London (AFP)

Leicester consolidated its 2nd place on Saturday by winning at West Ham (2-1) while Tottenham hung by the red lantern Norwich (2-2), missed the opportunity to enter the top 4, for the 20th day of Premier League.

. Leicester ensures:

Beaten in succession by Manchester City and Liverpool, the Foxes temporarily resumed 4 points ahead of the Citizens with serious success with the Hammers.

This defeat, however, puts Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini in a very delicate position, while his team (17th with 19 points) is only one point ahead of the red zone.

Deprived of his scorer Jamie Vardy, whose wife has just given birth, Brendan Rodgers had decided to change everything or almost 48 hours after the beating against the Reds (4-0).

Only goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and defender Jonny Evans held, which did not prevent his team from obtaining a penalty from the 12th minute, missed by Demarai Gray, who then caught up by scoring the decisive goal (2 -1, 56e).

In the first period, Pablo Fornals had briefly given hope to the Londoners (1-1, 45th) after the opening of the score by Kelechi Iheanacho five minutes earlier.

City will try to pick up a bit on Sunday by hosting Sheffield United.

. Tottenham misses the mark:

After the derby lost at home to Chelsea (2-0) two days ago, 4th place and the virtual qualification for the Champions League which goes with seem decidedly to flee Tottenham, hooked by Norwich.

A direct free kick from Christian Eriksen (1-1, 55th) and a penalty obtained in the trade and transformed by Harry Kane (2-2, 83rd) allowed the Londoners to return to the score twice, but it is well only positive point of the match.

The Spurs' defense once again seemed too brittle. To make up for the many absences due to injury or suspension, José Mourinho had switched to a system with three central units, which he hastened to change at half-time as he seemed shaky.

The opening of the score for the canaries on a ball lost by the Argentinian Juan Foyth and on which Toby Alderweireld, obsessed with the dangerous Teemu Pukki, had let Mario Vrancic approach, strike and score (1-0, 18th), in was the perfect illustration.

The second goal of the red lantern, despite its almost comical side - Alderweireld stealing the ball from Pukki to send it in the race for Serge Aurier who cheated his goalkeeper (2-1, 61st) - added to this impression of fragility .

And we could also talk about the goal denied to Pukki (33rd) for an infinitesimal offside decreed by the VAR. Which, in the end, makes this point already not so bad.

. Everton and Watford reap

For Carlo Ancelotti's second game on his bench, Everton had a second success in a row for the first time of the season, in Newcastle (2-1).

The improvement started before the arrival of the Italian coach is confirmed, since the Toffees have taken 11 points out of 15 possible since the dismissal of the Portuguese Marco Silva, after the slap (5-2) at Anfield during the derby.

Thanks to a double from Dominic Calvert-Lewin (13th, 64th) who had already given the victory to his team Thursday against Burnley (1-0), Everton is 7 points ahead of the red zone and has only 5 points behind on Tottenham 5th.

The other good operation in the fight for maintenance is for Watford, reduced to 10 a little before the hour of play, but which gained a capital success against Aston Villa (3-0), a direct rival.

The arrival of the Englishman Nigel Pearson on the bench also seems to have brought a welcome jump since the Hornets have taken 7 points over the last 3 days against 9 in the first 17.

They are certainly still 19th with 16 points and 3 lengths from West Ham, the first team outside the red zone, but hope has returned to Vicarage Road.

© 2019 AFP