Premier League roundup: Brighton batter Everton, Arsenal vs Newcastle ends goalless
Everton - Brighton 1-4
Brighton & Hove Albion thrashed a lacklustre Everton side at Goodison Park to record three consecutive away victories in the Premier League for the first time in their history, and in the process, pile the pressure on Toffees' boss Frank Lampard.
Despite battling to a hard-earned point against Manchester City on Saturday, Everton came into the contest without a win in their previous six games.
Alex Iwobi looked to remedy that inside the opening five minutes, as he went close to getting his side off to the perfect start, but Robert Sanchez dived low down to his left to push the ball away from danger.
After keeping Iwobi at bay, Brighton wasted little time in threatening Jordan Pickford’s goal with Kaoru Mitoma heading over the crossbar after meeting Solly March’s lofted cross.
Mitoma quickly made up for his miss in the 15th minute when he drove inside from the left flank before slotting the ball past Pickford to become just the third Japanese player to score in two straight Premier League appearances.
Moments later, the Japan international nearly turned provider, with his deflected low cross finding Evan Ferguson, who swept the ball onto the post.
The Seagulls took a narrow lead into halftime, but before the hour mark, that slender advantage had transformed into a monumental one as Everton capitulated to ship three goals in six minutes.
Jeremy Sarmiento’s neat footwork allowed him to lay the ball into the path of Evan Ferguson, who marked his full debut with a close-range effort before Solly March added a third with a precise strike into the bottom corner.
The travelling support were celebrating once again when Idrissa Gueye’s wayward pass allowed Pascal Gross to drive into the box and lift the ball calmly over the onrushing Jordan Pickford to spark a barrage of boos from the home faithful.
After scoring four goals in a top-flight away game for the first time in their history, Brighton moved down the gears as the contest drifted towards its conclusion.
Demarai Gray netted a late consolation from the spot after Sanchez fouled Iwobi, but the late strike will do little to prevent serious questions being asked of Lampard, with Everton just one point clear of the drop zone.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Evan Ferguson (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Arsenal - Newcastle 0-0
Newcastle United put in a resolute performance as they held Premier League front-runners Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates.
The Gunners immediately went on the front foot, with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and Granit Xhaka all having attempts from promising positions inside the opening seven minutes.
While Arsenal continued to apply pressure, the Magpies grew into the game and Kieran Trippier’s corner caused concern before Fabian Schar eventually missed the target with his header.
The hosts carried on asserting themselves as the half-hour mark came and went, although Gabriel Magalhaes’ header sailed agonisingly wide after the Brazilian had done well to meet Odegaard’s free-kick delivery.
While the first half didn’t bring much goalmouth action, it did see a Newcastle side unbeaten in 12 league matches stand toe-to-toe with an Arsenal outfit unbeaten in 10 in a fiercely competitive contest, with five yellow cards accompanied by the backdrop of a true big-game atmosphere.
Joelinton had by far the best opportunity to silence the home support when Schar got a flick on Trippier’s corner moments before the break, eventually wasting it by heading wide at the back post.
Aaron Ramsdale had a real scare early in the second period when Joelinton blocked his attempted clearance, but Newcastle weren’t decisive enough to capitalise and Callum Wilson couldn’t get a convincing touch on Miguel Almiron’s cross moments later.
The Magpies continued to make things difficult for their hosts, as indicated by Gabriel Martinelli hitting a speculative attempt shortly after the hour mark, although the Brazilian was left even more frustrated when his flicked header across goal sailed the wrong side of Nick Pope’s post.
Eddie Nketiah had to wait until the 88th minute for a big chance and was halted by Pope’s outstretched foot when it finally arrived, before seeing a header comfortably gathered soon after, as Newcastle dug deep to continue the league's longest current unbeaten streak while securing their sixth consecutive clean sheet in all competitions.
Meanwhile, Arsenal failed to win a league match at home for the first time this season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United)
Leicester - Fulham 0-1
Aleksandar Mitrovic struck a decisive first-half winner as Fulham won three successive Premier League matches for the first time since 2011 with a 1-0 victory against Leicester.
As the season of not-so-good cheer ended for Leicester with back-to-back Premier League defeats, the Foxes were hoping their positive record of nine wins from their last 14 to start a new year could provide some relief to begin 2023.
In contrast, Fulham won their previous two and started this match closer to the Premier League top four than the relegation places and the visitors’ positivity showed immediately when a flowing attack ended with Willian driving a shot just over the crossbar.
The Cottagers upped the intensity and Willian was given space on the edge of the area once again to find Mitrovic in the area. The Serbian made no mistake and became the third-ever Fulham player to score in three consecutive away Premier League matches with a clever first touch and half-volley past Danny Ward.
Leicester’s mission now was to avoid a third successive home defeat without scoring for the first time since 1983 and the boos from the King Power faithful spurred the hosts into life. Youri Tielemans found Ayoze Perez unmarked but the forward lashed over from close range before Timothy Castagne headered inches wide late in the first half.
Leicester carried the momentum into the second half and a flurry of early chances came the Foxes' way as Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy forced Bernd Leno into early saves before Tielemans curled just wide from 25 yards.
Fulham eventually gathered their composure and limited Leicester to a few half chances until Tielemans gave the Cottagers a late fright with a dipping volley that thumped the crossbar.
Leicester couldn’t find the decisive moment and the three consecutive home defeats without scoring leaves the Foxes just three points off the relegation places.
Fulham showed composure to ride out some late pressure and the Cottagers have now matched their tally of 28 points from their previous Premier League campaign in 2020/21.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Aleksandar Mitrovic (Fulham)
Manchester United - Bournemouth 3-0
Manchester United defeated Bournemouth 3-0 at Old Trafford as they strengthened their grip on their place in the top-four, whilst also extending their unbeaten run at home to nine.
Manchester United were looking to win six consecutive games for the first time since January 2019 and got off to a flying start after 23 minutes, when Christian Eriksen delivered a beautiful cross into the box where Casemiro escaped his marker to rifle the ball into the roof of the net.
The Red Devils had all of the big chances in the opening 45 minutes and almost doubled their lead with a ruthless counterattack that saw Bruno Fernandes’ cross just evade Marcus Rashford at the far post as a superb touch from Lloyd Kelly took the ball beyond his reach.
United started the second half as the aggressors and got an early goal as their reward as Luke Shaw carried the ball forward before a couple of intricate passes worked the ball to Alejandro Garnacho who returned the ball to Shaw with a lovely pass across the six-yard box for the left back to score.
The Reds had a golden opportunity to further strengthen their lead through Anthony Martial, but the Frenchman sent a free header wide from six yards out.
With United conceding just one goal in their last eight home games and Bournemouth failing to score in any of their three games since the restart, a comeback was looking unlikely.
However, the Cherries did manage to force a couple of strong saves from David de Gea as the Spaniard saved Philip Billing’s strong header before denying Jaidon Anthony.
Manchester United added another goal late on through Rashford as he finished from a ball across the face of goal from Fernandes to secure all three points.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Casemiro (Manchester United)