EPL: City go top again; Rashford and Martial give United win

Top-class goals from Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero took Manchester City back to the top of the Premier League in a 2-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

City's seventh successive league victory keeps alive their hopes an unprecedented quadruple of League Cup, Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies this season.

A wayward ball from Fulham's Timothy Fosu-Mensah gifted the visitors the lead in the fifth minute.

Sergio Aguero intercepted the Dutchman's pass just outside the area and passed to Silva, who cut across past two defenders and drove his left-footed shot into the corner past the diving Sergio Rico in goal.

City manager Pep Guardiola told reporters that Silva was playing so well he had made himself a fixture in the lineup.

"The way he is playing, I cannot do anything else but put him on the pitch," he said.

Fulham, who were missing top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic after the international break, kept five men in the back line in a bid to keep City's attack at bay, leading to one-way traffic. In the end, the Cottagers were unable to register a single shot on target all game.

The home side's captain Tom Cairney won a freekick on the corner of the box in a rare break forward in the first half that had the home fans clapping and stamping their feet to rattle the century-old Johnny Haynes Stand.

However, Joe Bryan's cross was a whisker too high for Ryan Babel to head cleanly, and the ball went wide.

City's Silva turned provider in the 27th minute, pouncing onto a loose ball and passing to Aguero, who sprang forward past three defenders and shot from a tight angle up into the opposite corner for his league-leading 19th goal of the season.

Caretaker manager Scott Parker's Fulham have now failed to record a win in 14 games against City in all competitions and have lost the last eight in a row.

The result takes City back to the top of the Premier League on 77 points, one ahead of Liverpool who host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

"Now it's the last part of the season, seven games left. It's easy: Every game we play we have to win if we want to be champions," Guardiola said.

For Fulham, the outlook is bleak. They remain in 19th place on 17 points, and will now most likely need to win every one of their remaining six matches to have a chance of avoiding relegation.

"We understand the predicament. The main focus now is we push and we end the season on a positive after a difficult campaign," Fulham boss Parker told reporters.

"We have another game on Tuesday and we have to do better. We have six games left and mathematically we're still in it," defender Cyrus Christie said.

Rashford and Martial give United win over Watford

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer celebrated his first game as permanent Manchester United manager with a 2-1 Premier League win over Watford at Old Trafford.

It was a far from impressive performance from United but goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial earned the victory which moved them up to fourth in the table, level on points with third-placed Tottenham Hotspur.

United took the lead in the 28th minute when Luke Shaw played a delightful through ball into the path of Rashford who clipped it past advancing Watford keeper Ben Foster.

Watford enjoyed plenty of possession in United's half and looked dangerous when breaking but United made sure of the points with Martial's strike in the 72nd minute.

Substitute Jesse Lingard's low cross from the right saw Martial and Foster tangle for the ball, which fell kindly for the Frenchman who hooked home United's second.

Watford got some reward for their positive approach when Abdoulaye Doucoure slotted home in the 90th minute after an exchange of passes with Isaac Success.

Norwegian Solksjaer, handed a three-year contract on Thursday, has led United to 15 wins in 20 matches in all competitions since taking over as caretaker manager in December.

Huddersfield relegated after Palace defeat

Huddersfield Town were relegated from the Premier League after a 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace and results elsewhere meant they could not survive in the top flight.

Victories for Burnley at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Southampton away at Brighton & Hove Albion ended Huddersfield’s two-year stay in the Premier League.

With six games still left to play this season, they become the second team ever to be relegated from the Premier League before the end of March.

Leicester win to mark late owner's birthday

Leicester City marked an emotional day for the club on what would have been the birthday of their late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha by beating Bournemouth 2-0 at home in the Premier League on Saturday.

Goals from captain Wes Morgan, only playing because of Harry Maguire's suspension, and Jamie Vardy inspired the Foxes as they continued their bright start under new manager Brendan Rodgers with a third straight league win.

Central defender Morgan scored in consecutive games for the first time in his Leicester career, although there may have been a touch of fortune about his deflection which went in off the post from Ben Chilwell's 11th minute shot.

An entertaining match saw both teams' top strikers, Vardy and Callum Wilson, miss chances but Leicester, increasingly dominant, deserved the spoils when Vardy headed home his fifth goal in five games eight minutes from time.

It felt a fitting way for Leicester fans to honour Srivaddhanaprabha, their much-loved Thai owner who died in a helicopter accident after a game in October, on what would have been his 61st birthday.

Before the game, his image flashed up on the big screen at the King Power Stadium along with the words 'Always in our hearts' and Srivaddhanaprabha's son, club chairman Aiyawatt, was introduced to the crowd.

In the 61st minute of the match, the fans also rose to applaud his memory, singing 'Vichai had a dream.'

Hojbjerg strike gives Southampton 1-0 win at Brighton

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scored the goal as Southampton withstood a second-half onslaught from Brighton & Hove Albion to secure a vital 1-0 Premier League victory on Saturday.

The win put the relegation-threatened Saints level with Brighton on 33 points, five above the drop zone.

After a cagey first half, midfielder Hojbjerg gave his side the lead in the 53rd minute, winning the ball high up the pitch and finishing a quick counter-attack by flicking Nathan Redmond's pass home with the outside of his right boot.

The goal prompted a barrage of balls into the box from the home side and Martin Montoya came closest to putting Brighton level, cutting inside and curling a powerful shot that thumped off the crossbar before bouncing to safety.

Brighton pushed Shane Duffy up front for the last few minutes but they failed to get enough quality crosses in to the big Irish defender as Southampton hung on for their third win in their last four games.

Though the performance was punctuated by plenty of errors, Hojbjerg praised the fighting spirit his team have shown.

"Our technical play can be better, (but) performing as a team was excellent. In these away games you don't get a win by being nice - you get it by being brutal and clinical," he told Sky Sports.

"It was the perfect team performance. We're one step closer (to safety), but we're not there yet."