Premier League: Forest, Wolves steer clear of relegation after wins; Southampton beats ailing Everton

In another game, Wolverhampton Wanderers moved out of the Premier League relegation zone after a 1-0 win over West Ham United at home on Saturday.

Published : Jan 14, 2023 23:00 IST

Brennan Johnson (left) scored twice as Nottingham Forest beat Leicester City 2-1 in the Premier League.
Brennan Johnson (left) scored twice as Nottingham Forest beat Leicester City 2-1 in the Premier League. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
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Brennan Johnson (left) scored twice as Nottingham Forest beat Leicester City 2-1 in the Premier League. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

A double from Brennan Johnson earned Nottingham Forest a 2-0 win over Leicester City on Saturday, pulling Steve Cooper’s side five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

Leicester’s Harvey Barnes suffered an afternoon he would rather forget as he missed two golden chances in each half to give the visitors the lead.

Those misses proved costly as Johnson latched onto Morgan Gibbs-White’s through ball before firing Forest into the lead in the 56th minute.

Johnson made sure of what could be a crucial win in Forest’s survival bid late on with a fine finish, as the hosts made it back-to-back league wins to climb up the standings to 13th, above Leicester which has now lost four league games in a row.

Podence scores as Wolves beat West Ham to move out of relegation zone

Wolverhampton Wanderers moved out of the Premier League relegation zone after a second-half goal from Daniel Podence guided it to a 1-0 win over West Ham United at home on Saturday.

Wolves jumped three spots up to 16th on 17 points after 19 games, while West Ham slipped one spot to 18th on 15 points, one point adrift of the safety zone.

After an intense first half, Wolves scored from a counter-attack from a West Ham corner in the 48th minute as Ruben Neves’ ball deflected off of Aaron Creswell and fell to Podence, who fired home with a first-time effort, low into the bottom corner. It was Podence’s fifth goal of the season and only Wolves’ 12th league goal this season.

Neves could have made it 2-0 in the 75th minute but his long-range strike hammered against the bar and on the follow-up, Rayan Ait-Nouri hit the ball against the post. Raul Jimenez thought he had a stoppage-time goal but it was flagged offside.

West Ham’s best chance came in the first half when Lucas Paqueta’s sublime cross from the left was flicked on by Tomas Soucek and an unmarked Vladimir Coufal at the back post struck it towards goal but Hugo Bueno blocked it.

Ward-Prowse brace gives Southampton a victory

James Ward-Prowse scored twice as bottom side Southampton came from behind to claim a vital 2-1 Premier League victory at fellow struggler Everton and deepen the crisis at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Amadou Onana gave the home side a first half lead but Ward-Prowse equalised in the first minute of the second period and then curled in a trademark free-kick to give Southampton its first victory at Everton since 1997.

Southampton stays bottom of the standings with 15 points from its 19 games, the same number as Everton, which is above it only on goal difference.

The result comes on a day when members of the Everton board was advised to stay away from the ground over what the club termed a “real and credible threat to their safety and security”. Everton fans had planned a ‘sit-in’ at the ground after the game in protest at the club’s current plight.

The victory ends a run of six straight league defeats for Southampton and comes in a week in which it dumped Manchester City out of the League Cup, a marked improvement for new manager Nathan Jones after a difficult start at the club.

Ward-Prowse also saw his shot tipped onto the post by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the first half, while home striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin had his deflected shot come off the crossbar with the score at 1-1.

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