Newcastle keeps EPL survival hopes alive with victory
NEWCASTLE, England --
A stunning free kick from Andros Townsend gave Newcastle a vital 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Townsend's second-half strike flew into the top corner from 25 meters (yards) out, giving the Magpies an important win as it bids for survival.
Former Newcastle player Yohan Cabaye had a penalty saved by Karl Darlow, following a handball from Papiss Cisse.
Newcastle is now provisionally out of the relegation zone in 17th place, two points above 19th-place Norwich, which plays Arsenal later.
Crystal Palace remains 16th.
Meanwhile, a last-minute Jermaine Defoe penalty rescued a valuable point for Sunderland in drawing with Stoke 1-1.
Sunderland remains in 18th place, one point behind Newcastle but with a game in hand.
Stoke is ninth.
Stoke took the lead through Marko Arnautovic after a Peter Crouch knockdown on 50 minutes.
Sunderland's equalizer came in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Defoe converting a penalty after he was fouled by Geoff Cameron.
West Ham kept its top-four hopes alive by downing West Bromwich Albion 3-0.
West Ham moved into provisional fifth place, ahead of Manchester United, which plays table-topping Leicester on Sunday. West Brom was 14th.
The first goal was headed in by Cheikhou Kouyate from a Dimitri Payet cross. Kouyate turned from scorer to supplier, as Mark Noble got the first of his two goals on the stroke of halftime. Kouyate pulled the ball back, allowing Noble to finish into the bottom corner.
He finished the scoring by managing to get on the end of a Payet cross to shoot in past Ben Foster.
Aston Villa was condemned to a club-record 11th consecutive loss when Watford scored two late goals to win 3-2 at home.
Relegated Villa, leading a match for the first time since February, was on the verge of winning away for only the second time this season until there were five seconds to go in regulation time. Then Troy Deeney headed in a Steven Berghuis cross and, in injury time, Deeney fired in the winner from the edge of the area.
Ciaran Clark and Jordan Ayew scored for Villa to quiet the jeers from their own fans, but Aly Cissokho was sent off 15 minutes from time for tripping Ikechi Anya as he raced towards the goal, and Villa could not hold out Watford.
Defender Leighton Baines' first goal since 2014 gave Everton a 2-1 victory against Bournemouth in the English Premier League on Saturday but it was not enough to prevent growing opposition to manager Roberto Martinez.
Winger Aaron Lennon provided the breakthrough as his run and cross in the 64th minute was rammed home at the far post by Baines, his first goal for 42 matches, after Marc Pugh had canceled out Tom Cleverley's strike inside the opening 10 minutes.
A plane flying the banner `Roberto must go' was followed by a handful of fans holding up `Martinez Out' signs at the end.
Martinez gave Oumar Niasse a league debut ahead of 25-goal leading scorer Romelu Lukaku, and he also recalled goalkeeper Tim Howard, who had not played since January.
