Everton 1 Southampton 2
Everton’s board of directors were ordered to stay away from Goodison Park due to perceived security risks but what they missed was their relegation-threatened team plunging into further trouble after a 2-1 defeat to bottom side Southampton.
In an unprecedented move the executives did not attend after offensive messages – including death threats to chairman Bill Kenwright – were made to specific individuals during the week by angry fans.
Club officials called it a “profoundly sad day” but things were not much better on the pitch as Everton squandered a lead given to them by Amadou Onana’s first goal for the Toffees.
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James Ward-Prowse scored twice as Saints moved level on points with their hosts, who are only kept off the bottom of the table by goal difference after just one win in 11 league matches and have their lowest tally (15) at the halfway stage of a Premier League campaign.
It added extra numbers to the previously-planned sit-in protest after the final whistle by fans angry at the way they perceive those executives have run the club.
By then Southampton’s players, who had enjoyed a morale-boosting midweek Carabao Cup win over Manchester City, had long departed with new manager Nathan Jones celebrating his first league win after four successive defeats.
Brentford 2 Bournemouth 2
Ivan Toney and Mathias Jensen fired Brentford up to eighth in the table as Bournemouth’s collapse continued.
Toney’s first-half penalty and Jensen’s late strike earned a 2-0 win and inflicted a sixth straight defeat since the World Cup on the free-falling Cherries, all since Gary O’Neil was made their permanent manager.
It was a third consecutive Premier League win for the hosts and made it seven games unbeaten, a run which includes victories over Liverpool and Manchester City.
Thomas Frank’s enterprising side are now ahead of Liverpool, while only defeats for West Ham and Everton kept Bournemouth out of the relegation zone.
Nottingham Forest 2 Leicester 0
Brennan Johnson scored two second-half goals as Nottingham Forest further strengthened their Premier League survival bid with an impressive 2-0 win over Leicester, whose miserable run continues.
The Wales international registered his first league goals since September to move Forest above their East Midlands rivals, who have now lost four in a row, and four points clear of the relegation zone.
It is a marked turnaround since the reverse fixture in October that saw Leicester win 4-0 which Forest boss Steve Cooper called the worst game of his managerial career.
His side looked doomed that night, but now they have real hope of staying out of relegation trouble after an impressive run that has seen them lose just one of their last six Premier League games.
That victory kick-started Leicester’s season but their form has been woeful since the season resumed after the World Cup as they have lost all four games.
The pressure is back on Brendan Rodgers, who is desperate for reinforcements this month as his side try to avoid getting pulled back into a relegation scrap.
Wolves 1 West Ham 0
West Ham slumped into the bottom three following defeat at fellow strugglers Wolves.
Both sides went into the Molineux meeting out of form in the league but it was the hosts who sealed a 1-0 victory courtesy of a smart Daniel Podence strike which lifts them out of the relegation zone.
West Ham headed to the Black Country having won just one of their last nine Premier League games, taking a single point from their previous six.
It left the Hammers looking over their shoulder and into the drop zone, where their hosts sat following an equalling galling run of results.
Julen Lopetegui has arrested a slide but is still calling for more from his new charges, who had just one victory in eight before this game.
They were not at their best here but still had enough to beat a poor West Ham side, with the visitors barely testing Jose Sa in the Wolves goal throughout the afternoon.
