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- Leicester move 10 points behind Liverpool and stretch their lead in second over Manchester City to four points
- Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford struck late in each half to take United above Tottenham
LONDON: A much-changed Leicester inflicted the final blow of Manuel Pellegrini鈥檚 time in charge of West Ham with a 2-1 win on Saturday as Manchester United closed on the Premier League鈥檚 top four with a 2-0 victory at Burnley.
Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford struck late in each half to take United above Tottenham in fifth after Spurs were held 2-2 draw at Norwich.
Pellegrini was sacked soon after the Hammers succumbed to a Leicester side that made nine changes after a Boxing Day thrashing by Liverpool.
Jamie Vardy was among those missing due to the birth of his daughter, but Kelechi Iheanacho and Demarai Gray made the most of their chance for a rare Premier League start by scoring either side of half-time.
鈥淎nytime you come in if you鈥檙e not playing so much you have to try and stamp your mark and get yourself in the team,鈥� said Gray, who also saw an early penalty saved by Lukasz Fabianski.
The Foxes move 10 points behind Liverpool and stretch their lead in second over Manchester City to four points.
Pablo Fornals levelled for the Hammers just before half-time, but a seventh defeat in nine games left them just one point above the relegation zone.
鈥淚t has become clear that a change is required to get the club back on track in line with our ambitions this season,鈥� said the Hammers joint-chairman David Sullivan.
鈥淲e felt it was necessary to act now in order to give the new manager as much time as possible to try and achieve that goal.鈥�
United closed to within a point of fourth-placed Chelsea with Martial and Rashford again their talismen at Turf Moor.
Martial produced a clinical finish after Andreas Perreira pounced on an error from Charlie Taylor a minute before half-time.
The Frenchman had another goal ruled out in the second half, but United had to wait till stoppage time to secure all three points when Rashford rounded off a rapid counter-attack.
Tottenham edged ahead of Wolves on goal difference into sixth, but missed the chance to leapfrog Chelsea as their defensive deficiencies were again exposed by bottom-of-the-table Norwich.
Mario Vrancic was afforded time and space to fire the Canaries into an early lead and only the finest of margins on a VAR review for offside denied Teemu Pukki putting Norwich 2-0 up before half-time.
Christian Eriksen鈥檚 brilliant free-kick levelled for Spurs early in the second half, but Jose Mourinho鈥檚 men shot themselves in the foot again soon after as Serge Aurier鈥檚 own goal restored Norwich鈥檚 lead.
Tottenham鈥檚 dominance after the break was rewarded eight minutes from time through Harry Kane鈥檚 penalty after the England international had been chopped down inside the area.
鈥淲e conceded two very, very bad goals,鈥� bemoaned Mourinho.
鈥淵ou cannot concede as many goals as we do but our defensive mistakes are match after match.鈥�
Carlo Ancelotti鈥檚 flying start at Everton continued with a 2-1 win at Newcastle thanks to a double from the in-form Dominic Calvert-Lewin to move into the top half.
The 22-year-old twice showed his predatory instincts from close range either side of Fabian Schaer鈥檚 equalizer.
鈥淲e are getting back to where we want to be after a below par start,鈥� said Calvert-Lewin. 鈥淚t was not good enough and it was vitally important we turned it around. 鈥�
Crystal Palace missed the chance to close to within three points of the top four as they surrendered a lead to draw 1-1 at Southampton as Danny Ings canceled out James Tomkins鈥檚 opener.
Brighton climbed up to 14th, five points clear of the drop zone, as Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Aaron Mooy scored their first goals for the club in a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.
Watford closed to within three points of safety thanks to a second home win in as many games under Nigel Pearson as Troy Deeney scored twice in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa 3-0 despite the Hornets playing half an hour with 10 men after Adrian Mariappa saw red.