Liverpool moved up to second in the table ahead of Manchester United’s game against Chelsea on Sunday as they beat West Ham 4-1 at Anfield.
The home side started at a blistering pace and were almost ahead within three minutes as Mohamed Salah created space and fizzed an angled strike past keeper Adrian but saw it come back off the post.
West Ham hit the woodwork themselves after 16 minutes when a Marko Arnautovic chip was touched onto the bar by Loris Karius, but just before the half-hour Liverpool broke through when a corner was flicked into the net by Emre Can.
They doubled the advantage five minutes into the second half when Salah finished superbly after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had created the chance and made it three when Roberto Firmino finished after being set free by Can after 57 minutes.
The Hammers gave themselves a glimmer of hope when substitute Michail Antonio struck, but Sadio Mane wrapped it up from Andrew Robertson’s cross.
Huddersfield left West Brom adrift at the bottom of the Premier League as they won 2-1 in a crucial clash at The Hawthorns.
After a bright start, West Brom faded and Huddersfield began to dictate the tempo, but neither side could come close to scoring in a tense and scrappy opening half.
When a good chance did arrive it passed West Brom by as James McClean hammered over the bar from a Matt Phillips cross, and they were made to pay three minutes into the second half when Steve Mounie set up Rajiv van La Parra to steer his shot home.
The Baggies’ situation became dire before an hour had been played when the home side gave the ball away and Alex Pritchard set up Mounie to double the lead, but with 64 minutes gone they were back in it as Chris Brunt’s corner was headed in by Craig Dawson.
Newcastle were denied a valuable win when Dan Gosling’s late goal saw Bournemouth come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 on the south coast.
The visitors led after 17 minutes when Jonjo Shelvey’s pass down the right freed Matt Ritchie, whose low cross rebounded off Asmir Begovic to Dwight Gayle, who backheeled home.
They doubled their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Ayoze Perez fired in a shot that Begovic failed to deal with and Gayle was again on hand to fire in.
Bournemouth looked out of it, but Adam Smith pulled one back with a fine swerving strike after Shelvey had missed a chance to put the game out of reach — and he was made to pay when ex-Newcastle man Gosling converted.
Brighton moved further away from the danger zone and dragged Swansea back into trouble with a thumping 4-1 win at the Amex Stadium.
Chris Hughton’s side had the lead after 19 minutes when in-form striker Glenn Murray was brought down inside the area by Swans defender Mike van der Hoorn and converted from the spot.
Right on half-time, they were agonisingly close to doubling their lead when Shane Duffy saw his looping header come back off the crossbar, but as the game approached its final 20 minutes Murray struck again when he rounded off a slick move and Anthony Knockaert made it three with 73 minutes played.
Tammy Abraham got one back with a deflected shot, but Brighton made it four when Jurgen Locadia converted a low cross in the 90th minute.
Manolo Gabbiadini scored an 89th-minute leveller as Southampton continued Burnley’s frustrating run with a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.
The Saints created an early chance against their off-form opponents when Nathan Redmond found Dusan Tadic, who curled his shot around goalkeeper Nick Pope but not past covering defender Ben Mee.
The visitors also made a bright start to the second half of a drab game, Mee again involved as he cleared a couple of dangerous balls into the area, and Pope made a brilliant save to tip away a Josh Sims curler.
After 67 minutes the home side struck when Saints keeper Alex McCarthy made a fine stop to deny Jeff Hendrick and Ashley Barnes picked up the pieces — but Gabbiadini kept his cool to secure a point with time running out.
Stoke remain in the relegation zone after an error from goalkeeper Jack Butland meant they had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Leicester.
Paul Lambert’s team looked set to climb out of the bottom three ahead of the afternoon Premier League fixtures after Xherdan Shaqiri’s lovely first-half finish put them ahead.
However, Butland gifted Leicester an equaliser with an own goal midway through the second half when he misjudged a Marc Albrighton cross.
