Manchester City 2 Fulham 1
Erling Haaland came off the bench to score an injury-time penalty as 10-man Manchester City snatched a hard-fought 2-1 win against battling Fulham at the Etihad Stadium.
The visitors had looked like frustrating the champions after an Andreas Pereira penalty had cancelled out an early Julian Alvarez strike.
City had to play more than an hour with a numerical disadvantage after Joao Cancelo was sent off for the foul on Harry Wilson which led to Pereira’s equaliser.
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Typically Haaland, fit again after illness and a foot injury but not ready to start, had the final say.
It was his 23rd goal in his 17th appearance for City since joining the club in the summer.
Wolves 2 Brighton 3
Pascal Gross’s late winner broke Wolves’ hearts but the hosts still proved to new boss Julen Lopetegui they are up for the Premier League survival fight.
The midfielder’s late strike snatched a 3-2 win for Brighton just as it looked like Wolves would hold on to a point after Nelson Semedo’s first-half red card.
Goncalo Guedes’s first Wolves goal and Ruben Neves’s penalty had given the hosts a 2-1 lead after Adam Lallana’s opener.
Kaoru Mitoma levelled before Semedo was dismissed and Gross won it to maintain Brighton’s European charge and end the hosts’ stubborn resistance.
Lopetegui’s appointment earlier on Saturday stopped the limbo which was close to enveloping Molineux and threatening to do irretrievable damage to their survival prospects.
The former Spain boss is waiting for his work permit and will not arrive before Wolves break for the World Cup but he will have seen enough effort to be encouraged and enough errors to fix.
Wolves worked hard and a draw would have been well earned they but remain in the relegation zone, two points from safety, with the Seagulls sixth – just three points behind the top four.
Leeds United 4 Bournemouth 3
Crysencio Summerville fired Leeds’ late winner as they hit back from 3-1 down to beat Bournemouth 4-3 in another roller-coaster encounter at Elland Road.
Summerville was Leeds’ match-winner in last week’s shock win at Liverpool and he followed it up with another crucial strike that clinched back-to-back wins for Jesse Marsch’s side.
Bournemouth led 2-1 at the break after James Tavernier and Philip Billing had cancelled out Rodrigo’s early penalty.
Leeds were booed off by some fans at half-time and it looked bleak for the hosts when Dominic Solanke put the Cherries 3-1 ahead early in the second period.
But substitute Sam Greenwood curled home Leeds’ second and skipper Liam Cooper headed them level before Summerville slammed home the winner with six minutes remaining.
Everton 0 Leicester City 2
Midfielder Youri Tielemans’ brilliant volley set Leicester on their way to a 2-0 win at Everton which lifted them out of the relegation zone.
And while one England hopeful – James Maddison – enhanced his claims for a place in Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad at Goodison Park another – Dominic Calvert-Lewin – could have seen his ended by injury.
Maddison, operating as one of two number 10s with the equally-impressive Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, was an influential figure throughout and, while he was credited with an assist, the goal owed everything to the brilliance of Tielemans.
Barring late misfortune the Belgium international, out of contract in the summer, is guaranteed to be on the plane to Qatar.
His second goal in three games, flicking the ball up with his first touch and hitting a dipping 20-yard volley just under the crossbar with his next, paved the way for a third win in four games which was clinched by Harvey Barnes’s late strike following another Maddison assist.
However, Everton, with four defeats in their last six, are still trying to find some consistency and are now only two points above the relegation zone themselves having been overtaken by the Foxes on goal difference.
Nottingham Forest 2 Brentford 2
A stoppage-time own goal from Mathias Jorgensen allowed Nottingham Forest to steal a 2-2 draw with Brentford in a game with yet more VAR controversy.
Jorgensen saw a clearance deflected off him and go over the line in the sixth minute of time added on to earn Forest a deserved point.
The hosts looked like going home empty-handed as goals from Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa put the Bees on course for a first away win of the season after Morgan Gibbs-White had put Forest ahead.
But Mbuemo’s goal on the stroke of half-time was full of controversy as it came from the penalty spot after referee Andre Marriner eventually ruled Dean Henderson fouled Wissa after checking it on the pitchside monitor, even though he did not give it live and the goalkeeper appeared to have played the ball.
Forest’s sense of injustice, with two credible penalty shouts ignored by VAR, was heightened when Wissa scored with 14 minutes remaining but there was one moment of drama left with Jorgensen’s own goal awarded by goalline technology.
This may yet prove to be an important point for Forest in their battle for safety as although they remain bottom, they are only two points adrift of safety with another home game before the World Cup break.
The Bees, meanwhile, will be nervously looking over their shoulder as they are now without a win in four.
