EPL PIX: Everton, Newcastle play out dramatic draws

IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.

Jarrad Branthwaite scored a 94th minute equaliser as relegation-threatened Everton rescued a point against Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-2 home draw on Saturday to move out of the bottom three in the Premier League table.

Richarlison, once the darling of Goodison Park, scored a brace of goals in the first half and looked to have won the game for the visitors, but Branthwaite headed in at the back post after Everton had troubled Spurs all game with their set-pieces.

Jack Harrison also scored for Everton and after Spurs failed to kill the game in the second half, the battling Merseyside club always had hope they could take something from the match.

Spurs are in fourth in the table on 44 points from 23 games, missing the chance to move level on points with second-placed Manchester City, though they have played two games more. Everton provisionally moved up to 17th with 19 points from their 23 games.

Everton fans protested against the Premier League and held up yellow placards that read ‘You don’t know what you’re doing’ in reference to the Merseyside club’s 10-point deduction for an alleged breach of profit and sustainability rules.

Their appeal against that penalty was held this week with a verdict due in mid-February.

Tottenham took just four minutes to go ahead through Richarlison. Spurs moved the ball well down the left-hand side and Destiny Udogie’s pass was lashed home by the unmarked the Brazilian.

Everton had a period of concerted pressure in the Tottenham box without creating much in the way of opportunities, until Harrison rather unwittingly scored on the half-hour mark.

A corner was met at back post by James Tarkowski and his header into the six-yard box was directed goalwards by Dominic Calvert-Lewin and it went in off Harrison.

Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario felt he was fouled by Harrison as the corner came over, but a VAR check allowed the goal.

Spurs were back in front against the run of play four minutes before halftime as they broke quickly and from James Maddison’s flick, Richarlison placed an excellent shot beyond former team mate Jordan Pickford, his ninth Premier League goal in eight games.

There were fewer chances in the second half but Everton remained a threat from the set-pieces and got their reward as Christian Romero’s attempted clearance from a free-kick was only steered into the path of Branthwaite, who beat a flailing Vicario.

Newcastle come back from two down in epic 4-4 draw with Luton

Newcastle United fought back from two goals down in a rollercoaster 4-4 draw against Luton Town, who stayed just outside the Premier League drop zone, at St James' Park on Saturday.

Newcastle looked set for a comfortable home win when Sean Longstaff put them ahead after seven minutes but Luton, who thrashed Brighton 4-0 on Tuesday, equalised twice to go in 2-2 at the break.

The Hatters then turned the match on its head in four minutes of the second half.

Carlton Morris fired the visitors 3-2 up in the 59th minute with a retaken penalty first awarded after a long VAR check and Elijah Adebayo, a hat-trick hero against Brighton, made it 4-2 in the 62nd.

That was the signal for Eddie Howe's men to move up a gear and Kieran Trippier pulled a goal back in the 67th before substitute Harvey Barnes equalised in the 73rd to deny Luton a league double over Newcastle this season.

Trippier's goal was his first since August, 2022.

Newcastle could have grabbed a winner in the 85th when Jacob Murphy fired over the bar.

The match hung in the balance to the end, with 10 minutes of extra time in the second half and end-to-end play until the whistle.

Luton, who beat Newcastle 1-0 at Kenilworth Road in December, had slipped into the bottom three after Everton drew 2-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur but ended the day 16th and a point clear of the drop zone.

Newcastle dropped to ninth place, two points clear of Chelsea and two behind Manchester United.

Luton cancelled out Longstaff's opener with a close-range Gabriel Osho header in the 21st.

Newcastle went back in front two minutes later through Longstaff again but Ross Barkley made it 2-2 with his first away Premier League goal in three years.

Brighton bounce back with easy win over Palace

Brighton & Hove Albion ended a run of three Premier League games without a win with a 4-1 home victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday, a result which piles the pressure back on the visitors' manager Roy Hodgson.

Brighton move up to seventh in the standings, level on 35 points with eighth placed Manchester United, who host West Ham United on Sunday, while Palace remain 14th, five points above the relegation zone.

It was a performance and result which manager Roberto De Zerbi needed after the 4-0 loss at Luton Town on Tuesday, and the home support didn't have long to wait for the opening goal.

Brighton forced an early corner which Pascal Gross whipped in and Lewis Dunk made space for himself in the area and powered his header past Dean Henderson in the third minute.

The home side kept possession without creating too many chances after their early lead, but they then scored two goals in a minute to kill off Palace before halftime.

Brighton doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when the ball came to Tariq Lamptey on the left and his floated cross found Jack Hinshelwood at the back post who guided his header into the far bottom corner.

That was 18-year-old midfielder Hinshelwood's third league goal of the season, having made his debut as a 90th-minute substitute on the final day of last season.

It was goodnight for Palace when Facundo Buonanotte made it 3-0 just a minute later.

Palace lost possession almost straight after the kickoff which allowed Gross to take the ball into the area, where he easily went past Joachim Anderson and flicked a pass to Buonanotte who struck first time into the top corner.

Palace fans have protested recently against the club's owners, and after that third goal went in another banner was unfurled in the away section.

The banner, aimed at the American owners and chairman Steve Parish, read: "No shared vision, no structured plan. Parish out, Yanks out".

Palace threatened to spark a comeback in the 73rd minute as a relaxed Brighton defence switched off and Joachim Andersen's curling cross was headed home by Jean Philippe Mateta, but they couldn't force a grandstand finish.

Brighton wrapped the win up in style as Joao Pedro played a one-two with Danny Welbeck before poking the ball past Henderson with six minutes left to play.

Hodgson had found some relief after Palace's midweek win over bottom of table Sheffield United but this heavy defeat will see his position come under further pressure.

Burnley come from behind to earn dramatic draw with Fulham

New signing David Datro Fofana scored twice in the second half to earn relegation-threatened Burnley a dramatic 2-2 draw with Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday and ease some of the gloom at Turf Moor.

Fulham struck twice in four first-half minutes to put themselves in a commanding position, only to be undone at the death when Fofana bundled home the equaliser in stoppage time.

The Chelsea loanee had pulled a goal back for Burnley on the counter-attack in the 71st minute when he headed past Bernd Leno seven minutes after coming on, after being picked out by fellow new boy Lorenz Assignon's pinpoint cross.

Joao Palhinha nodded Fulham in front in the 17th minute when he met Andreas Pereira's corner virtually unchallenged at the near post and Rodrigo Muniz doubled the visitors' lead in the 21st with a classy finish.

Fulham's second had a hint of fortune about it, with Antonee Robinson's hooked clearance sailing over the Burnley defence and perfectly into the path of Muniz, who beat goalkeeper James Trafford with a first-time lob from outside the box.

But the visitors, who have the second-worst away record in the league this season with only one win on their travels, failed to make their dominance count, passing up a host of second-half chances to extend their lead.

It was Burnley who seized the initiative against the run of play midway through the second half as Lyle Foster showed good composure to release deadline day signing Assignon into space down the left.

The Frenchman raced to the byline before floating in an inviting cross that Leno came for, but failed to collect, allowing substitute Fofana to score with a header on his home debut.

Fofana got his second in the 91st minute, sliding in to bundle Wilson Odobert's cross over the line at the near post and spark wild celebrations among the home fans.

The draw kept Burnley second-bottom of the standings, seven points from the safety zone. Fulham moved up to 12th.