was replaced by Sergio Reguilon at left back, bringing more defensive woes for a side hit by injuries, with their first-choice centre backs both missing.
Another Tottenham substitute Timo Werner was soon in the thick of the action and burst down the left before sending over a low cross that Dominic Solanke just failed to connect with.
Spurs continued to press and Kulusevski was played through by Solanke 10 minutes from time, but although his tame effort got past Sa it was cleared by Santiago Bueno.
Wolves also looked dangerous though and snatched a point when Rayan Ait-Nouri played the ball down the left and Strand Larsen turned inside the box before firing a rising shot into the net past the stranded Forster to delight the away fans.
The Midlands side have now taken seven points from their last three games to boost their chances of avoiding the drop.
Crystal Palace beat Southampton 2-1 to secure second home win
IMAGE: Crystal Palace’s Trevoh Chalobah scores their first goal past Southampton’s Aaron Ramsdale. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters
Crystal Palace edged past last-placed Southampton 2-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday, securing their second home win in the Premier League this season thanks to goals from Eberechi Eze and Trevor Chalobah.
The victory lifted Palace one place in the standings to 15th, while Southampton remain winless under new manager Ivan Juric, suffering a second consecutive defeat following their 1-0 Boxing Day loss to West Ham United.
Southampton had the more energetic start and took the lead in the 14th minute after Kyle Walker-Peters skipped past Daniel Munoz and his cross found Adam Armstrong, who set up Tyler Dibling for a simple tap-in.
Palace pressed hard for an equaliser and made it 1-1 in the 31st minute when Chalobah headed in from a corner. Southampton appealed for a foul, claiming Jean-Philippe Mateta had impeded goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, but VAR upheld the goal.
Palace finally took the lead in the 52nd minute when Munoz’s cross was cleared by Southampton’s defence, and the ball fell to Eze just outside the 18-yard box where the Englishman unleashed a powerful shot into the bottom corner, leaving Ramsdale with no chance.
Palace grew in confidence as the game progressed and towards the end of the second half, Eze nearly grabbed a second goal from a free-kick which cleared the Saints’ wall but was saved by Ramsdale.
At the other end, Palace’s defence dealt with Southampton’s set-pieces, leaving goalkeeper Dean Henderson with little to do, while Ramsdale saved another after Ismaila Sarr’s cross deflected dangerously off Walker-Peters towards goal.
