West Ham’s defeat gives Spurs hope of survival in EPL

 LONDON: West Ham United’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford offered Totte­nham Hotspur a lifeline in the battle for Premier League survival on Saturday.

Spurs remain in the relegation zone, two points from safety, but can move out of the bottom three with victory at Aston Villa on Sunday after the Hammers succumbed to just their third defeat in 11 league games.

Brentford boosted their chances of European qualification for the first time with a first win in eight matches.

Konstantinos Mavropanos was left to rue his luck in two key first-half incidents.

The Greek defender was unfortunate not to be awarded a free-kick as he turned the ball into his own net to open the scoring.

Mavropanos thought he had made amends moments later with a bullet header, but was ruled marginally offside by a VAR review.

Brentford had another call go in their favour early in the second half when Dango Ouattara won a penalty and Igor Thiago coolly converted his 22nd Premier League goal of the season.

Mikkel Damsgaard’s strike roun­ded off a damaging day for West Ham, who face title-chasing Arsenal next weekend.

Brentford move up to sixth, which could be enough to secure Champions League qualification.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United eas­ed any lingering fears of being drawn into the relegation battle with a 3-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion to end a five-game losing streak.

William Osula and Dan Burn scored in the opening 24 minutes as Newcastle edged up to 13th.

Jack Hinshelwood pulled a goal back, but defeat could prove costly to Brighton’s European ambitions as having started the weekend in sixth, they could end it outside the top half.

Harvey Barnes rounded off the scoring in stoppage time to bring some relief to the under-fire Eddie Howe.

Sunderland’s bid for Europe was also dented by a 1-1 draw at bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Nordi Mukiele put the Black Cats in front early on, but Sunderland played for over an hour a man down after a red card for Dan Ballard.

Ballard was sent off for pulling the hair of Tolu Arokodare. Ballard became the second player to penalised for the offence as Everton’s Michael Keane received a straight red for the same misdeed in January.

Santiago Bueno levelled but Wolves could not muster just a fourth league win of the season.

On Friday, Leeds United all but secured their place in the Premier League next season with a 3-1 win over already-relegated Burnley.

Goals from Anton Stach, Noah Okafor and Dominic Calvert-Lewin took Daniel Farke’s side nine points clear of the relegation zone with just four games remaining for those below them.

IPSWICH PROMOTED

Meanwhilel, Ipswich Town returned to the Premier League at the first time of asking as a 3-0 victory over visiting Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the regular Championship season on Saturday ensured they took the second automatic promotion slot.

Wrexham’s fairytale rise through the divisions was halted though as a 2-2 draw at home to Middlesbrough cost them a place in the promotion playoffs, which was taken by Hull City.

Ipswich needed a victory to make certain of finishing runners-up to Coventry City and early goals by George Hirst and Jaden Philogene settled any nerves at Portman Road.

The celebrations had already started by the time Kasey McAteer wrapped up the points late on.

Millwall and Middlesbrough also went into the final day with automatic promotion chances if Ipswich slipped up.

Millwall beat relegated Oxford United 2-0 to secure third place a point behind Ipswich, while Mid­dlesbrough drew 2-2 at Wrexham — a result that meant the Welsh club’s hopes of a fourth straight promotion ended as they finished seventh.

A draw could have been enough for Wrexham but Hull’s 2-1 win against visitors Norwich City — their first win in seven league games — meant they finished two points above them in sixth.

Derby County had also been in with a chance of grabbing the final playoff place on a nerve-wracking finale to the season but lost 2-1 at home to Sheffield United having been in front.

Hull will face Millwall in the two-legged playoff semi-finals starting on May 8, with Middlesbrough up against in-form Southampton who finished fourth, level on 80 points with Boro.LONDON: Marc Guehi scored his first goal for Manchester City to seal a 2-0 win over minnows Salford in the FA Cup fourth round, while Burnley suffered an embarrassing exit against Mansfield on Saturday.

Pep Guardiola’s side took an early lead through Alfie Dorrington’s own goal, but they made hard work of seeing off their fourth-tier opponents at the Etihad Stadium.

There were only nine minutes left when City defender Guehi delivered the decisive blow with his maiden goal since signing from Crystal Palace in January.

Owned by Manchester United legends Gary Neville and David Beckham, Salford were playing in the fourth round for the first time in their history.

At Turf Moor, Mansfield’s 2-1 win over Premier League strugglers Burnley took them into the fifth round for the first time since 1975.

Burnley went into the game bolstered by their first Premier League win since October over Crystal Palace in midweek, but boss Scott Parker made nine changes and the gamble backfired.

Burnley took the lead through Josh Laurent’s 21st-minute goal, but Nigel Clough’s team, who sit in mid-table in League One, staged an impressive fightback in the second half.

Rhys Oates headed in the equaliser in the 53rd minute and Louis Reed capped a fine individual performance with a brilliant free-kick 10 minutes from full-time.

Meanwhile, ten-man West Ham United edged through as Crysencio Summerville clinched a 1-0 win at third-tier Burton.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were taken to extra-time before Summerville ended the underdogs’ stubborn resistence with his sixth goal in his last seven games in all competitions.

West Ham’s Freddie Potts was sent off soon after Summerville’s strike in the first period of extra-time, but the Premier League strugglers held on to survive a gruelling fourth round clash.

With their team three points from safety in the Premier League, the Hammers’ erratic display will hardly ease fans’ fears about their chances of avoiding relegation.

On Friday, Chelsea eased past Hull City with a 4-0 success while Hollywood-backed Wrexham kept up their hopes of a fairytale run in the FA Cup with a 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town.

Chelsea were far too strong for Championship side Hull as they strolled to victory at the MKM Stadium thanks to Pedro Neto’s hat-trick.

Estevao scored the other goal for the Londoners as his side-footed strike went into the net from Delap’s pass.

Wrexham defeated Premier League Nottingham Forest in the last round and dispatched fellow second-tier Championship side Ipswich to reach the fifth round for the first time since they were quarter-finalists in the 1996-97 season.

Josh Windass scored the only goal of the game in the first half as Ipswich battled to create clear-cut chances and Wrexham proved more clinical.

LIVERPOOL: New West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo saw signs in their 1-1 draw with Everton on Monday that his side can turn things around after a dreadful start to the Premier League season, but there is still plenty of work to do.

His predecessor Graham Potter was sacked on Saturday morning and the Portuguese coach was ushered in to quickly take over. He had little time to instill his usual defensively-sound counter-attacking style, but whatever he did manage to do paid dividends in the draw on Merseyside.

Nuno quickly stamped his authority by dropping midfielder James Ward-Prowse, a player whose loan agreement he terminated early at Nottingham Forest last season.

However, the London side’s problems at set pieces persisted as they conceded a headed goal from Michael Keane in the 18th minute after a cleared corner was crossed back into the box.

England forward Jarrod Bowen ensured Nuno avoided a debut defeat when he picked up a headed clearance and cut inside before firing home in the 65th minute.

“Our message today was very clearly about competing as a team, being close to each other, and the boys did well. I think overall it is a good first, first game for us,” the 51-year-old Portuguese coach said. “This game is going to be the tool, the main tool, for us to move forward. Now we’re going to analyse it. It’s all about knowing the players better, trying to take the right decisions in the right moment.”

Much of that analysis will focus on strengthening West Ham’s defence at set pieces as they once again conceded a goal following a corner, but Espirito Santo saw plenty he can work with as his side pulled a goal back in the second half to secure the draw.

“It’s all about competing, every ball matters — the message was clear, and the boys are slowly, I think, understanding that football match is also about how we close [down the route to] our own goal, how many chances we concede,” he explained.

It was only the second time in seven games in all competitions this season that West Ham had managed to escape without a loss.

The east London club remain second bottom of the Premier League with four points from their first six games. Everton are ninth on eight points.