Manchester United and Leicester City have strengthened their hold on top-four places in English football's Premier League but Tottenham Hotspur's hopes diminished as they lost at Arsenal in the north London derby.
An own goal by Craig Dawson gave United a 1-0 home win over fifth-placed West Ham United after Leicester City had thrashed visiting bottom club Sheffield United 5-0 to briefly go second.
Tottenham had the chance to go fifth but lost 2-1 at Arsenal.
Brighton & Hove Albion secured a valuable 2-1 win at Southampton to move three points above third-bottom Fulham in the battle to avoid relegation.
With fourth-placed Chelsea drawing and sixth-placed Everton losing yesterday United and Leicester had the chance to put some daylight between themselves and the teams directly below them in the table.
Photo: Photosport
United's win put them back into second place with 57 points from 29 games, one more than Leicester and crucially nine ahead of West Ham.
Manchester City are 14 points clear at the top after their 3-0 defeat of Fulham yesterday.
While Sheffield United are doomed and second-bottom West Bromwich Albion in serious peril, the battle above them is intense and Brighton did themselves a huge favour by beating Southampton in the Premier League for the first time.
Brighton move up to 16th with 29 points from 28 games.
Newcastle United are now in 17th spot, two points ahead of Fulham, while Southampton's dreadful form has seen them slip dangerously close to the dog fight.
They still have a seven-point cushion to Fulham but have lost 10 of their last 12 league games.
-Reuters