Leeds lose again on Marsch’s first home assignment

Leeds 0 Aston Villa 3

Leeds United remain firmly embroiled in a Premier League relegation battle after slipping to a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa on Thursday in American manager Jesse Marsch’s first home game.

Sitting two points above the drop zone before the game, Leeds lacked quality in the frontcourt as they sought a first win in eight games, with the hosts falling behind in the 22nd minute when Philippe Coutinho’s strike slipped out.

The Elland Road crowd grew frustrated as his side misplaced pass after pass, allowing Villa to add a second to full-back Matty Cash in the 65th minute and end the clash like a contest.

There was still time for Calum Chambers to complete a sublime third for Villa as the fans headed for an early exit, with their side two points clear of Burnley in 18th but having played two games more.

Villa’s third straight win lifted them to ninth place in the standings.

Wolves 4 Watford 0

Watford’s dwindling Premier League survival hopes suffered another blow as a terrible 21-minute opener saw them comfortably beaten at Wolves.

A 4-0 loss at Molineux leaves Watford with just one win in their last 16 Premier League outings, with Roy Hodgson’s side three points from safety with 10 games remaining.

17th-placed Everton have superior goal difference and three games in hand as an early strike from Raul Jimenez, an own goal from Cucho Hernandez and an effort from Daniel Podence saw Wolves roll with less than a quarter of the game – and a nice chip from Ruben Neves rounded off a commanding display late.

Three rebound losses for the home side never seemed to become four as they remain hopeful of securing European qualification at the end of the season.

Hodgson took his cap off at the trio of goals scored by Arsenal to defeat Watford on Sunday – but here he shook his head in disbelief.

Jimenez had all the time he needed to control a pass from attacking partner Hwang Hee-chan and convert from just six yards to open the scoring with 13 minutes on the clock.

Eight minutes later and the game was well beyond Watford, Hernandez obediently deflecting a cross from Rayan Ait-Nouri into his own goal before goalkeeper Ben Foster kicked his lines from a clearance and presented the ball to Podence, who made no mistake at 25 yards.

Foster, with the full force of the South Bank Wolves fans now on his back, again found Podence with an errant clearance, but this time the striker couldn’t pick up a shot over the goalkeeper. goal from 40 yards.

Almost every chance presented itself to the home side as substitutes Pedro Neto and Fabio Silva were close to extending the lead.

Wolves would strike again in the closing stages, with Neves deftly controlling the ball from the edge of the box before firing a perfect finish at Foster.

Southampton 1 Newcastle 2

Bruno Guimaraes scored the winner for Newcastle United with a brilliant volley from the back heels as his side came from within a goal to secure a vital 2-1 victory at Southampton.

Stuart Armstrong put Southampton ahead midway through the first half with a deflected header, but Chris Wood equalized for the visitors with an accurate header from Jonjo Shelvey’s superb cross in the 32nd minute.

It was the striker’s first goal in his eighth appearance for Newcastle, and Guimaraes also grabbed his first for the Magpies with bold skill in the 66th minute, reacting fastest to heel the ball into the net after a corner.

Martin Dubravka pulled off a superb save from Mohammed Salisu late as Newcastle maintained their league unbeaten run in 2022 to move to 31 points, 10 ahead of 18th-placed Burnley. Southampton are 10th with 35 points.

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