Aston Villa’s woes continue with defeat to Newcastle

Newcastle United 1 Aston Villa 0

Papiss Cisse’s 11th goal of the season handed Newcastle a first home win of 2015 and plunged Aston Villa deeper into Barclays Premier League relegation trouble.

The Senegal international’s assured 37th-minute finish, which came against the run of play at St James’ Park, was enough to secure a 1-0 victory, just the second of head coach John Carver’s reign.

However, Villa will feel desperately aggrieved not to have left Tyneside with something to show for their efforts after enjoying the better of the game for long periods and forcing keeper Tim Krul into two vital saves.

But when the final whistle sounded, it was the Magpies, much to the relief of the bulk of a crowd of 51,573, who emerged with the points as the visitors slipped to a seventh successive league defeat.

Carver had demanded a response from his players after their horror show at Manchester City last weekend, but what he got for the majority of the first half was a disjointed and mediocre display.

The visitors were little better during a scrappy opening period, but it was they who settled and started to play the ball around, with Ashley Westwood and Tom Cleverley prompting from central midfield and striker Christian Benteke making his presence felt.

However, the Belgium international was presented with three first-half opportunities and only tested Krul with one of them, side-footing wide from Westwood’s 24th-minute pass and seeing a 33rd-minute strike charged down either side of an acrobatic overhead kick which the Dutchman turned away at full stretch.

But the game changed two minutes later when Janmaat once again worked his way into a promising position and sent in a cross which central defender Jores Okore failed to cut out.

The ball fell nicely for Cisse, who controlled before firing expertly past Guzan, whose first real involvement of the game was to pick the ball out of his net.

Newcastle returned in more positive mood but continued to take poor options, with Gabriel Obertan wasting a beautiful 49th-minute Ameobi pass by shooting wide from an impossible angle rather than trying to pick out a team-mate in the middle.

Villa continued to give as good as they got, although without troubling Krul, and the game remained very much in the balance with the hosts never really looking like killing it off.

Substitute Ayoze Perez was denied a second goal by the post after Guzan had managed to get only his fingertips to Ameobi’s 76th-minute corner, but one proved to be enough.

West Bromwich Albion 1 Southampton 0

West Brom took a giant leap towards safety after Saido Berahino condemned stuttering

Southampton to a 1-0 defeat. The striker scored his 17th goal of the season with a brilliant half-volley after just 70 seconds to settle the game. The Saints dominated possession but rarely threatened the Albion goal as the Baggies kept their seventh clean sheet in 10 games under head coach Tony Pulis.

The closest Southampton came to an equaliser was when Chris Brunt deflected Ryan Bertrand’s second-half cross just wide. West Brom are now eight points clear of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone in 13th, having lost just once under Pulis.

Southampton, though, are clinging onto fifth place having won just once in their last five games.

Berahino had shaken off a minor knock to start and he made an instant impact after just 70 seconds. Brunt’s lofted free-kick was headed out by Maya Yoshida but only as far as Berahino and the striker unleashed a rasping half-volley which flew into the top corner from 16 yards.

The Saints were ragged and Fraser Forster saved Claudio Yacob’s header before Gardos was replaced by Elijero Elia.

Craig Gardner almost found an opening when he failed to control a long ball when clean through but it was a rare chance for the Baggies. Their defensive organisation, which has now seen them keep four straight clean sheets under Pulis, was evident though.

Despite having the bulk of possession and pinning Albion back, Southampton struggled to break down the massed Baggies ranks. Steven Davis replaced Victor Wanyama at the break and referee Phil Dowd also failed to reappear, with fourth official Graham Scott taking charge.

And Albion suffered a blow 10 minutes into the second half when Berahino limped off to be replaced by Youssouf Mulumbu. It took away the Baggies’ best outlet and

Southampton continued to press and almost levelled after 67 minutes. Bertrand linked well with Elia on the left and when Graziano Pelle missed his cross, it deflected inches wide off Brunt. Brown Ideye wanted a penalty after tangling with Fonte during a rare Albion raid with 10 minutes remaining.

And the visitors could have levelled with four minutes left when Pelle latched onto a Schneiderlin header only to mis-hit his shot straight at Foster.

West Ham 1 Crystal Palace 3

Alan Pardew returned to Upton Park and saw his Crystal Palace side put West Ham to the sword to increase the pressure on Sam Allardyce.

The 53-year-old spent three years as Hammers boss and, while he has been back on several occasions, this will be one of the most memorable as Jason Puncheon inspired the Eagles to a 3-1 win – although the victory was tainted as two-goal hero Glenn Murray was sent off in the second-half.

Murray had threatened on no less than three occasions before he opened the scoring courtesy of a huge piece of luck as the unwitting Aaron Cresswell mis-kicked the striker's header straight past Adrian.

It was a goal befitting a scrappy first half of few chances and plenty of wasteful possession, with Mark Noble’s free-kick hitting the woodwork to closest a lacklustre home side came to getting on the scoresheet.

But, whereas West Ham continued in a lethargic vain after the interval, Palace were buoyed by their goal and doubled their advantage through Scott Dann’s header six minutes into the half.

Both goals had come from Puncheon corners and he set up the third as his free-kick was headed home by Murray with 25 minutes remaining, but the forward’s afternoon was to end less auspiciously as he was sent off for two yellow card offences.

Allardyce saw his side grab a consolation through Enner Valencia but the 60-year-old will expect to come in for more criticism as the Hammers have now gone on a run of just one win in 10 Premier League games, with derbies against Chelsea and Arsenal to come.

Stoke City 1 Hull City 0

Peter Crouch scored the winner a minute after coming off the bench as Stoke defeated Hull 1-0 at the Britannia Stadium.

Crouch made an instant impact after being thrown on by Potters boss Mark Hughes with 20 minutes to go as the striker rose in the box to meet a fine delivery from fellow substitute Charlie Adam and send a header over Allan McGregor into the net for his ninth goal of the season and fourth in four appearances in all competitions.

Adam — following his introduction at half time — had already been doing his best to liven up what had been a poor Barclays Premier League contest prior to the break, going close to breaking the deadlock in the 58th minute with a free-kick that whistled narrowly wide. The result is a sixth win in 11 league games for 10th-placed

Stoke, while Hull’s recent unbeaten run has been halted at three games. Having failed to build on their draw at Manchester City and subsequent back-to-back wins over Aston Villa and QPR, Steve Bruce’s Tigers — without injured top-scorer Nikica Jelavic — remain 15th, four points clear of the relegation zone.

Burnley 0 Swansea City 1

A chaotic own goal from Burnley defender Kieran Trippier sealed another grim afternoon for the hosts as Swansea won 1-0 to steal the points at Turf Moor.

Trippier turned the ball past his own goalkeeper after a mighty goalmouth scramble in the 64th minute which largely summed up an untidy and uninspiring affair.

Not that it will matter to Garry Monk’s buoyant visitors who seized their chance to build on last week’s famous win over Manchester United and maintain their hopes of a top-10 finish.