Wolves 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0
Adama Traore struck to boost Wolves’ survival hopes and deliver a damaging blow to Tottenham’s Champions League dream.
The forward’s first goal since October eased relegation fears at Molineux as the hosts bagged a gritty 1-0 win.
Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min hit the crossbar but Spurs sank to a disappointing defeat on the eve of boss Antonio Conte’s comeback.
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Conte will return on Sunday after recovering from gallbladder surgery to a side fourth in the Premier League but low on confidence and struggling to find their killer instinct.
Victories over West Ham and Chelsea had hauled them into the Champions League spots, but a scrappy defeat at Molineux only showed their fragility – following the midweek FA Cup exit at Sheffield United.
Having played two games more than the chasing pack, their fourth spot looks anything but secure.
AC Milan arrive for Wednesday’s last-16 second-leg tie holding a 1-0 advantage and the Italians will fancy their chances of progressing if Saturday’s uninspiring performance is anything to go by.
In contrast, positivity is plentiful at Molineux after the hosts moved five points clear of the relegation zone.
After three winless games, fears had grown Wolves would be sucked back into the drop zone, but a gutsy victory gives them further breathing space.
The only issue was Diego Costa being stretched off after landing awkwardly after 28 minutes, adding to worries of a serious injury.
Before that Spurs had been on top, with Jose Sa claiming Son’s shot and turning Dejan Kulusevski’s curling effort wide.
It was still attritional rather than flowing at a subdued Molineux, with stoppages to tend to injuries to Max Kilman and Ben Davies stunting the game’s momentum.
Tottenham still created the best moments of a fairly forgettable first half and, when Ivan Perisic met Son’s deep free-kick, Sa shovelled his header behind.
Son blazed over after Harry Kane’s quick free-kick – his blushes spared by an offside flag – before the visitors went closer in stoppage time.
Perisic’s burst forward was halted by Ruben Neves and Porro curled a 20-yard free kick against the bar.
Just 90 seconds after the restart Spurs rattled the woodwork again when Son’s rising drive, after Kane’s pass, smacked the bar.
The near miss stirred Wolves into life and Nelson Semedo narrowly missed Raul Jimenez’s cutback as the hosts found the urgency which they so sorely lacked.
Traore, on for Pedro Neto at the break, threatened his usual chaos and it was his cross which found Jimenez, only for his header to be parried by Fraser Forster.
Neves twice tested the goalkeeper from distance and Matheus Cunha should have done so much better than shoot wide after Jimenez and Joao Moutinho combined.
Wolves had upped the tempo since the break and finally found the breakthrough with eight minutes remaining.
Jimenez engineered space on the edge of the box and, when Forster parried his drive, Traore’s first-time volley arched over the goalkeeper and dropped in off the bar.
Chelsea 1 Leeds United 0
Chelsea’s long goalless run at Stamford Bridge was ended by a second-half header from Wesley Fofana that earned them a 1-0 win over Leeds and brought badly needed respite for Graham Potter.
The defender nodded in Ben Chilwell’s corner eight minutes after half-time to bring a deserved first victory in six Premier League games and help lift a mood that had grown increasingly hostile towards Potter.
The hosts dominated in the first half, going close through Kai Havertz and Joao Felix, who hit the crossbar. It was a different Chelsea to the one so meek in defeats to Tottenham and here against Southampton.
Leeds rallied after falling behind, but anything less than three points would have been crushing for Potter, whose team’s seven-week wait for a home win ended here.
Chelsea were aiming to avoid falling into the Premier League’s bottom half, and the threat of such fresh ignominy seemed to drive the team in the direction of new energy and invention.
The first-half chances came at a quick-fire rate. First Chilwell, collecting the ball on the left touchline, swept a cross into the heart of Leeds’ penalty area which was inches away from the head of the diving Havertz.
The German had been the last Chelsea player to score on this ground back on 15th January. The determination to end that drought was readily apparent
The next opportunity fell to Fofana, thumping a header just over from Chilwell’s neat near-post corner. Later, Leeds would be made to rue not heeding how effective that combination could be from a dead ball.
For all Chelsea’s struggles, the team had not lost their fans’ support. When Chilwell floored Crysencio Summerville at the other end as the Leeds forward looked to nip around him and to break into the box, Stamford Bridge roared its approval.
They were on their feet again when Havertz sprinted in behind Leeds’ defence from Raheem Sterling’s pass and looked certain to score, only for Illan Meslier to spread himself magnificently to deny Chelsea’s makeshift number nine.
Next it was Felix’s turn to go agonisingly close, his first-time strike from Raheem Sterling’s pullback smacking the underside of the crossbar, before Chilwell volleyed wide from six yards out. Leeds were holding on by their fingertips.
The concern for Chelsea was that the game would go the way of so many recent performances, a bright beginning eventually giving way to frustration and inertia as the chances came and went. They could, perhaps should, have been out of sight by half-time. Instead the teams went in level.
The goal, Chelsea’s first at Stamford Bridge for 49 days, sent a wave of relief surging around the ground, and it was the excellent Chilwell who made it. His corner was floated over, and as the bodies rose Fofana got the better Weston McKennie with a fine leap and powered his header beyond Meslier.
Chelsea had not held a lead since early February, and their composure in sight of victory was tested moments later. Luke Ayling fired in a driven cross from the right that was met first-time by the unmarked Georginio Rutter six-yards out.
His effort was bound for the bottom corner and would have sent Chelsea tumbling back to square one, had Kalidou Koulibaly not been in the right place at the right time to deflect it into Kepa Arrizabalaga’s grateful clutch.
All Chelsea’s good work was nearly undone in the most unlikely fashion in stoppage time, Meslier charging forward for a corner and finding himself unmarked, but the goalkeeper’s header lacked the power to beat Arrizabalaga.
Brighton and Hove Albion 4 West Ham 0
West Ham fans turned on David Moyes after they slumped to an alarming 4-0 defeat at Brighton.
The Hammers are now winless in 11 away matches in the Premier League and still perilously close to the relegation zone after a feeble display.
It was another case of the curse of Brighton for West Ham – Moyes’ side have never beaten the Seagulls in the Premier League and left the Amex Stadium empty-handed, yet again, at the 12th attempt.
But this was far from unlucky. A penalty from Alexis Mac Allister, tap-ins for Joel Veltman and Kaoru Mitoma and a late strike from Danny Welbeck did the damage as the fans’ patience with Moyes ran out.
The usually supportive away following were singing his name in the first half, but he faced chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘sacked in the morning’ in the second.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has no such problems, and he watched from the stands with his feet up while he served a touchline ban for his red card in the tunnel against Fulham a fortnight ago.
The Italian’s absence certainly did not knock his in-form side out of their stride.
They were gifted the lead in the 18th minute when the ever-dangerous Mitoma darted into the penalty area and was shoved to the ground by Jarrod Bowen.
Argentina World Cup-winner Mac Allister stepped up to place the spot-kick over Alphonse Areola’s dive and high into the net.
Bowen had an immediate chance to make amends when he raced through one-on-one with Jason Steele but his shot was too close to the keeper.
Steele, who at 32 was making only the second Premier League appearance of his career, justified his selection ahead of Robert Sanchez again moments later when he stuck out a leg to deny Tomas Soucek.
Moyes brought off the erratic Said Benrahma at half-time, with the away fans immediately voicing their displeasure at the decision.
Six minutes into the second half Brighton doubled their lead through right-back Veltman, who was only on the field after an early injury to Tariq Lamptey.
Mac Allister flicked on a Pascal Gross corner and Veltman was all alone at the far post to guide the ball in with his chest.
It could have been three moments later when Evan Ferguson bulldozed his way through but Areola made a fine save to push his shot over.
Things were going from bad to worse for West Ham and their desperation was clear when Bowen was booked for a blatant dive in the area.
In the 69th minute, Mitoma ended any forlorn hope of a comeback from the visitors with a far-post tap-in from Gross’s cross.
Areola tipped Julio Enciso’s shot on to the crossbar but the hammering was complete with two minutes left through substitute Welbeck’s 20-yard drive.
Aston Villa 1 Crystal Palace 0
Crystal Palace’s slow drift into the Premier League relegation fight continued as Joachim Andersen’s own goal was enough to condemn them to a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Denmark defender Andersen turned a Matty Cash cross into his own net after 27 minutes and there was little sign of a fightback from Patrick Vieira’s side even before six minutes of madness from Cheick Doucoure saw him dismissed for two yellow cards early in the second half.
Unai Emery’s first victory over Palace keeps a Villa side once with relegation worries of their own in touch with the European battle, but though only one place separates these two clubs in the table it is a very different picture for Vieira.
The Frenchman insisted this week he does not fear the prospect of a relegation battle but he surely should as his side’s winless 2023 continued, leaving them only six points clear of the bottom three.
Defeat made it nine league games without victory, and with Manchester City, high-flying Brighton and Arsenal up next, things could soon get worse.
The recent absence of Wilfried Zaha has only added to Palace’s shortcomings given their dismal 10 per cent win record without him since the start of last season.
It looked as though their talisman’s return from a hamstring injury could solve both problems as he had the ball in the net with less than five minutes gone.
But Zaha was fractionally offside as he raced on to Ebere Eze’s ball from the left before he rounded Emiliano Martinez to apply the finish, and the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check.
Having survived that let off, Villa grew into the game. Ollie Watkins got slightly in John McGinn’s way as he stooped to meet Alex Moreno’s cross, flashing a header wide.
But McGinn then set up the Villa goal, threading a pass into the path of Cash as he charged down the right. Cash sent in a low ball for Watkins, but Andersen got their first, sliding in to clear but instead diverting the ball past Vicente Guaita.
Palace’s attacking intentions continued to be frustrated by the offside flag as they struggled to create opportunities, and it was Villa who should have added to their lead before the break.
Emiliano Buendia’s pass picked out Watkins who wriggled free inside the area, only to place his shot the wrong side of the post.
There had been little sign of Palace getting back into the game in the early part of the second half, and hopes would be all but extinguished just after the hour mark.
Doucoure was book for a challenge which ended Boubacar Kamara’s afternoon in the 56th minute, and when he then left Kamara’s replacement Calum Chambers in a heap with another late tackle moments later, Craig Pawson produced a second yellow card.
Zaha did his best to provide some inspiration for Palace, wriggling free of three defenders before bending a shot wide, though it may not have counted due to the use of a hand when he momentarily slipped.
It said much about the game that neither side had a shot on target until the 74th minute, when Guaita did well to keep out McGinn’s shot from close range as he met substitute Leon Bailey’s low cross.
McGinn had another glorious chance in the 84th minute as Chambers led a charge down field and the ball was cut back for the Scotsman in space on the penalty spot, but he took too long to pull the trigger and his shot was charged down.
