Everton’s charge derailed by Southampton, Spurs win

The wheels came off Everton’s charge for Champions League qualification as two first-half own goals and a toothless attacking performance condemned them to a 2-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton on Saturday.

Roberto Martinez’s side have now lost two of their last three games and, with just two matches of their season remaining, are a point behind fourth place Arsenal who have played one fewer.

The Merseysiders will also be looking over their shoulders at Tottenham Hotspur, who are now just three points adrift in sixth after Danny Rose’s bullet header gave them a 1-0 win at Stoke City.

Two stunning goals lit up the relegation battle as Swansea City’s Jonjo Shelvey volleyed in from the centre circle in a 4-1 win over struggling Aston Villa, while Fulham were pegged back to 2-2 by Hull City after Ashkan Dejagah scored a fantastic opener as the Londoners took a two-goal lead.

That result meant Fulham, with 31 points, failed to move out of the relegation zone and stay a point behind 17th-placed Norwich City and four adrift of Villa.

West Bromwich Albion, however, took a huge step towards safety with a nervy 1-0 win over West Ham United thanks to Saido Berahino’s 11th-minute goal that moved them five points clear of danger.

Manchester United begin life after the sacking of David Moyes against Norwich later on Saturday with club great Ryan Giggs looking to spark an improvement as their interim coach until the end of the season.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.