EPL Round-up: Four Super Eagles stars suffer home defeats on Boxing Day
None of the Super Eagles Stars in action on Boxing Day in the Premier League could help their teams to favourable results.
The quartet of Joe Aribo, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi were all condemned to home defeats while Frank Onyeka's Brentford were forced to a 2-2 draw after previously taking a two-goal lead
Here is how the Boxing Day fixtures went ..
Leicester 0-3 Newcastle
Newcastle showed its determination to be part of the Premier League title race as it provisionally moved into second with a 3-0 win at Leicester on Monday.
The six-week break has not derailed what is turning out to be a memorable season under Eddie Howe. The Magpies blitzed to the three points at King Power Stadium after a sensational opening 32 minutes.
Chris Wood’s penalty and a sublime strike by Miguel Almiron put Newcastle 2-0 up after only seven minutes, with Joelinton adding a third just after the half-hour mark.
Newcastle’s only defeat in 16 games in the Premier League this season was at Liverpool on the final day of August. This was its sixth league win in a row — Newcastle’s best run since 2012 — as Howe’s side proved that an outstanding first portion of the season was not a flash in the pan.
There is a long way to go and it remains to be seen whether the Magpies have the quality to keep pace with Arsenal and Manchester City, but with the January transfer window coming up Newcastle fans will be dreaming of at least a top-four finish for the first time in 20 years.
Almiron scored the standout goal for Newcastle. After being set free down the right by Kieran Tripper, he cut inside, played a delightful one-two with Bruno Guimaraes and coolly slotted past Danny Ward for his eighth goal in nine league games.
Brighton & Hove Albion 3, Southampton 1
Struggling Southampton only had itself to blame for a fourth straight Premier League defeat after a goalkeeping mistake and an own-goal helped south coast rival Brighton win 3-1 at St. Mary’s on Monday.
Adam Lallana struck against his former club as rampant Brighton inflicted more misery on Southampton, which dropped to the bottom of the standings. Brighton moved two points behind fifth-place Manchester United with a deserved third league win from four games.
Lallana benefited from a major mistake from Gavin Bazunu with the ball going through the Southampton keeper’s arms to put Brighton ahead in the 14th minute.
Romain Perraud’s calamitous own-goal doubled the advantage 10 minutes before the break. Pervis Estupinan delivered a tantalizing low cross which Romain Perraud clumsily directed into his own goal under pressure from Seagulls winger Solly March.
March thumped home a powerful third in the 56th to cap a dismal first home game in top-flight management for Southampton boss Nathan Jones. Jones was forced to wait almost seven weeks for his first taste of top-flight action on home soil, having replaced the fired Ralph Hasenhuttl just two days before a 3-1 loss at Liverpool on Nov. 12.
James Ward-Prowse pulled a goal back by heading in on the rebound after his 73rd-minute penalty was saved by Robert Sanchez but a Southampton fightback never looked likely.
Brighton was still without World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister.
Tottenham 2, Brentford 2
Harry Kane returned to the Premier League and scored a goal to help Tottenham come back from a two-goal deficit in a 2-2 draw with Brentford on Monday.
Kane, who missed a penalty in the World Cup quarterfinal loss to France two weeks ago, scored in the 65th minute. He headed in a cross from Clement Lenglet for his Premier League record 10th goal for Tottenham on Boxing Day, a traditional day of playing in England on the day after Christmas.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg equalized six minutes later for Tottenham. Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney scored for Brentford.
It was the sixth game in a row in which Tottenham had fallen behind.
The match was the first in the Premier League in more than a month because of the long break for the World Cup in Qatar.
Fulham 3, Crystal Palace 0
Fulham won a Premier League derby in the capital for only the second time in 29 attempts with a 3-0 victory over nine-man Crystal Palace on Monday.
Bobby Decordova-Reid put Fulham ahead at Selhurst Park after 31 minutes before Tyrick Mitchell was shown a straight red card three minutes later.
It got worse for the hosts after the interval. James Tomkins — making his first Premier League start for exactly a year — was sent off with a second yellow after 57 minutes.
American defender Chris Richards entered on the hour-mark for Palace in his first appearance since Aug. 27 after recovering from an injury that caused him to miss the World Cup. Fulham captain Tim Ream, who started for the United States in the World Cup because of Richards’ injury, doubled the lead in the 71st. It was Ream’s first Premier League goal. His three prior goals since joining Fulham in 2015 were in the League Championship.
Aleksandar Mitrovic headed in his 10th of the campaign 10 minutes from time.
To mark the passing of its World Cup-winning former England right back George Cohen, Fulham came out in warm-up tops with “Cohen 2” on the back, and a rousing minute’s applause preceded kickoff.
Wolverhampton 2, Everton 1
Wolverhampton manager Julen Lopetegui marked his Premier League debut with a dramatic stoppage-time 2-1 win at Goodison Park on Monday which ramped up the pressure on Everton coach Frank Lampard.
A match low on quality appeared to be drifting toward a draw which would have been little use to either struggling side only for substitute Rayan Ait-Nouri to score on the counterattack in the fifth minute of added time.
The Frenchman scored late in the midweek win in the English League Cup over fourth-tier Gillingham but his close-range finish to clinch Wolves’ first away win since their visit here in March could prove far more pivotal.
It secured only Wolves’ third league victory of the season but it succeeded in lifting his side off the bottom of the table and within just a point of 17th-place Everton.
Lampard’s side has now lost six of the last eight and a lack of firepower — Yerry Mina’s seventh-minute goal was only its 12th in 16 league games — proved costly again as Daniel Podence scored a well-worked set-piece equalizer in the 22nd minute.
Everton’s players left the field at halftime to sporadic boos but the dissent was much louder at the final whistle.
