Football
ESPN staff 7y

Man City boost top-four hopes with Palace rout, Swansea out of drop zone

Manchester City strengthened their hopes of a top-four Premier League finish and moved up to third in the table thanks to a 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium.

City needed just two minutes to open the scoring, with David Silva capitalising on a poor Martin Kelly header following Raheem Sterling's cross, volleying home into the bottom corner for his 50th goal for the club.

Vincent Kompany doubled the scoring three minutes into the second half with a stunning first-time hit into the top corner of the net, before Kevin De Bruyne soon added a third with a finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Sterling made it four eight minutes from time when he rifled home a low drive and Nicolas Otamendi then completed the scoring deep into stoppage time, arriving to meet De Bruyne's set piece before heading past Wayne Hennessey.

Fernando Llorente scored Swansea's winner as they beat Everton 1-0 to climb out of the relegation zone.

Swansea opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Llorente arrived at the back post to meet Jordan Ayew's cross and head past Maarten Stekelenburg.

And Paul Clement's side could have made it two nine minutes after the restart when a loose ball inside the Everton box fell to Ayew, but he could only strike his effort against the post.

The victory sees Swansea leapfrog Hull into 17th place and out of the relegation zone by one point.

Hull's bid for survival was dealt a blow as they were defeated 2-0 by already relegated Sunderland at the KCOM Stadium.

Hull had the best chances in the first half but were unable to find a way past Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford, with Sam Clucas twice being denied by the 23-year-old.

And it was Sunderland who broke the deadlock in the 69th minute through Billy Jones, who got on the end of John O'Shea's flick-on from a corner to head home, with Jermain Defoe making sure of the result with the away side's second late on.

Leicester moved into the top half of the table after defeating Watford 3-0 at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester came close to breaking the deadlock in the 18th minute when Jamie Vardy's effort at goal deflected off Adrian Mariappa and came back off the post.

But Leicester did find the lead after 38 minutes through Wilfred Ndidi, who was on hand to fire into the roof of the net after Watford had failed to deal with a corner.

Riyad Mahrez made it two in the 58th minute with an excellent effort, beating two Watford players before squeezing a strike past Heurelho Gomes from a tight angle, and Marc Albrighton rattled in off the post in stoppage time for Leicester's third.

A late Ryan Shawcross own goal secured Bournemouth a 2-2 draw with Stoke at the Vitality Stadium.

Stoke edged in front when Lys Mousset headed the ball into his own net following a corner, but Bournemouth found an equaliser in the second half, with Junior Stanislas connecting with Adam Smith's cross and sending his strike through Jack Butland's legs.

The visitors were back in front in the 73rd minute when Mame Biram Diouf scrambled the ball in from a few yards out, before Shawcross handed Bournemouth a point by diverting Josh King's effort into his own net.

Sam Vokes scored a brace as Burnley came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw with West Brom at Turf Moor.

Vokes found the breakthrough for Burnley in the 56th minute when he met an Ashley Barnes cross at the near post, but West Brom were level 10 minutes later as Salomon Rondon turned inside the box and struck past Tom Heaton.

West Brom turned the game on its head when Craig Dawson netted in the 76th minute from a Chris Brunt corner, but Vokes had the final say with a header four minutes from time to level the scores.

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