In a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Taiwo Awoniyi and Raheem Sterling both scored braces. Awoniyi’s powerful header led off the scoring, but Sterling quickly responded with two goals early in the second half. Eventually, Awoniyi snapped a second header past goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, leveling the score for Forest. Despite Frank Lampard’s efforts for back-to-back wins as caretaker manager, Chelsea was unable to clinch the victory, all but cementing a bottom-half finish for his beloved club.
After beating Southampton 4-3 on Monday, Forest gets another big result and Steve Cooper’s Tricky Trees are three points clear of 18th-place Leeds United with two matches left in the Premier League season. The mystique at “The Bridge” just isn’t there for Chelsea right now, and their next boss will need to rebuild it with substance and not just words.
Although Lampard may have been an adequate caretaker to see out the season, Forest seems to have a promising system. With players like Renan Lodi, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Taiwo Awoniyi, they appear to be fit to secure another top-flight season. Chelsea, however, goes to Man City on Sunday, May 21, after Forest hosts Arsenal at 12:30 pm ET on Saturday.
Eberechi Eze scored a sensational brace, reaching double-figure goals on the season, and led Crystal Palace to a 2-0 victory against Bournemouth at Selhurst Park on Saturday. The win keeps Crystal Palace at 12th place in the Premier League table with 43 points, now three points ahead of 13th-place Wolves. Bournemouth is still in 14th place with 39 points and is now safe from relegation.
Wilfried Zaha worked his way down the left flank and crossed the ball to Eberechi Eze, who slammed his first-time finish past goalkeeper Neto for a 1-0 Palace lead just before halftime. Michael Olise then sprayed a 40-yard diagonal to Eze on the right-wing for Palace’s second goal, who managed to go by two defenders before firing a pinpoint arrow at the far post.
Crystal Palace will head to west London to take on top-half hopefuls Fulham in each side’s penultimate Premier League fixture of the season next Saturday (10 am ET). Meanwhile, Bournemouth will face Manchester United at Vitality Stadium at the same time.
At Villa Park on Saturday, Aston Villa secured a 2-1 victory over Tottenham, moving the team level on points with Tottenham in the Premier League table and neck-and-neck for 6th place. The win sends Aston Villa up to 57 points, close to the final Europa League place (Tottenham +6 GD; Aston Villa +4 GD). The season will be Aston Villa’s highest Premier League points total since garnering 64 in 2009-10, and 8th-place Brighton (55 points) will also factor into the 6th-place race, with the Seagulls having three games in hand over both Villa and Spurs.
Leon Bailey got free down the right flank and cut a cross back to Jacob Ramsey to sweep past goalkeeper Fraser Forster for the 1-0 lead. Aston Villa responded with a second goal by Douglas Luiz after Tottenham’s first two shots of the game 20 minutes in the second half. Emiliano Martinez got deemed to have fouled Harry Kane as he raced into the penalty area, and Kane got Tottenham’s only goal through a 90th-minute penalty kick.
Aston Villa will travel to Anfield to face top-four-chasing Liverpool next Saturday (10 am ET), and Tottenham will close out their home slate at Brentford earlier on Saturday (7:30 am ET). Douglas Luiz has been having a successful season, leading the way with four goals and five assists in 34 matches. Tottenham will continue to rely on Harry Kane, who currently has 26 Premier League goals this season.
Credit: soccer.nbcsports.com
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