Tottenham fail to wrest fourth spot
LONDON: Tottenham missed the chance to move into the Premier League’s top four after a 1-1 draw at West Ham, while Newcastle were also held 1-1 by Everton on Tuesday.
Spurs have made a habit of recovering from slow starts to win in recent months, but this time they failed to capitalise on scoring after just five minutes.
Brennan Johnson was left with the simple task of tapping into an empty net from Timo Werner’s cross.
West Ham were under pressure to respond after collapsing from 3-1 up to lose 4-3 at Newcastle on Saturday.
The Hammers were quickly level as Jarrod Bowen’s corner flew in off the back of Kurt Zouma.
The draw kept West Ham one point ahead of Newcastle in seventh, but they missed the best chance to take all three points when Michail Antonio fired straight at Guglielmo Vicario.
Tottenham close to within two points of Aston Villa in fourth and extend their lead over sixth-placed Manchester United to nine points.
“Disappointed not to get a better outcome, but a tough game,” said Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
“There’s a lot of games to go still. I will be very surprised if all games aren’t tight. Everyone is fighting for something. We have to maintain our levels.”
Injury-hit Newcastle’s hopes of European football next season were dented by Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s late equaliser for Everton from the penalty spot.
Alexander Isak netted for the fifth consecutive game at St James’ Park to open the scoring.
The Swede took his tally for the season to 19 as he cut inside Jarrad
Branthwaite and slotted into the far corner on 15 minutes.
How Sean Dyche longs for a striker of Isak’s quality. But Calvert-Lewin ended a near six-month goal drought from the spot after Ashley Young was hauled down inside the box by Paul Dummett.
Everton set a new club record winless run of 13 Premier League games to leave their 70-year stay in the top flight still at risk.
The Toffees edge four points above the relegation zone but have the threat of a second points deduction for rules breaches rules hanging over them.
Nottingham Forest pulled three points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win over Fulham.
Second-bottom Burnley are now unbeaten in four but slip six points adrift of safety after a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves. Bournemouth climbed above Chelsea into 11th as they beat Crystal Palace 1-0.
RESULTS
Bournemouth 1 (Kluivert 79) Crystal Palace 0; Burnley 1 (Bruun Larsen 37) Wolves 1 (Ait Nouri 45+3); Newcastle 1 (Isak 15) Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 88-pen); Nottingham Forest 3 (Hudson-Odoi 9, Wood 19, Gibbs-White 45+3) Fulham 1 (Adarabioyo 49); West Ham 1 (Zouma 19) Tottenham 1 (Johnson 5)