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Shane Long scores his side's second goal. PA
Long Wait Over

Shane Long bags his first Premier League goal in two years as Saints win

Ireland star helped Southampton defeat Everton 2-0 with Arsenal, Chelsea and Watford also winning this afternoon.

IT HAS BEEN a long time coming. Two years to be precise.

His last Premier League goal was in February 2020 against Aston Villa although he has since scored for Bournemouth during a loan spell as well as scoring in the FA Cup for the Saints last month.

So little wonder Shane Long was overjoyed today. The 35-year-old got one of Southampton’s two goals as they recorded a 2-0 win over Everton, nodding home a match-sealing second with his first touch after replacing Broja.

Just as Saints’ goalscorers are enjoying a top-flight resurgence, so too are Ralph Hasenhuttl’s collective. Southampton extended their recent fine run to just one defeat in 11 matches in all competitions with another impressive showing.

Southampton dominated in every area of the field as James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu’s mix of industry and ingenuity buffeted Everton off their stride all afternoon, Kyle Walker-Peters bossed the left flank and Armando Broja was unfortunate to end the day without a goal.

Armstrong and Long cemented Saints in 10th spot and left Everton floundering in 16th.

Elsewhere, Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka once again provided the goods as Arsenal beat Brentford to move within a point of the Premier League top four.

Making just his second league start since December 2, Smith Rowe’s solo effort broke the deadlock before fellow academy graduate Saka added a well-taken second in a 2-1 victory, Christian Norgaard striking a last-gasp consolation for the visitors.

The win drew Arsenal level on points with West Ham in fifth and left them just a point off Manchester United, who occupy the final Champions League place.

The Gunners also have two games in hand on United, who face a trip to Leeds on Sunday afternoon.

Smith Rowe was recalled in the only change from Arsenal’s win at Wolves, replacing the suspended Gabriel Martinelli in Mikel Arteta’s side.

But it was shaping up to be a frustrating afternoon for the hosts, who had seen the majority of their top-four rivals drop points since they were last in action.

They had 16 shots in a dominant first half, albeit only registering two efforts on target, with Saka poking wide when well-placed.

Alexandre Lacazette thought he had broken the deadlock but his effort was ruled out by a narrow offside call.

Brentford, again without top-scorer Ivan Toney and new recruit Christian Eriksen, created very few chances in a half where they seemed focused on keeping Arsenal at bay.

That game plan fell by the wayside just three minutes after the interval as Smith Rowe skipped inside two defenders and saw his low shot beat David Raya in the Brentford goal.

Even after falling behind, the visitors struggled to really muster up the opportunities to threaten the Arsenal lead.

Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa were feeding on scraps up front and it was no surprise when the home side doubled their lead.

Lacazette won a tussle with Bees skipper Pontus Jansson, with the ball finding its way through to Saka, who coolly slotted home from just inside the box.

Jansson was incensed not to have been awarded a free-kick for a foul by Lacazette, earning a booking from referee Jon Moss, who had also managed to rile the home fans with a number of decisions they felt went against their side.

The result keeps alive Arsenal’s hopes of ending their five-year Champions League exile and they host Wolves on Thursday looking to rack up a win in one of their rescheduled games.

Brentford, though, have now won just one of their last 10 league outings and could take little consolation from Norgaard’s bundled effort at the end of stoppage time as VAR overturned an offside call.

Meanwhile, Hakim Ziyech struck an 89th-minute winner to help new world champions Chelsea earn a narrow 1-0 win at Crystal Palace.

Video assistant referee had denied the Morocco international earlier in the second half when Romelu Lukaku, who only had seven touches at Selhurst Park, was deemed to be offside.

It looked like being another frustrating afternoon for Thomas Tuchel’s side until Ziyech netted to build momentum after their Club World Cup success in Abu Dhabi with three points in the Premier League, which strengthens their stranglehold on third position.

Chelsea’s numerous cup commitments meant this was their first top-flight fixture since January 23 and any faint title hopes they had after a 2-0 win over Tottenham last month had virtually evaporated now.

The late withdrawals of Cesar Azpilicueta and Callum Hudson-Odoi weakened the visitors in south London but Palace had problems of their own with Joel Ward and Blues loanee Conor Gallagher unavailable.

It resulted in Vieira switching formation to a 4-2-3-1 with Michael Olise recalled and he nearly opened the scoring after seven minutes.

Wilfried Zaha, deployed down the middle, found Olise on the right but after he worked a yard of space up against Antonio Rudiger, he could only drag his effort wide from eight yards.

Tuchel’s side responded with Christian Pulisic blazing over a half volley before Rudiger’s spectacular effort from more than 35 yards forced a fine save by Vicente Guaita.

Late on, Marcos Alonso spotted Ziyech unmarked at the back post and found the former Ajax attacker who volleyed in for his seventh goal of the season.

Watford also secured a badly-needed win and a first under Roy Hodgson as Emmanuel Dennis scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa.

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