Soccer

Premier League round-up: Swansea hammer West Ham to leap up the table

Elsewhere, Bournemouth got the better of Leicester and West Brom fell further behind

Jordan Ayew of Swansea City scores his side’s fourth goal from the penalty spot during the Premier League match between Swansea City and West Ham United at Liberty Stadium. Photo: Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Sat Mar 3 2018 - 17:32

Swansea City 4 West Ham United 1

Swansea moved out of the Premier League relegation zone with a 4-1 home win over lacklustre West Ham.

Ki Sung-yueng, Mike van der Hoorn, Andy King and Jordan Ayew, from the penalty spot, were on target to deepen West Ham’s own relegation concerns, before Michail Antonio struck a consolation goal for the visitors.

Jamie Vardy and Asmir Begovic clash during their meeting at the King Power Stadium. Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

The win takes Swansea above West Ham on goal difference — the teams are level on 30 points — but the two sides appear to be moving in different directions.

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The Swans have now taken 17 points from Carlos Carvalhal’s nine games in charge, while West Ham have won only one of their last six with David Moyes’ initial bounce effect seemingly over.

Leicester City 0 Bournemouth 1

Riyad Mahrez saved Leicester from defeat with a last-gasp goal to salvage a point from a 1-1 Premier League draw with Bournemouth.

It looked like Josh King’s first half penalty would be enough for the Cherries to take all three points after they deservedly took the lead at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester had chances to equalise and it looked like they would be denied, until Mahrez struck from 25 yards out deep into injury time.

Southampton 0 Stoke City 0

Southampton failed to ease the pressure on manager Mauricio Pellegrino as their lengthy wait for a Premier League home win was prolonged by a goalless draw with relegation rivals Stoke.

Saints’ last victory at St Mary’s came more than three months ago and they wasted another chance to boost their survival hopes after failing to break down the second-bottom Potters.

Pellegrino’s men dominated the second period but saw Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland keep out efforts from Josh Sims, Cedric Soares and Nathan Redmond before substitute Sofiane Boufal squandered an excellent opportunity to earn the three points.

It is now eight league games — stretching back to November 26th — since Southampton tasted success at their own stadium and they remain a point above the bottom three after being booed off at the end of both halves.

Watford 1 West Bromwich Albion 0

Alan Pardew’s future hangs in the balance after Troy Deeney’s second half-strike condemned West Brom to their fifth successive Premier League defeat.

West Brom enjoyed the greater opportunities at Vicarage Road, but Watford captain Deeney scored against the run of play with just 13 minutes remaining to heap further pressure on manager Pardew.

The defeat left the Baggies rooted to the foot of the table, eight points from safety with just nine matches remaining.

A number of Watford supporters helped clear the snowy remnants of Storm Emma from in and around Vicarage Road on Saturday morning to ensure their club’s fixture did not fall foul of the big freeze, but, on the evidence of the opening period here, they might have wondered why they bothered.