Spurs win thriller against Leeds, Liverpool cruise to victory

Tottenham Hotspur produced a thrilling late fightback to beat Leeds United 4-3 in a Premier League thriller as Rodrigo Bentancur scored two late goals on Saturday.

Antonio Conte’s side were heading for a third successive home league defeat after Rodrigo’s brace gave Leeds a 3-2 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.

But Bentancur’s deflected shot made it 3-3 in the 81st minute and two minutes later he was set up by Dejan Kulusevski for a simple finish to stun the visitors.

Leeds, who had led early on through the in-form Crysencio Summerville, ended the match with 10 men after Tyler Adams was shown a second yellow card in the closing stages.

Tottenham had twice come from behind to level, with goals by Harry Kane and Ben Davies.

Victory lifted Tottenham into third place with 29 points from 15 games with Leeds on 15 points in 14th place.

Nunez and Firmino on target as Liverpool prove too strong for Saints

Liverpool’s South American strikers Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino propelled the team to a 3-1 home win over Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday in their final match before the season pauses for the World Cup.

The victory took Liverpool into sixth place in the league standings on 22 points after 14 matches although Brighton & Hove Albion can climb back above them when they play Aston Villa on Sunday.

Brazilian Firmino put Liverpool in front in the sixth minute by glancing an Andy Robertson free kick into the net.

Moments later Southampton replied with a similar effort, Che Adams rising to head in James Ward-Prowse’s set-piece delivery and score the club’s first goal under new manager Nathan Jones.

Uruguay international Nunez restored Liverpool’s lead in the 21st minute by volleying home a cross from 19-year-old midfielder Harvey Elliot.

The striker, who cost Liverpool a total of 95 million euros ($98.34 million) when he signed from Benfica in June, grabbed his second goal three minutes before halftime, meeting another cross from Robertson from close range.

The second half lacked the frenetic nature of the first although Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker had to make two good saves to preserve his side’s two-goal cushion while Mohamed Salah spurned a great chance when he robbed possession and raced free into the area only to miscontrol the ball.

Forest edge out Palace to move off the bottom
Morgan Gibbs-White grabbed the only goal as Nottingham Forest beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at the City Ground on Saturday to ensure that they won’t spend Christmas at the bottom of the Premier League.

Forest’s third victory of the season in their final game before the World Cup break lifted them off the bottom of the standings to 18th place on 13 points, one ahead of Southampton, who lost 3-1 to Liverpool, and three ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers, who face leaders Arsenal later on Saturday.

Jesse Lingard thought he had won a penalty when he was tripped in the 29th minute by Tyrick Mitchell, but the foul took place just outside the penalty area and only resulted in a free kick and a yellow card for the Palace defender.

Instead, it was Palace who were awarded a spot-kick when Joe Worrall brought down Wilfried Zaha just before halftime, but Zaha took the penalty himself and fired wide.

With neither side managing to get many shots on target, Gibbs-White finally put the ball in the net in the 54th minute after pouncing on the rebound from a Brennan Johnson shot, and though the assistant referee initially ruled he was offside, the goal was allowed to stand after a lengthy VAR review.

Palace left plenty of space for Forest to exploit as they poured forward looking for an equaliser, but the home side hung on for a much-needed win.

Leicester beat West Ham to win on the road again
Leicester City beat West Ham United 2-0 with goals from James Maddison and Harvey Barnes on Saturday to complete a hat-trick of away wins in the Premier League and move up to 12th in the standings going into the mid-season break.

Leicester, who had lost their first five away games this season, needed just eight minutes to take the lead when a counter-attacking move finished with an unmarked Maddison firing his shot into the roof of the net at the far post.

But Leicester’s joy quickly turned to England’s concern as Maddison — who made the World Cup squad two days ago — went down clutching his leg and was immediately substituted, with the 25-year-old walking straight down the tunnel for treatment.

West Ham’s afternoon nearly went from bad to worse after Craig Dawson’s last-ditch tackle brought down Patson Daka in the box, with the referee awarding a penalty after a VAR check, but goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski saved Youri Tielemans’ spot kick.

The home side pressed and probed for an equaliser in the second half as Declan Rice set the tempo and pulled strings from midfield while Leicester were shoddy in possession, forcing manager Brendan Rodgers to make a triple change.

The decision paid off six minutes later as substitute Ayoze Perez released Barnes with a sublime through-ball on another Leicester counter-attack and the English winger finished with a first-time effort to beat Fabianski.

Slick Bournemouth outclass struggling Everton again
Bournemouth thumped Everton for the second time this week as goals from Marcus Tavernier, Kieffer Moore and substitute Jaidon Anthony helped them win 3-0 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday in their final Premier League game before the World Cup.

The hosts had snapped a run of four straight losses by knocking Everton out of the League Cup with a 4-1 home victory on Tuesday and they outclassed the Merseysiders again, condemning them to a fifth league defeat in seven matches.

Dominic Solanke won an aerial duel with James Tarkowski and lifted a shot goalwards which Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford punched away but could not clear and Tavernier was on hand to poke home from close range in the 18th minute.

Seven minutes later, Pickford parried Philip Billing’s volley and Tavernier nodded the rebound back across goal, where Moore out-muscled Everton defender Vitaly Mykolenko to power it over the line.

Everton offered little going forward and Bournemouth added their third when Anthony headed past Pickford from Lewis Cook’s free kick two minutes after coming on.

Solanke had a goal disallowed for offside and Billing fired wide in the closing stages as Bournemouth wrapped up a comfortable win to move up to 13th on 16 points. Everton are hovering just above the relegation zone in 17th on 14 points.