LONDON: Manchester United took a giant stride towards securing a top-four finish as they battled back to beat Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday after several other sides in the race stumbled.

United grafted to a 2-1 victory thanks to second half goals by Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood after their former striker Danny Welbeck had given Brighton an early lead.

It left second-placed United on 60 points, 14 behind runaway leaders Manchester City but crucially 11 ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and West Ham United.

“It’s always difficult to play Brighton. We have had good results and we’ve earned them the hard way. We managed to find a way in the second half,” manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

United proved the old adage that winning when playing poorly can reap great rewards — a lesson Spurs would do well to take on board after being held to a 2-2 draw at Newcastle United.

Chelsea’s shock 5-2 defeat by West Bromwich Albion on Saturday had opened the door for Tottenham to move above their London rivals into fourth spot and they looked poised to do so as they led 2-1 with Harry Kane’s 18th and 19th league goals of the season after Newcastle had gone in front.

But Joe Willock, on loan from Arsenal, equalised for the hosts in the 85th minute to secure his side a point that by the end of the day looked valuable in their relegation battle.

Spurs have now dropped 11 points due to goals conceded in the final 10 minutes of games this season, the most of any Premier League side.

“We were not far from winning it but, at the same time, we created some instability on the game with so many individual defensive mistakes that we made,” manager Jose Mourinho said.

Asked why Tottenham have struggled to hold onto leads when his teams have been so solid defensively in the past, Mourinho replied: “Same coach, different players. The Premier League is hard and is high-level football, and when in some actions you don’t show that you belong to that high level of football, it’s difficult.”

While Tottenham often finish games poorly, United have a habit of starting them badly this season.

Welbeck deservedly opened the scoring for the Seagulls against his old club before Lewis Dunk hit the crossbar for the visitors.

However, Brighton also repeated the story of their season as they failed to make the most of their dominance before the break.

Rashford slotted home an equaliser on 62 minutes from Bruno Fernandes’ pass to reward United’s marked improvement.

Fernandes was involved again for the winner as his cross was volleyed back across goal by Paul Pogba and into the path of Greenwood to head home just his second league goal of the season.

United have now claimed 25 points from a losing position this season, at least nine more than any other side.

With 77 minutes gone in their match at Aston Villa, Fulham were leading 1-0 thanks to a goal by Aleksandar Mitrovic and heading out of the relegation zone at the expense of Newcastle.

Within four minutes, Scott Parker’s team was behind and staring at another week in the bottom at least.

Trezeguet, a second-half substitute, scored in the 78th and 81st minutes before Ollie Watkins added a third in a 3-1 win for Villa, which was again without captain and star player Jack Grealish.

Fulham remain in 18th place, three points behind Newcastle having also played one game more.

“We’ve got a fighting chance,” Parker said. “We need to improve and understand where we went wrong, and be brutally honest that that wasn’t good enough. We need to understand and smell what were in, where we are. The last 15 minutes we didn’t deserve anything out of the game.”

Earlier on Sunday, Southampton took a huge step towards survival by coming from 2-0 down to beat Burnley 3-2.

Chris Wood’s penalty and Matej Vydra’s strike gave the visitors a dream start inside 28 minutes.

But Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side hit back impressively as Stuart Armstrong and Danny Ings scored before half-time.

Nathan Redmond bagged the 66th-minute winner when he volleyed home from Theo Walcott’s cross.

“These points were important,” Hasenhuttl said. “When you see five goals it’s always good for TV, but not so good for the hearts of the managers.”

After only their second league win in 13 games, FA Cup semi-finalists Southampton are three points above Burnley, who sit seven points ahead of Fulham.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2021