Brighton and Hove Albion secured their first Premier League win this year as they beat West Ham United 3-1 thanks to superb strikes from Jose Izquierdo and Gross in a thrilling game at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton’s Glenn Murray opened the scoring with his eighth league goal of the season but Javier Hernandez, who said he had wanted to leave the club ahead of the January transfer deadline, equalised before the break after jinking past three defenders.
But Brighton’s second-half goals were stunning.
First Izquierdo rocketed a shot past West Ham keeper Adrian from the edge of the area after 59 minutes, and then Pascal Gross capped a fine display by scoring from 25 metres in the 75th.
West Ham’s midweek signing from Preston North End, striker Jordan Hugill, came off the bench, but Brighton held on to complete their first league double over West Ham and move level with the 12th-placed visitors on 27 points.
* West Bromwich Albion were left stuck at the bottom of the Premier League after losing 3-2 to Southampton on Saturday, despite having made a fine start to the match.
It was an emotional day at The Hawthorns, where there was a minute’s applause before the game for their former striker Cyrille Regis, who died last month.
Egyptian defender Ahmed Hegazi headed Albion into an early lead from a corner by set-piece specialist Chris Brunt, but Southampton hit back with two goals in three minutes before halftime.
Gabon’s Mario Lemina drove in from 20 metres and defender Jack Stephens scored his third goal in three games.
A direct free kick by James Ward-Prowse made it 3-1 and Saints held on for a first League victory in 13 games despite Salomon Rondon’s 72nd-minute headed goal for the home side.
* Substitute Lys Mousset came off the bench to score his first Premier League goal for Bournemouth as they came back from a goal down to beat Stoke City 2-1 in a pulsating Premier League clash at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri, who had seen a shot cleared off the line by Steve Cook moments earlier, put visitors Stoke in front in the fifth minute, the diminutive winger heading home unmarked from Badou Ndiaye’s cross.
Bournemouth, who hammered Chelsea 3-0 on Wednesday, upped the tempo in the second half and had plenty of chances to score, but it took until the 70th minute for Joshua King to put them back on level terms with a thumping right-foot strike.
Sensing that Stoke’s resistance was wilting after King’s goal, Bournemouth continued to attack and nine minutes later, Mousset nodded home Jordon Ibe’s free kick for the simplest of finishes to take all three points.
* A turbulent week for Leicester City took a turn for the worse when Swansea fought back for a 1-1 draw in the Premier League at the King Power Stadium to continue their revival under Carlos Carvalhal on Saturday.
Leicester left out midfielder Riyad Mahrez after the Algerian missed training following his abortive attempt to join Manchester City but his replacement Kelechi Iheanacho soon impressed by setting up Jamie Vardy for his sixth goal in nine games after 17 minutes.
Swansea suffered a further blow when midfielder Leroy Fer was carried off after twisting his ankle under Adrien Silva's challenge but the bad news ended there for the visitors who equalised after the break when Federico Fernandez headed in only his second goal in 116 games for the Welsh side.
Swansea held on for a point, and are now unbeaten in seven games in all competitions to move out of the relegation zone on goal difference.