Leeds pull clear of trouble, Bournemouth sink Newcastle as Fulham and Brentford share spoils

Leeds beat Wolves 3-0 to open up a nine-point cushion in the battle for Premier League survival.

Fresh from a first league win away at fierce rivals Manchester United since 1981, Leeds all but secured their top-flight status.

Two goals in two first-half minutes from James Justin and Noak Okafor pushed Wolves to the brink of relegation before Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s penalty in stoppage time rounded off the scoring.

For the past two years all three promoted sides have gone straight back down.

Bournemouth piled more pressure on Eddie Howe’s future as Newcastle manager with a 2-1 win at St. James’ Park.

The Cherries showed no ill effects from the news that Andoni Iraola will depart as boss at the end of the season.

Marcus Tavernier and Adrien Truffert struck for the visitors to extend their unbeaten Premier League run to 13 matches.

Bournemouth climb to eighth and within four points of the Champions League places.

Newcastle, by contrast, remain in 14th with their hopes of European football next season all but over.

Howe did not include Anthony Gordon as speculation mounts that the England international could leave St. James’ Park this summer.

Despite delivering Newcastle’s first domestic trophy for 70 years last season, Howe is another high-profile Premier League manager who could move on at the end of the campaign.

Goalkeeper Bernd Leno kept alive Fulham’s faint European hopes with a standout 90th-minute save in a goalless Premier League clash at high-flying rivals Brentford..

A West London derby that could have turbo-charged either side’s hopes of a place in European competition ultimately fell flat at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Brentford, now on five successive league draws for the first time since 1957, missed a chance to leapfrog Chelsea for sixth place while Fulham stayed 12th pending later fixtures after a game they really needed to win.

Only six points separate Chelsea (48) and Newcastle United (42) in 14th place, with Brentford and Fulham (45) having five matches remaining and most of their rivals still with a game in hand and everything to play for.

Brentford, now level on points with Chelsea but with an inferior goal difference, could have nicked the three points but for Leno’s brilliant effort in keeping out Dango Ouattara as the clock ticked into stoppage time.

Leno had not had much to keep him busy until then, with Brentford mustering only two shots on target in the first half hour and their Brazilian top scorer Igor Thiago having a quiet afternoon after an early header went wide, but the German earned his pay with a man-of-the-match save.

“I think those moments in the last minute, the last moment of the game, are always the best,” he told TNT Sports.

“When I saw all my mates come over to me, it was a good moment. It was important for us because I think we deserved a point for that.”

Brentford manager Keith Andrews felt his side would have won but was pleased at least with a clean sheet and hopes of a first European campaign for the club very much intact.

“I think we’re on a really exciting journey. The way we approach everything is in a fearless way,” said the Irishman, whose predecessor Thomas Frank was watching from the stands. “We approach every game to look to win it.

“Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that as consistently recently as we would have liked but we’ve set the bar high and I don’t mind that.”

Fulham’s influential midfielder Alex Iwobi limped off injured five minutes before the break, a cause for some initial concern for manager Marco Silva.

“He is not feeling so painful right now. It doesn’t look like a serious, serious hamstring injury,” he said.

“Let’s hope we are not going to lose him until the end of the season because he is so, so important for us.”

Agencies