Leicester City secured a fifth straight Premier League victory and increased the mounting pressure on bottom-of-the-table Sunderland with a 2-0 win at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday.
Sunderland manager David Moyes, who has been widely criticised this week for comments he made to a female reporter last month, saw his side succumb to a fifth defeat in six league games after Islam Slimani powered home a 69th-minute header.
Leicester, who have climbed away from their own relegation battle to the relative safety of mid-table, saw Sunderland go close to an equaliser before Jamie Vardy fired home to seal the points.
With eight games remaining Sunderland have 20 points, eight behind Swansea City in 17th. Leicester, meanwhile, climbed to 10th with 36 points.
* Burnley took a big step towards staying in England’s top-flight after a fine George Boyd goal in the second half gave them a 1-0 win over Stoke City in a dour clash on Tuesday.
The result lifted Burnley to 12th position on 35 points, eight clear of the relegation zone and one behind 11th-placed Stoke, who failed to score for a fifth successive away league game.
After an uneventful first half at Turf Moor, the night’s best action was squeezed into a single minute of action as Boyd broke the deadlock in the 58th minute moments after Marko Arnautovic had come close with a looping header at the other end.
Boyd gave goalkeeper Lee Grant no chance, after a dazzling solo run and pass by Jeff Hendrick left the midfielder with time and space to curl a first-time shot from 12 metres into the bottom left corner.
* Troy Deeney became the first Watford player to score in four successive home Premier League games as the 10-man Hornets continued their revival by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 on Tuesday.
Fresh from ending a run of four league games without a win on Saturday against Sunderland, Walter Mazzarri’s men prevailed at Vicarage Road despite having Miguel Britos sent off in the 65th minute.
M’Baye Niang gave the Hornets a 13th-minute lead, the Milan loanee crashing home a superb shot after being freed by Deeney’s nod-on from a long ball.
Frenchman Niang then repaid the compliment soon after the break, his long ball being chested down and bundled in by Deeney for his sixth goal in his last eight league games.
After Britos was dismissed, for a second yellow for a foul on Salomon Rondon, Watford had to survive for 25 minutes with 10 men as Albion piled on the pressure, but defended stoically to move into the top half of the table.