EPL Roundup: Southampton relegated, United ignites push for Champions League spot

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United's home form looks like being enough to earn the team a return to the Champions League.

United beat Wolverhampton 2-0 on Saturday for a fourth straight home win at Old Trafford in the English Premier League, with Anthony Martial and Alejandro Garnacho scoring.

Erik ten Hag's team lost its previous two games 1-0 and both were away, against Brighton and West Ham.

United moved level on points with third-placed Newcastle and both were four clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, with all three teams having three games left. Significantly, two of United's are at home against Chelsea and Fulham.

Martial slotted home in the 32nd minute after a square ball from Brazil winger Antony to give United the lead and only an impressive display by Wolves goalkeeper Dan Bentley, making his league debut, kept the score down.

Garnacho sealed the victory after beating the offside trap to race onto Bruno Fernandes' pass and providing the finish in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Wolves arrived at Old Trafford knowing it was safe from relegation.

Fulham 2, Southampton 0

In Southampton, the Saints became the first team to be relegated from the Premier League after losing to Fulham 2-0 on Saturday, ensuring the south-coast team’s 11-year stay in England’s top division is coming to an end.

Southampton’s fate was sealed with two games remaining of its first full season since last year’s takeover by Sport Republic, an investment firm in the sports and entertainment industry run by Serbian businessman Dragan Solak.

Goals by Carlos Vinicius and Aleksandar Mitrovic, in his first game back after an eight-game ban for grabbing a referee, earned Fulham the victory at St. Mary's stadium, where British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — a Southampton fan — was in the stands.

Southampton is eight points from safety with games to go against Brighton and Liverpool.

Aston Villa 2, Tottenham 0

In Birmingham, Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz revived Aston Villa’s charge for European qualification by beating Tottenham 2-0.

Unai Emery’s team moved level on points with sixth-placed Tottenham with two games left in the race for Europe.

Finishing in fifth or sixth place will secure a spot in the Europa League — a competition won by Emery at Spanish sides Sevilla and Villarreal — and seventh place gets into the Europa Conference League.

Tottenham's consolation goal was scored, almost inevitably, by Harry Kane from the penalty spot in the 90th minute in a game in which Villa was superior in every way. It was Kane's 27th goal, eight behind the league's top scorer, Manchester City's Erling Haaland.

Chelsea 2, Nottingham Forest 2

In London, Taiwo Awoniyi's second goal of the day helped relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest draw with Chelsea 2-2 after Raheem Sterling's quick-fire goals at Stamford Bridge.

Awoniyi, who also netted twice last week, opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a powerful header and nodded home again just past the hour mark, shortly after Sterling equalized and put Chelsea in front with goals seven minutes apart.

The draw inched Forest closer to safety, with Steve Cooper's team in 16th place and three points above the relegation zone with two games remaining. Forest hosts Arsenal next weekend and ends its season at Crystal Palace.

Chelsea is winless in its past six league games at Stamford Bridge as its disappointing season grinds toward completion. The Blues are in 11th place.

Sterling’s performance was a positive development for interim manager Frank Lampard. The England forward scored from Trevor Chalobah's pass in front of the net in the 51st minute and then beat a defender to curl one home seven minutes later.

Awoniyi just needed a glancing header from Orel Mangala's pass to level the score in the 62nd.

Forest has just one win from 18 away games this season.

João Félix, who forced a diving save from Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas in the 33rd, was shown a yellow card in the second half for simulation.

Crystal Palace 2, Bournemouth 0

In London, Eberechi Eze’s double highlighted Crystal Palace's 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

Both teams have already avoided the drop, and Palace remained 12th in the standings, four points above Bournemouth.

Eze fired Palace ahead late in the first half in a move sparked by Wilfried Zaha and involving Jordan Ayew.

Eze bagged his second in the 58th, a solo effort that saw him collect the ball from Michael Olise on the left before a mazy run through the center put him in position to fire his 10th of the season into the top right.

It was not all good news for Roy Hodgson’s hosts, who saw Zaha forced off after the break when he pulled up limping. Zaha only recently recovered from a hamstring injury.

Zaha, out of contract at the end of this campaign, was treated to a rousing chant by the home support, possibly wondering if this would be the last time they would watch him walk off the pitch in a Palace shirt.

Newcastle 2, Leeds 2

In Leeds, Newcastle dropped more points in its push for Champions League qualification by drawing 2-2 at Leeds, which remained in the Premier League relegation zone Saturday after a thrilling game that ended with Newcastle manager Eddie Howe being accosted by a fan.

Howe wasn't hurt in the incident and said he “was struggling to make sense” of a chaotic match that saw Leeds have a penalty saved, concede two more converted by Callum Wilson and have Junior Firpo sent off in stoppage time.

Rasmus Kristensen’s deflected shot in the 79th minute ultimately earned Leeds a point but the team now managed by Sam Alladryce will come away from the match with big regrets because of errors by Patrick Bamford and Firpo.

Leeds was leading 1-0 through Luke Ayling’s seventh-minute goal when Bamford was given a chance to double the advantage from the penalty spot after Firpo was tripped by Joelinton.

Bamford saw his penalty saved by goalkeeper Nick Pope and, three minutes later, Newcastle striker Wilson converted a spot kick at the other end after Alexander Isak was bundled over by Max Wober.

Firpo then had a moment of madness when he raised his hand following a cross into the area, with the ball brushing his fingertips to give away a penalty.

Wilson converted that one, too, right down the middle in the 69th only for Kristensen to equalize.

Firpo was sent off for a second yellow card in the first minute of stoppage time, during which there was an alarming incident that saw a spectator walk up to Howe in the technical area and barge him in the chest before being escorted away by security.

Leeds is one point from safety with two games left, at West Ham and at home against Tottenham.

“A point today is massive for us, especially with how we did it," Ayling said. “We had a chance to go 2-0 up and then that happened. In weeks before we’d probably lose that four or 5-1.”

Newcastle stayed third but failed to rebound from a 2-0 home loss to Arsenal last weekend and is now four points clear of fifth-place Liverpool.