round-up of all the results and reports from this weekend’s Premier League action.
SATURDAY
Tottenham Hotspur 4 Bournemouth 0
Tottenham: Dembele (16’), Son (19’), Kane (48’), Janssen (90’+2)
• Tottenham Hotspur claimed a 12th consecutive Premier League home win with a 4-0 rout of Bournemouth to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea.
Two goals in three minutes from Mousa Dembele and Son Heung-min put the hosts in complete control inside 20 minutes and Harry Kane grabbed his 20th league goal of the season shortly after half-time as Spurs cut Chelsea’s lead to four points. Chelsea travel to Manchester United on Sunday.
Dembele struck after 16 minutes, slamming in a shot from six metres after Christian Eriksen’s corner reached him at the far post through a crowd of players.
Son fired through the legs of keeper Artur Boruc after racing into the area from Kane’s flick.
Kane, starting for the first time since injuring his ankle last month, wrapped up Tottenham’s seventh successive league win after 48 minutes, turning Simon Francis all too easily and firing low past Boruc.
It is the third season in a row England forward Kane has reached the 20-goal mark — a feat previously only achieved by Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Thierry Henry.
Substitute Vincent Janssen rounded off the action with a fourth goal in stoppage time, the Dutchman’s first Premier League strike from open play since joining last year.
Bournemouth are seven points above the relegation zone before the later kickoffs and probably need one more victory to guarantee a third season of top-flight football.
* Reuters
Crystal Palace 2 Leicester City 2
Crystal Palace: Cabaye (54’), C Benteke (70’)
Leicester: Huth (6’), Vardy (52’)
• Crystal Palace fought back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 home draw with Leicester City after Yohan Cabaye and Christian Benteke denied the champions in a pulsating clash.
The result leaves Palace above the relegation zone on 35 points from 32 games, two behind Leicester who had taken a 2-0 lead through Robert Huth and in-form striker Jamie Vardy.
German defender Huth headed the visitors into a sixth-minute lead and they seemed to be heading for a sixth league win in seven games under manager Craig Shakespeare when Vardy doubled the advantage with a brilliant goal in the 52nd minute.
The Palace fightback began when Cabaye swept home a shot from 10 metres two minutes later and Benteke completed it with a close-range header in the 70th minute after he rose above his markers to meet an Andros Townsend cross from the left.
* Reuters
Everton 3 Burnley 1
Everton: Jagielka (49’), Mee (71’ og), Lukaku (74’)
Burnley: Vokes (52’ pen)
• Everton midfielder Ross Barkley ended a difficult week off the field by inspiring his team to an eighth straight home win with a 3-1 victory over Burnley at Goodison Park.
Barkley’s shot, deflected off Burnley defender Ben Mee, put Everton 2-1 up in the 71st minute and the league’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku made sure of the win three minutes later with his 24th strike of the season.
England international Barkley had been the victim of an assault in a bar on Sunday and was then at the centre of a controversial column in The Sun newspaper. He was given a standing ovation when he was substituted in the final moments.
A 52nd-minute Sam Vokes penalty had brought Burnley level after Phil Jagielka had scrambled Everton ahead three minutes earlier.
* Reuters
Stoke City 3 Hull City 1
Stoke: Arnautovic (6’), Crouch (66’), Shaqiri (80’)
Hull: Maguire (51’)
• Xherdan Shaqiri scored a stunning goal as Stoke City beat Hull City 3-1 to end a run of four successive defeats and increase the pressure on their relegation-threatened visitors.
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Stoke had fallen four places in the table since late March, but started brightly when Marko Arnautovic beat two defenders and held off a third before blazing a powerful shot in off the underside of the crossbar in the sixth minute.
Hull, vastly improved since the arrival of manager Marco Silva in January, registered a deserved equaliser when Harry Maguire finished via a deflection in the 51st minute.
Peter Crouch’s accurate low header restored Stoke’s lead in the 66th minute before Shaqiri settled the result, cutting in from the right before unleashing an unstoppable, dipping shot into the top corner.
Stoke, in 11th, have 39 points from 33 games. Hull are two points above the relegation zone with 30 points.
* Reuters
Sunderland 2 West Ham United 2
Sunderland: Khazri (26’), Borini (90’)
West Ham: Ayew (5’), Collins (47’)
• Bottom club Sunderland ended their seven-match scoring drought but slipped closer to relegation after a 2-2 home draw with West Ham United.
Wahbi Khazri equalised for Sunderland direct from a corner in the 29th minute as the hosts recovered from falling behind to Andre Ayew’s fifth-minute opener for the visitors.
A seventh defeat in eight league games loomed for Sunderland when James Collins headed past Jordan Pickford immediately after the restart but there was some late joy for the hosts.
Former Liverpool player Fabio Borini had only just taken to the field to replace Billy Jones when he fired in low past West Ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
West Ham, with 37 points, are virtually safe but Sunderland, with only two points from their last eight games, remain nine points short of safety with six games left.
* Reuters
Watford 1 Swansea City 0
Watford: Capoue (42’)
• An error from Swansea City’s Alfie Mawson led to Watford’s winning goal at Vicarage Road with defeat leaving the visitors inside the bottom three.
Etienne Capoue capitalised on Mawson’s sloppiness to score the only goal of a dull encounter, the win taking Watford on to 40 points and all-but securing their top-flight status.
But it was a fifth loss in six games for Swansea, who are swimming against the tide in their bid to avoid the drop.
Paul Clement’s side remained 18th in the table and two points behind Hull, who lost at Stoke, with just five games left to turn their season around.
