Fernandinho volleyed in an 89th-minute winner as Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-2 to cement a place in the English Premier league’s top four for the soon-to-be-deposed champions. Sergio Aguero pounced on an early mistake by goalkeeper Brad Guzan to give City a third-minute lead, and Aleksandar Kolarov made it 2-0 after an hour when he curled a free kick through the defensive wall.
Villa looked like salvaging a point after goals by Tom Cleverley and Carlos Sanchez — following misjudgments by goalkeeper Joe Hart — pulled the relegation strugglers level by the 85th minute. There was still time for a City corner to drift through a crowded penalty box to Fernandinho, who chested the ball down, and found the net from eight meters.
Charlie Austin had a first-half penalty saved as relegation-threatened QPR was held to a goalless draw by West Ham in the Premier league on Saturday. Both teams had chances to take all three points at loftus Road with the best falling to Austin when James Collins handled in the area but the striker’s penalty was saved by Adrian’s legs. Richard Dunne also had a header ruled out in the second half as QPR remained 19th and slipped four points adrift of safety. QPR has now won only once in the nine games since Chris Ramsey was appointed until the end of the campaign in February. Its next two fixtures are away to liverpool and Manchester City. Mid table West Ham has only won twice in the league in 2015.
Sunderland failed to take advantage of scoring after 59 seconds by drawing 1-1 at Stoke to drop into the Premier league’s relegation zone on Saturday. Connor Wickham pounced on an error by Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to put Sunderland ahead inside the first minute at Britannia Stadium. Stoke equalized in the 27th minute as Charlie Adam cracked home a powerful shot, moments after Jermain Defoe had spurned a fine chance for Sunderland.
Sunderland was overtaken by Hull and leicester, who both won on Saturday, and is one point adrift of safety with five games left. Adam Johnson wasn’t part of Sunderland’s squad of 18 players for the match, two days after being charged with three offenses of sexual activity with a 15-year-old and one of grooming.
liverpool’s chances of qualifying for the Champions league took another hit with a 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion in thePremier league on Saturday. The Reds are fifth, six points behind Manchester City ahead of the champions’ match against Aston Villa later Saturday.
Swansea condemned Newcastle to an unwanted club record of seven straight Premier league defeats, beating the Magpies 3-2 at St James’ Park on Saturday. Newcastle, which started the day just seven points clear of the relegation zone, went into first-half stoppage time leading through Ayoze Perez’s 20th-minute strike. But the hosts surrendered their advantage before the break when striker Nelson Oliveira took advantage of weak defending to head home, and capitulated within five minutes of the restart as Gylfi Sigurdsson gave the visitors the lead.
Jack Cork put the eighth-place Swans further ahead in the 71st minute and, although Siem de Jong marked his return from an eight-month injury nightmare with an 87th-minute goal, he could not prevent his side from losing. There were protests by home fans both before and during the game, with owner Mike Ashley the target of pre-arranged action in the 34th minute, drawing attention to the 34 million pounds ($51.6 million) the club banked during the last financial year. Dame N’Doye scored twice to give Hull a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday that lifted the team away from the Premier league relegation zone.
N’Doye put his team ahead in the 51st minute with a tap-in and added the second goal by finishing off a counterattack in injury time. The win puts Hull in 16th-place, level on points with leicester and one point ahead of 18th-place Sunderland in a tight battle to avoid the drop. Palace fell to its second straight home loss but is safe in midtable. leicester scored just a minute after Burnley missed a penalty, securing a 1-0 win in a high-stakes game between teams fighting to avoid relegation from the Premier league.
Graziano Pelle toe-poked the ball past Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo lloris in the 29th minute to put the hosts ahead before Erik lamela’s flicked header from Eric Dier’s cross made it 1-1 in the 43rd. Pelle then added his second in the 65th with a powerful header. Nacer Chadli equalized in the 70th for the draw which keeps Spurs a point above Southampton in fifth place.