LONDON – Sam Allardyce’s anxious wait for a first Premier League win as Crystal Palace manager continued as his lacklustre side suffered a 1-0 home defeat by in-form Everton that left them stuck in the bottom three.
The pressure on Palace increased even before kickoff when Swansea City’s shock win at Liverpool left the London club in the relegation places.
Had Christian Benteke’s header found the net rather than the crossbar early on the jitters may have settled, but Everton responded to dominate the game and took the points when Seamus Coleman fired the winner in the 87th minute.
Tom Davies split the Palace defence and Coleman did the rest with a shot that gave keeper Wayne Hennessey no chance.
Palace managed only one shot on target, and are in 18th spot with 16 points after a fourth consecutive defeat. Everton remained in seventh place.
* Andy Carroll continued his barnstorming form for West Ham, netting the first-half double that consigned Middlesbrough to another dispiriting Premier League defeat at the Riverside.
Carroll, fresh from his brilliant strike against Crystal Palace, once again made Hammers’ fans forget the controversy over their absent former hero Dimitri Payet as he delivered more delight for his under-pressure manager Slaven Bilic with a bullet header from a corner after nine minutes.
Then after Cristhian Stuani had brought Middlesbrough back into the game with a brilliant team goal, Carroll turned from destroyer into poacher as he snaffled a second just before the break in a frenetic game.
Boro cursed their luck after Stuani hit the bar and Rudy Gestede squandered a late chance, but the Hammers sealed a fifth win in seven league matches when substitute Jonathan Calleri scored in the 94th minute.
* Bournemouth’s soft centre at set-pieces looked like costing them dearly until substitute Benik Afobe poppped up with a late goal to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Watford.
The Hornets took the lead in the 24th minute as the home side failed to clear with a corner, allowing Christian Kabasele to head home from close range.
Norway international Joshua King fired home Adam Smith’s pass to equalise early in the second half, but just as Bournemouth looked like taking over, up popped Deeney to bury Tom Cleverley’s corner past Artur Boruc.
Substitute Benik Afobe saved the day for the home side, sprinting away with Andrew Surman’s pass and shooting crisply past Gomes to snatch a point for Bournemouth.
* Two spectacular first-half goals earned West Bromwich Albion a 2-0 victory to maintain their excellent start to the season and keep Sunderland rooted to the foot of the Premier League.
Albion scored twice in six minutes to effectively kill off bottom club Sunderland’s hopes.
Darren Fletcher gave the home side the lead after half an hour with a left-foot volley, and Chris Brunt followed up with a superb strike on 36 minutes after Nacer Chadli had hit the bar from close range.
Sunderland, who began the game bottom of the standings after Swansea’s win at Liverpool, rallied in the second half but rarely looked like grabbing the draw that would have taken them above Hull City – their closest rivals in the league’s lower reaches.