EPL: Chelsea win at West Ham; Newcastle hold Liverpool

Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.

Timo Werner ended his goal drought in timely fashion to earn Chelsea a crucial 1-0 victory over West Ham United in the battle for a top-four finish in the Premier League on Saturday.

The German had gone 14 games without scoring for club and country but produced a clinical finish shortly before halftime as Chelsea took the points at the London Stadium.

Victory enabled Thomas Tuchel's fourth-placed side to open up a three-point gap over West Ham for whom two successive defeats have dented their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. Both have five games remaining.

West Ham's Lukasz Fabianski was the busier of the two goalkeepers and West Ham struggled to open up their visitors as Chelsea kept a 16th clean sheet in 21 matches under Tuchel.

The hosts showed plenty of endeavour but their cause was not helped when Fabian Balbuena was harshly sent off late on.

Balbuena accidentally made contact with Ben Chilwell with his follow through after making a clearance and looked bemused when referee Chris Kavanagh took out his red card after being instructed by VAR to check a pitch-side monitor.

It was an incident that left West Ham manager David Moyes looking furious, although Chelsea's win was merited.

"The boys are very, very happy in the dressing room, it was a great performance, an amazing result and I think a well-deserved win for us," said Tuchel, whose side travel to face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final next week.

Moyes accepted that his side had been below their best but said Balbuena's sending off had denied his side any late momentum.

"I think it was a decision made by somebody who has never played the game," Moyes said. "I don't know where Fabian Balbuena is supposed to plant his foot.

"He has kicked through the ball and there is no malice. It was a rubbish decision."

Werner's last goal for Chelsea came on February 15 against Newcastle United and his only other goal this year was against Morecambe in the FA Cup in January.

His first season at Chelsea has been a struggle but in the 43rd minute the 25-year-old showed the kind of precision that earned him such a big reputation at RB Leipzig.

Chelsea had looked the more threatening with Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic testing Fabianski but it was just as West Ham were getting a foothold into the game that Chelsea struck.

Pulisic played in Chilwell down the left and the England full back's cut back picked out Werner in front of goal to stroke home first-time past Fabianski.

Werner should have made it 2-0 early in the second half when Fabianski saved from Mount and the ball fell to the striker who prodded the ball wide.

"The second chance I have to score, but I have to come back slowly," Werner said. "One goal is enough. Two goals might be too much for the beginning!"

Chelsea remained rock solid at the back and West Ham struggled to get in-form forward Jesse Lingard into the game.

Lingard did come closest to scoring for the hosts when his looping effort landed just wide.

Joe Willock scored an equaliser in the dying seconds of stoppage time as Newcastle United earned a 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Saturday to boost their Premier League survival hopes.

Liverpool had opened the scoring at Anfield inside three minutes when Newcastle defender Ciaran Clark failed to clear a cross, allowing forward Mohamed Salah to control the ball and fire a left-footed half-volley into the roof of the net.

Newcastle substitute Callum Wilson thought he had equalised in stoppage time, but the goal was disallowed by VAR for an offside by the English striker.

But the visitors did not relent and eventually snatched a point through Willock's goal from virtually the last kick of the match, punishing the reds, who dominated possession and fired in nine shots on target but were unable to add to their opening goal.

Goalkeeper Leno blunder gifts Everton win over Arsenal

An own goal by Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno gave Everton a 1-0 win in their Premier League clash at The Emirates on Friday, gifting the Toffees three valuable points in their quest for European football next season and damaging the home side's own hopes.

Leno bundled Richarlison's low cross into the net in the 76th minute to decide the game and moved eighth-placed Everton to 52 points, one behind Liverpool and three off fourth-placed Chelsea, while the Gunners stay ninth on 46.

"To dig deep and get the win is massive. Arsenal want the same thing as we do (European football) so to take the points from them is massive. We've got to be consistent now," Everton defender Mason Holgate said.

It was Everton's first win at Arsenal since 1996 and condemned the Gunners to a seventh home defeat of the season, their worst record since the 1992-93 season.

As banners inside the ground promoted Arsenal's motto of "victory through harmony" outside it was anything but harmonious as fans gathered to protest loudly against the club's owners for taking part in the ill-fated Super League proposal. 

What was happening on the pitch inside the stadium was unlikely to have improved their mood as Everton's Gylfi Sigurdsson came closest to breaking the deadlock in a dull first half with a free kick that glanced off the bar.

The hosts looked a different prospect after the break, winning a penalty for a foul on Danny Ceballos. However, VAR intervened and found that Nicolas Pepe was offside in the build-up and the spot kick was chalked off.

Calum Chambers and Ceballos went close for Arsenal before Richarlison skipped past Granit Xhaka to the byline and sent a low cross into the six-yard box, which Leno misjudged and steered between his own legs and into the net.