West Ham\u2019s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle left Tottenham realistically only needing one more point to win the battle for Premier League survival, while Bruno Fernandes made history in Manchester United\u2019s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Spurs can avoid dropping out of the English top flight for the first time in nearly 50 years with victory at Chelsea on Tuesday, but a draw would also likely suffice thanks to their much superior goal difference over West Ham.<\/p>\n
A third consecutive defeat left the Hammers needing favours and they were well beaten at St. James\u2019 Park against a Newcastle side who had little to play for.<\/p>\n
Nick Woltemade turned in Harvey Barnes\u2019 cross for his first league goal since December.<\/p>\n
William Osula then finished off a flowing Newcastle move to double the lead inside 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Osula struck again with his fifth goal in six games and even a stunning strike from Taty Castellanos was little consolation for the visitors.<\/p>\n
West Ham\u2019s only hope of survival is if they beat Leeds on the final day and Tottenham lose to both Chelsea and Everton.<\/p>\n
THE ASSIST KING<\/p>\n
Fernandes equalled the Premier League record of 20 assists in a season as United secured third place at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
The Portuguese international moved alongside Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne in the single-season assist list when his cross was turned in by Bryan Mbeumo for United\u2019s third goal at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
Luke Shaw volleyed United in front after just five minutes, but Forest levelled a wide open encounter early in the second half when Elliot Anderson\u2019s cross was headed in by Morato.<\/p>\n
United raced down the other end and Matheus Cunha\u2019s goal was allowed to stand despite a VAR check for handball by Mbeumo in the build-up.<\/p>\n
Fernandes\u2019 record-equalling moment arrived 14 minutes from full-time when Mbeumo prodded in his drilled cross for his first goal since February.<\/p>\n
Morgan Gibbs-White reduced the deficit in the 78th minute.<\/p>\n
But United held on to add another victory to their impressive run since interim boss Michael Carrick arrived in January.<\/p>\n
Carrick is expected to sign a two-year contract to remain in charge on a permanent basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the coming days there\u2019ll be clarity in the situation,\u201d the former United midfielder said of his future.<\/p>\n
EURO DREAMS<\/p>\n
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal in stoppage-time at Elland Road as Leeds beat Brighton 1-0 to damage the Seagulls\u2019 hopes of European qualification.<\/p>\n
Brentford, in eighth place, also suffered a blow to their European ambitions in a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
Ismaila Sarr\u2019s sixth-minute penalty put Palace ahead before Dango Ouattara hauled Brentford level in the 40th minute.<\/p>\n
Adam Wharton restored Palace\u2019s advantage with his first goal for the club in the 52nd minute, but Ouattara struck again in the 88th minute.<\/p>\n
Sunderland are also in contention for European qualification after a 3-1 win at Everton lifted the Black Cats up to ninth.<\/p>\n
Fulham slipped to 13th after a 1-1 draw at relegated Wolves hampered their chances of Europe next season.<\/p>\n
Earlier, troubled Chelsea hired Xabi Alonso as their new manager, less than 24 hours after losing 1-0 against Manchester City in the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n
Alonso, who agreed a four-year contract with 10th-placed Chelsea, led Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title in 2024 but was sacked by Real Madrid in January after just seven months in charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Ham\u2019s 3-1 defeat at Newcastle left Tottenham realistically only needing one more point to win the battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[48077,2620,64,63,62966,53043,93304,250724,326623,93883,596,214167,47573,52997,120751,106703,11999,6255,211654,254244,1614,43269,326625,326622,85,250723,212843,100684,326624,25464,146111],"class_list":["post-677661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-adam-wharton","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-dominic-calvert-lewin","tag-elliot-anderson","tag-european-ambitions","tag-european-dreams","tag-european-qualification","tag-football","tag-interim-boss","tag-james","tag-kevin-de-bruyne","tag-league-goal","tag-luke-shaw","tag-manchester-city-football-club","tag-manchester-united-football-club","tag-michael-carrick","tag-permanent-basis","tag-premier-league","tag-real-madrid-c-f","tag-single-season-assist-list","tag-sixth-minute-penalty","tag-sports","tag-superior-goal-difference","tag-taty-castellanos","tag-thierry-henry","tag-wide-open-encounter","tag-william-osula","tag-xabi-alonso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}