LONDON: Everton'srenaissance under Carlo Ancelotti continued as Dominic Calvert-Lewin's doubleearned a 2-1 win at Newcastle, whilst Brighton and Watford secured big wins intheir battle to avoid relegation. Ancelotti's reign at Goodison Park got off toa flying start thanks Calvert-Lewin's winner against Burnley on Boxing Day andthe in-form England under-21 international was the Toffees' hero once more onTyneside.
Calvert-Lewinrewarded a bright start from the visitors and an adventurous line-up fromAncelotti as he swept home after the ball ricocheted around the Newcastle box.The Magpies responded well to falling behind, though, and deservedly equalisedearly in the second period through Fabian Schar.
However,Newcastle were level for only eight minutes as they were caught by Everton'space on the break when Richarlison squared for Calvert-Lewin to slide in forhis 10th goal of the season. Victory takes Everton above Newcastle into the tophalf of the table. Crystal Palace could have moved to within three points ofthe top four with victory at Southampton and took the lead at St. Mary'sthrough James Tomkins's header.
However, aterrible error from Martin Kelly undid Palace's good work as he teed up Southampton'stalisman Danny Ings to level and edge the Saints four points clear of thebottom three. Brighton climbed up to 14th, five points clear of the drop zone,as Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Aaron Mooy's first goals for the club in a 2-0 winover Bournemouth. Jahanbakhsh has struggled to make an impact on the southcoast since a big money move from AZ Alkmaar at the beginning of last season.
The Iranian wasmoved to tears when he opened the scoring with his first Premier League goalless than three minutes into his first league start of the season.
"It was agreat moment for everyone in the stadium, especially Ali. He deserves it,"said Brighton boss Graham Potter. "He worked away every day with exemplarybehaviour. We all wanted him to contribute and he did that today."
Mooy thenproduced a moment of magic to secure the points 11 minutes from time as hecontrolled the ball on his chest, turned inside his marker and curled the ballinto the far corner. Watford closed to within three points of safety thanks toa second home win in as many games under Nigel Pearson as the Hornets beatAston Villa 3-0 despite playing half an hour with 10 men when Adrian Mariappasaw red.
Troy Deeney hadgiven Watford the lead eight minutes before half-time and doubled his side'sadvantage from the penalty spot soon after Mariappa was shown a second yellowcard. Ismaila Sarr then rounded off a miserable afternoon for Villa, who remainin the bottom three after a fifth defeat in six league games. - AFP