Ipswich Town 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur

A FIRST-HALF brace by Brennan Johnson at his father’s old stomping ground inspired Tottenham to a 4-1 victory at Ipswich.

David Johnson had been prolific at Portman Road across a four-year spell and his son Brennan followed in his footsteps with two quickfire goals in Suffolk to set Spurs on course for a third straight Premier League win.

Omari Hutchinson pulled one back for Kieran McKenna’s side before half-time and relegation-threatened Ipswich did have other chances, but Tottenham made the points safe with late strikes by Djed Spence and Dejan Kulusevski.

It continued Spurs’ mini-revival, Ange Postecoglou’s team winning three league fixtures on the bounce for the first time since December 2023 as they aim to put a difficult winter period behind them.

Postecoglou watched his team break through after 18 minutes. Gray produced a superb ball over the top for Son, who controlled impressively and worked a yard of space against Ben Godfrey before he crossed in for Johnson to poke home.

Johnson sheepishly looked over to the assistant referee, but the goal was given after a quick check for offside.

It was quickly followed by a second goal eight minutes later. Rodrigo Bentancur released Son on this occasion and the Tottenham captain cut inside before teeing up Johnson to slot home his 14th goal of the season.

It was almost 3-0 moments later but Son had a shot deflected wide and Ipswich reduced the deficit in the 36th minute. Kevin Danso was dispossessed and Phillips played through to Jack Clarke, who cut back for Hutchinson to curl into the corner for his third goal this term.

It set up a finely-poised second half and substitute James Maddison — whose every touch was heavily booed given his past links to Norwich — had the last laugh when he twinkle-toed past two opponents to set up Spence for Spurs’ third in the 77th minute.

Kulusevski wrapped up the points with six minutes left when he curled home off the post, despite Ipswich’s Greaves being down hurt, as Tottenham won on the road again.

Bournemouth 0-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Bournemouth missed the chance to move into the top four after they failed to recover from the first-half sending-off of Illia Zabarnyi to go down 1-0 against Wolves at the Vitality Stadium.

The defender was dismissed in the 31st minute for leaving his studs on the shin of Rayan Ait-Nouri and within minutes Vitor Pereira’s side had made their advantage count as Matheus Cunha netted his 13th league goal of the season to send Wolves five points clear of the relegation zone.

For Andoni Iraola and Bournemouth it was an opportunity not taken, as with fourth-place Manchester City not playing until Sunday they lost for only the second time in 14 league games and spurned their shot at climbing into the top four.

Indeed they failed to summon a second-half shot on goal, unable with 10 players to produce the kind of intensity that has fired their unlikely push for the Champions League, as Wolves clung on for a crucial win in their battle against the drop.

The game turned on the red card and so did the mood inside the ground. Bournemouth supporters responded furiously when Michael Salisbury first showed Zabarnyi a yellow card for fouling Ait-Nouri in midfield, but that ire was magnified when, following a pitchside review, the referee deemed the defender had left his foot high on Ait-Nouri’s ankle. To a chorus of boos the punishment was upgraded, and Zabarnyi walked.

Wolves went in front five minutes later with the game’s only goal. Joao Gomes knocked a short pass back to Semedo who swung over a cross that bamboozled Bournemouth’s defence. Dean Huijsen miscalculated, attempting to clear with his head when his foot might have served, and allowed the ball to reach Cunha in space who swept it high into the net.

Southampton 0-4 Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton made it three wins in a row as they cruised to a 4-0 victory at rock-bottom Southampton to climb to eighth place and keep their European ambitions on track.

Goals from the excellent Joao Pedro, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood were more than enough to condemn the Saints to a 21st defeat of the season and leave them on just nine points, two fewer than Derby’s record low total from the 2007/8 season.

As if they did not already have enough problems, Southampton lost their captain Jan Bednarek through injury after 10 minutes. Forgotten man Armel Bella-Kotchap was his replacement, coming off the bench to huge acclaim from the home support to make his first appearance in 567 days for the club.

Brighton were quickly on top though, and hesitation in the Saints defence was pounced upon by Joao Pedro who coolly scooped the ball over the advancing Aaron Ramsdale to give Fabian Hurzeler’s side a deserved lead in 23 minutes.

Southampton thought they had equalised at the start of the second half when Cameron Archer neatly finished off a clever pass from Mateus Fernandes. Archer was flagged offside and VAR concurred, much to Ivan Juric’s frustration.

The Croatian boss was left even more red-faced when Brighton made it 2-0. Joe Aribo was adamant that he had been fouled by Rutter in the build-up but Darren Bond waved away the protests and Yankuba Minteh was left with the simple task of rolling the ball across the six-yard box for Rutter to prod home his fifth league goal of the season.

With 19 minutes to play, another brilliant touch from Joao Pedro sent Mitoma clear and the Japanese forward coolly dinked the ball over Ramsdale to score his fifth goal in seven games and cue a mass exodus in the home stands.

Those who had remained saw Brighton add a simple fourth as Brajan Gruda’s corner fell to the unmarked Hinselwood at the far post from where the 19-year-old scored his second goal of the campaign.

Fulham 0-2 Crystal Palace

Former Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen scored an own goal as the Eagles secured a 2-0  victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The Denmark international, who completed a reported €36 million (£30m) switch from south to west London in the summer, gave his former side a first-half lead before Daniel Munoz fired home Palace’s second after 66 minutes.

Victory for Oliver Glasner’s men made it four league wins in their last six matches and they remain 13th as a result.