EMMANUEL Dennis was the hero for Watford on Saturday as they defeated Aston Villa 1-0 at Villa Park in continuation of the Hornets’ battle to escape relegation.
The Super Eagles forward scored the game’s only goal in the 78th minute to hand Watford their first Premier League win of 2022.
Dennis, who has now scored nine Premier League goals in his first season in England, was taken off in the 86th minute while his compatriots William Troost-Ekong and Samuel Kalu were unused substitutes.
With the win, Watford remain bottom of the table with 16 points but moved to within one point of Norwich City and Burnley just above them.
At Anfield also on Saturday, 2021 Africa Cup of Nations finalists Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were on the scoresheet as Liverpool came from behind to beat Norwich City 3-1.
Milot Rashica gave the struggling visitors a shock lead three minutes into the second half but Mane, who helped Senegal to their first AFCON title just two weeks ago, pulled Liverpool level in the 64th minute.
Salah, who starred for losing finalists Egypt at the AFCON in Cameroon, shot Liverpool ahead three minutes later. The forward thus became the 10th player to score 150 goals in all competitions for Liverpool, and the second-quickest to reach this total for the club (233 appearances) after Roger Hunt (226 appearances), according to Opta statistics.
New signing Luis Diaz wrapped up the win for Liverpool to keep them in second place, six points behind Manchester City.
Chelsea stayed seven points adrift of Liverpool after a hard-fought 1-0 win at Crystal Palace. Morocco forward Hakim Ziyech scored the game’s only goal in the final minute of regulation time to give the Club World Cup champions their second straight Premier League win.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal defeated Brentford 2-1 to keep their fight for a top four finish alive. Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka struck in the second half before Brentford pulled one back in injury time.
Smith Rowe’s goal was his 10th of the season, while Saka’s was his seventh and his 11th goal contribution of the campaign, the first time the England forward of Nigerian descent has contributed to 10 or more goals in a single league season in his career.
In other Premier League games on Saturday, Southampton beat Frank Lampard’s Everton 2-0 at the St Mary’s Stadium, while Burnley thrashed their hosts Brighton 3-0.
Super Eagles star Alex Iwobi played 65 minutes for Everton as they stayed in 16th spot, just four above the relegation zone.
