Anthony Gordon grabbed a 27th-minute winner as Everton boosted their hopes of Premier League survival with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Manchester United at Goodison Park.
Gordon’s deflected effort proved enough for Frank Lampard’s men to bounce back from their midweek loss to relegation rivals Burnley and move four points clear of the drop zone.
United interim boss Ralf Rangnick made half a dozen changes including bringing back Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford but his side suffered another blow to their top-four ambitions.
Rashford was thwarted twice by Jordan Pickford before Everton seized their chance, with Gordon’s effort deflecting off Harry Maguire and wrong-footing David De Gea as it sailed into the net.
Everton were forced to cling on in the dying stages, with Paul Pogba forcing a fine save out of Pickford then the goalkeeper also being called upon to deny Ronaldo on the half-volley in stoppage time.
Arsenal also suffered another blow in their bid to reach the Champions League slots as Leandro Trossard and Enock Mwepu gave Brighton their first win in eight games with a 2-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta’s men failed to improve on last week’s 3-0 loss at Crystal Palace with Mwepu cutting the ball back for Trossard to sweep home the 28th-minute opener.
Gabriel Martinelli had an effort ruled out by VAR just before the break and Mwepu increased the visitors’ lead with a superb finish in the 66th minute before Martin Odegaard’s 89th-minute consolation.
Chelsea strengthened their grip on third place by cruising to a 6-0 win at woeful Southampton, who could count themselves lucky that the visitors eased off the gas with one eye on their midweek Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Goals from Marcos Alonso, Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz saw Thomas Tuchel’s men ease back from last week’s embarrassing 4-1 loss to Brentford, and it should have been more with Werner twice also hitting the frame of the goal.
Werner netted his second shortly after the interval and when Mount made it six after 51 minutes another 9-0 loss for Saints looked on the cards, but Tuchel opted to rest the likes of Havertz and Mount as his side eased home.
Leeds took a giant stride towards top-flight survival and surely consigned Watford to the drop as they charged to a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road.
Raphinha put the visitors in front with a shot off a post in an otherwise forgettable first half, before Rodrigo’s 73rd-minute effort all but ensured Jesse Marsch’s men would extend their unbeaten run to four games.
Jack Harrison rocketed home Leeds’ third five minutes from time to send the jubilant visitors nine points clear of the bottom three.
