With the bottom fourteams going into the weekend’s Premier League action all winning theirrespective matches, most of the sides in the bottom half of the revised tableseem to be in danger of being sucked into the relegation battle as thingsstand. Twelfth place Everton stand only three points away from third-bottomHull City, as Leicester City remain rooted to last place but still within touchof safety. It promises to be an enthralling story between now and the end ofthe season, as the battle for survival is well and truly on.

LeicesterCity 1 Aston Villa 0

Leicester won at homefor only the second time this season and with it improved their chances ofsurvival in the Premier League, with a hard-fought one nil victory at the KingPower Stadium.

Villa now haven't scored for more than seven hours and faceLiverpool at Villa Park next time up, with manager Paul Lambert now undergathering pressure.

He must have thought his luck was changing as DavidNugent missed an early chance for the hosts and then hit the bar later on inthe first-half. However, the reprieve was short-lived as Paul Konchesky volleyedin for Leicester in injury time just before the break.

Both sides were reduced to ten men in injury time ofthe second-half as Ciaran Clark for Villa was given a second yellow card forhis reaction after Leicester’s Matt James had been sent off for a wild lunge, asthe temperatures between the sides hotted up at the end. 

Leicester remain bottom despite the heartening victory.





Burnley 2 QPR 1

Burnley took the leadagainst Rangers through Scott Arfield’s strike after twelve minutes, as themidfielder rode two challenges before beating the keeper with his curler fromthe left. In-form Charlie Austin equalised from the penalty spot on 33 minutes,following a foul by Dean Marney, but Danny Ings restored the home side’sadvantage on 37 minutes.

The game finished 2-1as neither side were able to add to the scoring in the second-half to lift theClarets out of the relegation zone for now, as QPR were pulled back into thebottom three.



Crystal Palace 2 v Tottenham 1

In the late kick-off, Palace had to come from behind after Harry Kane’s wonderfulscoring run continued before claiming an encouraging home victory over theirLondon rivals at a “bouncing” Selhurst Park, in Alan Pardew’s first league gamein charge.

Kane’s eighteenthgoal in all competitions this season on 49 minutes put the visitors ahead. He wasborderline offside as he checked back, but once waved on he got the ball out ofhis feet beautifully before firing his shot hard across the keeper's righthand and into the net.

The home side werehanded a slightly fortuitous route back into the match on 69 minutes as BenjaminStambouli was adjudged to have fouled Joe Ledley in the area and Dwight Gayle sweptthe resultant penalty home to Hugo Lloris' right. They thought that they shouldhave been awarded another penalty when Kyle Walker looked to inadvertentlyhandle the ball as his back was turned, but the referee ruled it as being accidental.

It didn’t prove costly for the home side though as in the 80th minute JasonPuncheon finished with a precise shot, after trickery by Wilfried Zaha down theleft flank.

The fans reacted by bouncing in the stands as they celebrated thewin.



West Brom 1 v Hull City 0

The much admired Saido Berahino’s strike on 78 minutes proved to be the differencebetween the two closely-matched sides at the Hawthorns, as Hull manager SteveBruce was left to rue a mistake by his players that offered the home side theirchance near the end of the match, as it seemed destined to end scoreless. Theusually reliable Egyptian Ahmed Elmohamady was deemed to have passed back to his keeper and an indirect free-kickedresulted for the Baggies in the penalty area. The ball was tapped sideways forBerahino to smash his shot home via a slight deflection.

It was theBurundi-born Berahino’s ninth league goal in a promising season and the thirdmatch in succession that he has found the net as his reputation grows.

Hull dropped to thirdfrom bottom due to the defeat.