Jarrod Bowen scores his first Premier League goal for West Ham against Southampton

Premier League round-up: West Ham out of relegation zone, as Bournemouth hold Chelsea

By Sporting Life

Football

Sat February 29, 2020 · 6y ago

A full round-up of Saturday's Premier League matches, as West Ham earn their first league win in eight to move out of the bottom three.

Premier League results

Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace - full report
AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea
Newcastle 0-0 Burnley
West Ham 3-1 Southampton
Watford 3-0 Liverpool - full report

Premier League table

AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea

Joshua King puts Bournemouth ahead against Chelsea

Marcos Alonso's late header saved Chelsea's Premier League top-four berth as the Blues scrambled a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth.

Alonso opened the scoring with a crisp volley after Olivier Giroud struck the bar with an acrobatic flick, but Chelsea were punished for dwelling on that lead.

Jefferson Lerma thumped in a header and three minutes later Josh King tapped in to hand the Cherries control just ahead of the hour.

Blues boss Frank Lampard dispensed with his 3-5-2 formation and withdrew the luckless Fikayo Tomori in favour of Willian, in a desperate bid to reverse his side's fortunes.

The changes at first yielded precious little dividend, and just when Chelsea feared another costly loss, up popped Alonso with a vital header.

Pedro forced a parried save from Aaron Ramsdale on the half-turn, and the ever-alert Alonso was first to the loose ball to head into the empty net.

A 10th league defeat of the campaign would have opened the door for Chelsea to drop out of the top four for the first time since October.

While the Blues will be left to lament another frustrating afternoon, at least the visitors were able to salvage a point from the wreckage of a circumspect and at times complacent performance.

Alonso now boasts three goals in two Premier League matches after firing a fine finish in the victory over Tottenham. And the left-back must be praised for fighting back into Lampard's plans after an extended spell out of favour.

Earlier on Caballero saved Chelsea when batting away Callum Wilson's point-blank effort, and one warning too many finally saw the Blues shift out of their slumber.

Giroud met Reece James' teasing near-post cross with a cute backheel that beat Ramsdale all ends up and struck the bar.

The lurking Alonso latched onto the rebound however, and lashed home a clean volley to put the Blues ahead and into control.

Giroud should have doubled the visitors' advantage straight after the break, but caught Alonso's cutback under his feet and bungled the ball wide when he should have swept into the net.

By this stage Chelsea considered themselves to be coasting, but were quickly and rudely disabused of any such haughty notions.

Lerma thumped in a header from Ryan Fraser's corner to level, with Billing's dummy run dragging Tomori wide to create the space.

And in a flash the Cherries were ahead, the imperious Billing threading a fine inside-right ball for Jack Stacey. The young full-back steadied himself and laid on a cutback of sufficient quality that all King had to do was tap into the net

Belgium forward Batshuayi had the ball in the net with almost his first touch, but was comfortably offside from Alonso's poked pass.

Cesar Azpilicueta fed Pedro on the half-turn as Chelsea's search neared desperation stakes, and though the Spain winger's drive was palmed away Alonso was on hand to nod in and pocket the Blues a point.

Newcastle 0-0 Burnley

Steve Bruce sees his Newcastle side miss another chance

Steve Bruce's gamble failed to pay off as Newcastle drew a blank once again and had to make do with a point from a hard-fought Premier League clash with Burnley.

Magpies head coach Bruce changed both personnel and system as he attempted to bring greater creativity to his team after they were unable to score against Norwich, Arsenal and Crystal Palace.

The introduction of a second striker in Dwight Gayle, as £40million man Joelinton moved to the left, was not rewarded with goals.

Newcastle did create chances with the Brazilian, Jonjo Shelvey and Miguel Almiron all impressive, but they could not take any of them and had to make do with a 0-0 draw.

The Clarets extended their unbeaten league run to six games with another resilient display at St James' Park.

In his search for greater fluency, Bruce made a raft of changes, replacing the suspended Valentino Lazaro with Javier Manquillo and drafting in Matt Ritchie, Isaac Hayden, Jonjo Shelvey and Dwight Gayle in place of Fabian Schar, Nabil Bentaleb, Sean Longstaff and, somewhat surprisingly, Allan Saint-Maximin - arguably his most creative player.

Gayle saw an 18th-minute shot blocked at source after Joelinton had cut inside impressively from his wide left berth to put the Clarets' defence under pressure.

But Federico Fernandez had to be at his best to prevent Jay Rodriguez from hitting the target after carving a path towards goal two minutes later.

Keeper Martin Dubravka needed every inch of his frame to claw away Jeff Hendrick's teasing 22nd-minute attempt with the visitors pressing, but James Tarkowski bravely blocked Shelvey's drive with his head as play switched rapidly from end to end.

Pope got down well to collect Miguel Almiron's effort after he had collected Ritchie's pass and Ritchie headed wide after meeting Gayle's cross from the left.

Shelvey curled a 51st-minute free-kick well over Pope's crossbar and it was Newcastle who continued to enjoy the wind in their sails.

There were cheers from the home crowd when Saint-Maximin was called from the bench to replace Joelinton with 12 minutes remaining, but it was Ritchie who almost broke the deadlock with an 81st-minute piledriver which flew just wide.

Saint-Maximin forced Pope into a solid save with a drilled effort and Almiron's thrilling surge into the box was ended by Charlie Taylor in a high-octane, but ultimately fruitless finish.

West Ham 3-1 Southampton

West Ham's Sebastien Haller cooly celebrates his goal against Southampton

West Ham climbed out of the relegation zone as goals from Jarrod Bowen, Sebastien Haller and Michail Antonio sank Southampton 3-1.

Deadline-day signing Bowen marked his first Hammers start with the opening goal and ended up celebrating his first win in the Premier League, having suffered defeat in each of his previous nine matches.

Record signing Haller chipped in with his first goal since New Year's Day after Michael Obafemi had equalised, and Antonio wrapped up a much-needed victory after half-time.

The mood at the end was in stark contrast to before kick-off, when a few thousand disaffected supporters staged the latest in a series of anti-board protests outside the ground.

West Ham are attempting to engage with the fans' groups, but David Moyes' more immediate concern was to arrest a run of seven matches without a win and the Hammers manager went for broke, naming Bowen, Haller and Antonio in a three-pronged attack.

It paid off after 15 minutes when Pablo Fornals played a delightful reverse pass into the area to Bowen, who took a touch with his right foot before deftly lifting the ball over Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy with his left.

The 23-year-old had been on the losing side in each of his seven top-flight matches for Hull, three years ago, and in his two substitute appearances for West Ham.

Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl's decision to start without top scorer Danny Ings raised a few eyebrows before kick-off, but it was his replacement who hauled the visitors level after half an hour.

James Ward-Prowse reached the byline and sent in a low cross, with Obafemi's first-time shot looping over Lukasz Fabianski into the net.

But Haller put West Ham back in front before the interval with a superb piece of improvisation.

The Frenchman, who has struggled to live up to anything like his £45million price tag this season, leapt to challenge McCarthy for Michail Antonio's cross.

Haller won that duel but the ball was heading into touch until he slid in to somehow squeeze it inside the near post.

The Hammers have dropped 22 points from a leading position this season, more than any other side, but Antonio ensured they would not be adding to that tally when he raced onto Fornals' ball over the top and fired home.

Brighton 0-1 Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace celebrate Jordan Ayew's goal at rivals Brighton

Jordan Ayew struck a second-half winner as Crystal Palace secured bragging rights against bitter rivals Brighton by snatching a 1-0 success at the Amex Stadium.

Forward Ayew coolly converted Christian Benteke's through ball 20 minutes from time to push Palace a step close to Premier League survival.

Albion remain the only club in the top four divisions without a victory in 2020 and in deep relegation danger after failing to capitalise on a largely dominant derby display.

The Seagulls' winless league run now stands at eight games following a first top-flight defeat on home soil to their fiercest foe.

Solly March, Lewis Dunk, and Neal Maupay each failed to convert presentable chances for the home side during Saturday's south-coast clash.

Graham Potter's men have now tasted victory just once in their past 14 matches in all competitions and sit on 28 points from as many games ahead of a tough run of fixtures, with Palace eight better off.

Full report