Everton’s poor run in the Premier League continued on Sunday evening as they lost 1-0 at home to Wolves.
Conor Coady was the unlikely hero as Wolves kept their European hopes alive at Goodison Park, moving within two points of the Premier League top-six.
Frank Lampard’s men came into the match on the back of a humiliating 5-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur, and were unlucky not to have taken early lead when Richarlison raced through clean on goal, only to be thwarted by Wolves keeper José Sá at his near post.
The visitors started the second half on the front foot, and they deservedly took the lead in the 49th minute when Coady powered a bullet header past Jordan Pickford from a terrific Ruben Neves delivery.
Wolves nearly doubled their lead five minutes later when Jiménez connected with a João Moutinho free-kick, but the Mexican’s effort drifted narrowly wide of the right-hand post.
The Toffees’ hopes of having a late comeback were dashed when Jonjoe Kenny was dismissed for a second bookable offense after a clumsy challenge on Jiménez with 12 minutes to go.
In the end, the visitors held on for the win that keeps them within touching distance of the top-six.
Everton, on the other hand, remain in the bottom half of the table and are staring relegation in the eye.
In another match that changed the outlook of the relegation battle, Watford picked a hard-earned 2-1 win over Southampton to boost their slim hopes of serving the cut.
Cucho Hernández’s scored a first-half double that earned his side maximum points which also saw the ‘Hornets’ end their seven-match winless run against the Saints.
Mohamed Elyounoussi scored the consolation for the hosts, who were far from their best as they lost a third consecutive Premier League match.
Watford moved level on points with Everton, but the Toffees have three matches at hand.
At Elland Road, Joe Gelhardt scored a stoppage-time winner as Leeds United beat Norwich 2-1 in yet another relegation battle.
The win was Jesse Marsch’s first in charge of the Whites, bringing an end to their six-match winless run.
Rodrigo gave the hosts a 10-minute lead, but the Canaries scored in the 91st minute to pull his side level.
Norwich thought they had taken a hard-earned point, only for Gelhardt to score the winner that boosted their hopes of survival.
Here are the days’ results;
- Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle
- Everton 0-1 Wolves
- Leeds 2-1 Norwich
- Southampton 1-2 Watford
- West Ham 2-1 Aston Villa
