Newcastle edge away from danger as Leicester ends slump
Newcastle United put more daylight between themselves and the Premier League’s relegation places but Cardiff City remained stuck in the mire and Brighton and Hove Albion’s slump continued on a busy night at the bottom on Tuesday.
Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle side claimed a fourth successive home win as they beat Burnley 2-0 — a result which ended the visitors’ eight-match unbeaten streak in the league.
Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff both scored before halftime as Newcastle moved up to 13th, seven points above the drop zone.
“We still have to keep winning games and do what we are doing already, continue to do the same great performance like today with great team spirit,” Benitez said.
Gylfi Sigurdsson became the highest-scoring Icelandic player in Premier League history with two goals in Everton’s 3-0 win at Cardiff who have conceded eight times in two home games.
Sigurdsson began the night level on 55 goals with former Chelsea player Eidur Gudjohnsen but moved ahead on his own with two clinical strikes to deflate the struggling Welsh side.
While Everton’s win, after three consecutive losses, lifted them to ninth, Cardiff remain one point and one place above the bottom three and will drop below the dreaded line if 18th-placed Southampton avoid defeat at home to Fulham on Wednesday.
Leicester City’s newly-appointed manager Brendan Rodgers was at the King Power Stadium, hours after being confirmed as Claude Puel’s successor, and he would have been impressed with his side’s first-half display in a 2-1 win over Brighton.
Demarai Gray put the hosts ahead and Jamie Vardy made it 2-0 after the break but Brighton hit back through Davy Propper.