Aston Villa move closer to relegation; Newcastle lose again
Aston Villa 1, Bournemouth 2
Aston Villa's relegation from the English Premier league was all but confirmed Saturday after a 2-1 loss against Bournemouth.
The first goal of the game came from Steve Cook at the stroke of half-time on a back-heel finish. Josh King scored Bournemouth's second in the 73rd minute, giving the south coast side the win. Aston Villa scored a rare consolation goal from Jordan Ayew in the 85th minute.
The result means that barring a miracle, Aston Villa will be relegated at the end of the season due to a 15-point gap between itself and safety with only five games to go and a far inferior goal difference.
With the win, Bournemouth climbs to 11th place.
Southampton 3, Newcastle 1
Struggling Newcastle put in another lackluster performance on Saturday as Southampton easily won their English Premier League match 3-1.
An early goal from Shane Long in the 4th minute set the tone in a match in which Newcastle failed to make much impact.
Graziano Pelle and Victor Wanyama added the second and third goals in the 38th and 55th minutes respectively to condemn Newcastle to its eighth straight away defeat. Newcastle's Andros Townsend scored a fine consolation goal on 65 minutes, but it did nothing to alter his side's fortunes.
Swansea 1, Chelsea 0
Chelsea experienced its first English Premier League defeat under interim manager Guus Hiddink in a 1-0 loss against Swansea on Saturday.
The only goal came in the 26th minute, with a fine volley by Gylfi Sigurdsson after Jefferson Montero's run.
On-loan Chelsea striker Alexandre Pato had the ball in the net early in the second half, but it was disallowed as the striker was penalized for handball in the build-up.
Crystal Palace 1, Norwich 0
Crystal Palace collected its first win of 2016 by beating Norwich 1-0 in the English Premier League on Saturday, boosting its hopes of preserving its top-flight status and keeping last-place Aston Villa up for at least another week.
Jason Puncheon curled home a shot into the far corner for a 68th-minute winner as Palace ended its winless run of 14 games, stretching back to Dec. 19, and moved 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
Norwich stayed fourth from bottom, four points clear of third-to-last Sunderland having played two games more.
