West Ham still pressing for Europe after win at West Brom

West Ham set a new club points record in the Premier League with Mark Noble scoring twice in an easy victory at West Bromwich Albion that boosts their hopes of European football next season.

Cheikhou Kouyate headed in Dimitri Payet’s cross after 34 minutes and skipper Noble doubled the visitors’ lead in first-half stoppage time from Kouyate’s pass.

West Brom offered little in response and Noble added his side’s third late on with a volley as West Ham stretched their unbeaten run to 10 league games, moving above Manchester United on goal difference into fifth place with 59 points.

The London club’s previous best points haul in the Premier League era was in 1998-99 when they came fifth with 57 points.

A 93rd-minute penalty from Jermain Defoe secured a point for a Sunderland side desperately scrambling to avoid relegation on Saturday.

The visitors had looked well beaten against Stoke City before a push on Defoe by Geoff Cameron gave the striker his chance from the spot, the striker duly converting for his 17th goal of the season.

But Newcastle’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace still pushed Sunderland into the bottom three, with three games to play.

Mark Hughes’s side had conceded 14 goals in the four games before Saturday but went ahead through Marko Arnautovic after Peter Crouch had appeared to impede Younes Kaboul.

Stoke City 1 Marko Arnautovic 50
Sunderland 1 Jermain Defoe 90+4pen
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 27,667
– – –
Newcastle United 1 Andros Townsend 58
Crystal Palace 0
Missed penalty: Yohan Cabaye 70
Halftime: 0-0;Attendance: 52,107
– – –
West Bromwich Albion 0
West Ham United 3 Cheikhou Kouyate 34, Mark Noble 45+2,79
Halftime: 0-2;Attendance: 25,031
– – –
Everton 2 Tom Cleverley 7, Leighton Baines 64
AFC Bournemouth 1 Marc Pugh 9
Halftime: 1-1;Attendance: 38,000
– – –
Watford 3 Almen Abdi 45+2, Troy Deeney 90,90+3
Aston Villa 2 Ciaran Clark 28, Jordan Ayew 48
Red Card: Aly Cissokho 73
Halftime: 1-1;Attendance: 20,653
– – –
Next Fixtures (GMT):
Saturday, April 30
Arsenal v Norwich City (1630)
Sunday, May 1
Swansea City v Liverpool (1100)
Manchester United v Leicester City (1305)
Southampton v Manchester City (1530)
Monday, May 2
Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur (1900)

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.