EPL wrap: Southampton draw against West Ham, West Brom beat Swansea, Newcastle-Palace draw

WATCH every Premier League goal from this morning’s action as Manchester United leap Southampton into third and Chelsea keep their lead.

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BRAZILIAN midfielder Willian scored an 89th-minute winner as Chelsea edged Everton 1-0 to preserve their seven-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.

With City en route to a 4-1 win at Stoke City, the defending champions looked poised to trim Chelsea’s lead to five points, only for Willian to break Everton’s resistance with a crisp, low strike at Stamford Bridge.

“It’s beautiful to win in the last minute, and it’s so sad to lose,” said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

“We are very, very happy and we think we deserve it. We fought so hard to try and win the game.”

The home side dominated the game, with Willian and Cuadrado shooting off-target in the first half and fit-again Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard thwarting Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and Willian in the second.

Everton’s best two chances fell to former Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, but he was denied on both occasions by Petr Cech, including a stunning point-blank save to deny the Belgian in the 68th minute.

FULL REPORT: Late Willian heroics keeps the title gap

Chelsea's John Terry, second right, smiles as he embraces his teammates.

Chelsea thought they had broken the deadlock in the latter stages when a shot from Matic flicked off Branislav Ivanovic and went in, but it was ruled out for offside.

Mourinho’s men continued to press, however, and after Everton’s Gareth Barry had been shown a second yellow card following a heated melee, Willian snatched the winner.

Howard left his line to punch clear a high cross, but could only send the ball to Willian, who drilled a controlled shot through a crowd of players and into the bottom-right corner.

FULL REPORT: Aguero brace ends champions’ rut

City’s victory at the Britannia Stadium, constructed around a brace by Sergio Aguero, ended a run of four games without a win as they returned to winning ways following a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Hull City.

The visitors were looking to record a first league win at Stoke in seven attempts and they took a 33rd-minute lead when Aguero ran onto a punt from James Milner and fired into the bottom-left corner.

Peter Crouch equalised five minutes later, stooping to head home a Marko Arnautovic cross at the far post, but Milner put City back in front by heading in a cross from Samir Nasri early in the second period.

Aguero scored from the penalty spot after Geoff Cameron was adjudged to have fouled David Silva before Nasri got on the score-sheet in the 79th minute by surging to the edge of the box and slamming home.

“We returned to our normal performance, especially in the second half,” City manager Manuel Pellegrini told the BBC.

“It is important, not just the score, but also because it is not easy to score four goals at Stoke.”

FULL REPORT: Smalling the unlikely hero

Elsewhere, Manchester United climbed above Southampton and Arsenal to reclaim third place by winning 3-1 at home to second-bottom Burnley, with early substitute Chris Smalling scoring twice.

Stung by accusations his side had played “long-ball” football in their 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Sunday, United manager Louis van Gaal saw his team take a sixth-minute lead courtesy of Smalling.

The England defender had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds after replacing the injured Phil Jones when he scored with his first touch by heading home from a corner.

Job done.

Danny Ings headed in Kieran Trippier’s inviting cross to equalise six minutes later, but another Smalling header restored United’s lead in first-half injury time before Robin van Persie added a late penalty.

“I didn’t like this performance today,” said Van Gaal. “Of course, we have won and the result is fantastic. But after this match you cannot say that we are going up and I want to progress every match.”

MATCH CENTRE: SOUTHAMPTON v WEST HAM

Southampton fell to fourth place after a 0-0 draw at home to West Ham in which visiting goalkeeper Adrian was sent off in the 61st minute for handling the ball outside his area.

But the east Londoners battled gamely for a point that keeps them in contention for a place in Europe.

It was a frustrating night for Southampton, who dominated possession at St Mary’s but couldn’t break down the visitors’ stubborn rearguard.

Jussi Jaaskelainen came on to take over in goal for the visitors and wasn’t overly worked despite Southampton’s numerical superiority.

West Ham United goalkeeper Adrian.

Pelle smashed over from the edge of the penalty area and Koeman soon sent on new signing Filip Duricic for his debut in place of Mane.

Jaaskelainen was finally called into action in the closing moments when he kept out Jose Fonte’s drive with a fine stop and that was enough to preserve a point.

MATCH CENTRE: CRYSTAL PALACE v NEWCASTLE

Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew’s early reunion with his former club Newcastle United ended in stalemate as the two sides played out a 1-1 draw in their Premier League match at Selhurst Park.

Papiss Cisse put the visitors in front just before the interval but Fraizer Campbell earned a share of the spoils 20 minutes from the end.

In a largely scrappy and fairly unmemorable encounter, Palace failed to capitalise on their lion’s share of possession and saw their run of three wins out of four come to a stuttering halt.

Alan Pardew.

The result means that Palace have now gone nine home games without keeping a clean sheet, but the anticipated goal glut, given that the Magpies had scored at least twice on their past five visits to south London, never looked likely to materialise.

More worryingly for Carver, who is in charge at St James’s Park until the end of the season and hoping to stake his claim for permanent tenure, the Magpies have now won just once in seven matches.

MATCH CENTRE: WEST BROM v SWANSEA

Recalled strikers Brown Ideye and Saido Berahino scored as West Bromwich Albion beat Swansea City 2-0 on Wednesday to move four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

The two strikers were both drafted into the starting XI after coming off the bench in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Burnley and they repaid manager Tony Pulis’s faith with a pair of second-half goals.

Victory left West Brom four points above the bottom three in 14th place, while Garry Monk’s Swansea remain ninth after only a third league defeat in nine games.

After a largely event-free first half, West Brom made the breakthrough on the hour.

Ideye saw his initial shot blocked by Swansea captain Ashley Williams, but he pounced on the loose ball and fired it into the bottom left corner to register a second goal in two games.

The former Dynamo Kiev striker then set up Berahino to sweep home from 12 yards in the 74th minute, completing a win that leaves Pulis with eight points from his first five league games since succeeding Alan Irvine.

Originally published as EPL wrap: Southampton draw against West Ham, West Brom beat Swansea, Newcastle-Palace draw