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John Walton
Round-Up

Five-star Palace thump McClaren's Newcastle, Villa lose again

Big Sam’s Sunderland leapfrog Newcastle and move out of the relegation zone with win over Stoke.

YANNICK BOLASIE AND James McArthur each scored twice in a 5-1 victory as Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew heaped fresh misery on his Newcastle United successor Steve McClaren.

Beaten 3-0 at home by Leicester City last weekend, Newcastle’s defence was torn apart again as Pardew, who left St James’ Park in January, sent his old club back into the Premier League relegation zone.

Newcastle took a 10th-minute lead through Papiss Cisse at Selhurst Park, but ex-Sunderland striker Connor Wickham set up goals for McArthur, Bolasie and Wilfried Zaha to put the hosts 3-1 up by half-time.

Bolasie and McArthur netted again in the second half, sealing Palace’s first win over Newcastle since March 1998 and ramping up the pressure on the beleaguered McClaren, whose side host Liverpool next weekend.

Palace climb four places to sixth in the table, while Newcastle drop into the bottom three, two points from safety.

Meanwhile, rock-bottom Aston Villa were beaten 3-2 by an Odion Ighalo inspired Watford and have just five points after a deflating 11th defeat in 14 Premier League games.

Nigerian striker Ighalo was the man of the match as he scored one and had a hand in Watford’s other two goals.

First he took his season’s tally to eight on 17 minutes when a loose ball fell to him eight yards out and he stroked it past Brad Guzan in the Villa goal.

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards bagged an equaliser for Villa just before the break with a glancing header after he rose to meet a deep free kick.

Play was held up for six minutes as Watford ‘keeper Heurelho Gomes was stretchered off after a nasty head collision with his own defender Craig Cathcart.

But an Alan Hutton own goal put Watford back in front as play restarted on 69 minutes when he toe-poked the ball past his own ‘keeper in a desperate attempt to stop the ball rolling to Ighalo to make it 2-1

The Nigerian was in the thick of the third goal too, swivelling before lashing in a shot from the edge of the area that Richards blocked before the onrushing Troy Deeney headed powerfully home to make it 3-1 for the visitors.

Ghana international Jordan Ayew then curled in a peach of a consolation goal late in the game to peg it back to 3-2.

Two goals in two minutes late in the game gave Sunderland a 2-0 victory over Stoke City on Saturday that took the Black Cats out of the relegation zone.

Dutch forward Patrick Van Aanholt and English youngster Duncan Watmore scored inside the final 10 minutes to punish 10-man Stoke who had Ryan Shawcross sent-off for two bookings.

The result moved Sam Allardyce’s men above north-east rivals Newcastle United and out of the Premier League’s bottom three.

© – AFP 2015

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