A 74th minute strike from Spain wing-back Marcos Alonso earned Chelsea three points in a 1-0 win over a dogged Newcastle United in the 2019/2020 English Premier League (EPL) on Saturday.
Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dubravka had kept Newcastle United in the game with a string of saves and got a hand to Alonso’s angled left-foot drive but could not keep it out.
Frank Lampard’s young side enjoyed 71 percent possession and earned 11 corner kicks.
But until Alonso’s goal could not make their superiority tell against a resurgent Newcastle, who defended in numbers and looked dangerous on the counter.
Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic, Tammy Abraham and Willian all tested Dubravka from close range.
At the other end, Miguel Almiron and Allan Saint-Maximin troubled Chelsea with pacy moves in the first half.
But Newcastle United, who beat Manchester United in their last game to move out of the relegation zone, lacked finishing quality.
The result lifted Chelsea into fourth place in the table and left Newcastle United hovering above the relegation places.
Aston Villa secured a dramatic 2-1 home win over 10-man Brighton & Hove Albion in a gripping Premier League clash on Saturday.
This was after left back Matt Targett struck deep into stoppage time to break down the stubborn visitors.
The result lifted Villa to 11th place on 11 points from nine games while Brighton, who enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and took the lead through Adam Webster in a pulsating first half, dropped to 16th on nine points.
It also stretched Villa’s unbeaten home run against the Seagulls in all competitions to 12 games after they secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time since May 2015.
Villa manager Dean Smith was pleased with the result but not his team’s performance.
“It’s nice to get late goals because it wasn’t a top performance,” he said.
“It’s great for us to get back-to-back wins for the first time in a long time. We played a good team today who played through us too easily.”
Brighton dominated the opening 30 minutes and Webster fired them ahead when he headed home a Pascal Gross free kick at the far post past helpless Villa goalkeeper Tom Heaton.
The tide turned after Aaron Mooy was shown a second yellow card in the 35th minute for a second crunching foul in quick succession and it did not take the home side long to capitalise on their numerical advantage.
Midfielder Conor Hourihane had a goal disallowed by VAR in the 42nd minute before Jack Grealish equalised on the stroke of halftime following a Frederic Guilbert cross, stumbling through to turn the ball in from close range.
Brighton had missed chances in the first half as Heaton pulled off several superb saves but it looked like the visitors would hold out for a share of the spoils after their goalkeeper Mat Ryan kept the home side out.
Just when the visitors appeared to have weathered Villa’s second-half onslaught, however, Targett rifled in the winner from a tight angle after a fine pass from Grealish gave him time and space to beat Ryan.
Brighton manager Graham Potter praised his side for a brave performance.
“Our players have real courage and personality,” he said.
“I’m so proud of them. Football can be cruel but our fans can see what we’re trying to do.
“We were positive but that makes it sorer to concede with the last kick.”
Bournemouth and Norwich City both kept their first clean sheets of the season as their Premier League clash at the Vitality Stadium finished 0-0 on Saturday after a game of precious few goal-scoring chances.
Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half but his effort in the 22nd minute was saved by Norwich keeper Tim Krul, who returned to the side following a recent back problem.
Norwich suffered another injury blow when centre back Ben Godfrey, who recently had an operation for a hernia problem, had to be replaced early in the second half by Tom Trybull.
With Bournemouth wasteful in the final third, Norwich grew into the game in the second half and Aaron Ramsdale had to make a superb save for the home side to deny Norwich’s in-form Finnish striker Teemo Pukki.
That was to be Norwich’s only effort on target of what was an end-to-end game, and though both sides had chances from late corners, neither could get the ball over the line.
“My feeling was we had the momentum in the second half, we were pretty close to winning this game … I just have to give compliments to my lads,” Norwich coach David Farke said.
Bournemouth coach Eddie Howe was left to rue what he saw as two points dropped.
“For the first 20 minutes I thought we were excellent, played some really good football and we looked like we could open them up,” he said.
“We didn’t have our mojo in the final third today, that was missing, and that’s what’s cost us the win.”
The draw gave Norwich their first away point of the season but left them second bottom of the table on seven points from their opening nine games.
Bournemouth are eighth on 12 points.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Raul Jimenez scored from the penalty spot to cancel out a second-half goal by Southampton’s Danny Ings in an entertaining 1-1 Premier League draw at Molineux Stadium on Saturday.
In-form striker Ings, who came into the clash having scored four goals in three matches in all competitions, punished Wolves for their poor defending by finding the bottom left corner with a right-footed shot in the 53rd minute.
Southampton’s advantage lasted only eight minutes as Wolves defender Matt Doherty was brought down in the penalty area with the Video Assistant Referee confirming the foul, and Jimenez ended his goal drought with a crisp finish.
Jimenez earlier thought he had scored his first league goal in more than a month when he slotted past goalkeeper Angus Gunn in the 29th minute, but the referee disallowed the strike as the ball had grazed the Mexico international’s arm.
The 28-year-old was unlucky again shortly before the break after finishing off a slick passing move as VAR deemed his team mate Patrick Cutrone to be offside in the build-up to the goal much to the annoyance of the home supporters.
The draw helped Southampton snap a run of three straight defeats while Wolves were denied a third consecutive win. Wolves visit Newcastle United next Sunday while Southampton host Leicester City.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said his team had struggled after defender Ryan Bennett picked up an injury and was replaced in the 18th minute by Jesus Vallejo.
“I hope it’s nothing serious, we’ll have to see. That injury disrupted our tempo a little bit. We started to rush the game a little. I think we dominated but not in the way that we should have,” Santo said.
“It was a very tough game. It was disputed and there was a lot of fight in the midfield. They were well organised. The game was hard, we made mistakes.
“We know there are things we could have done better. I’m disappointed because we must be solid and today we were not.”
Southampton’s Ings was pleased with his form but said he could do much better to help 17th-placed Southampton climb away from the relegation zone.
“I think I can score more. I had another chance that I should have done better with but I need to keep getting goals and help the team as much as I can to get points,” Ings said.
“In the second half we came out really strong. They got the equaliser and I thought we did really well to hold on to a point… it’s a positive point”.
