A SMASH-AND-GRAB raid late in the first half helped Southampton to come from behind and secure a 3-2 win over Premier League relegation rivals West Brom at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
The Baggies had led through Ahmed Hegazi’s early header, but Mario Lemina equalised with a spectacular first goal in Southampton colours, and Jack Stephens continued his rich vein of scoring form by nodding home, as the visitors struck twice in the space of three minutes shortly before the break.
James Ward-Prowse appeared to have afforded the visitors a degree of comfort when he steered home a clever free-kick in the 55th minute.
And although Salomon Rondon pulled one back in the 72nd minute, the hosts proved unable to force an equaliser in the time remaining, the result leaving West Brom at risk of being cut adrift in 20th place.
Brighton and Hove Albion eased their relegation fears as they completed a league double over West Ham with a 3-1 win at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Chris Hughton’s side recorded their first league win of 2018 thanks to stunning second-half strikes from Jose Izquierdo and Pascal Gross, blowing open the 10,000th Premier League game between two sides looking over their shoulders in the battle to avoid the drop.
Glenn Murray had converted a one-on-one opportunity to put the hosts ahead in the eighth minute, only for Javier Hernandez to grab an equaliser and get West Ham on level terms before the half-hour mark.
Swansea City, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run to seven games after Federico Fernandez’s equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw against Leicester City.
Jamie Vardy gave Leicester a first-half lead and Claude Puel’s side looked set to bounce back from their defeat to Everton last time out with a win until Swansea mounted a fightback after the break.
Carlos Carvalhal has only suffered one defeat since he took the reins at Swansea and whatever he said to his players at half-time had the desired effect and they drew level through Fernandez within seven minutes of the restart.
Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth followed up their big win at Stamford Bridge in midweek with another victory.
Xherdan Shaqiri put visitors Stoke 1-0 up after just five minutes but Joshua King and Lys Mousset struck within 10 minutes of each other midway through the second half to seal the points.
