London, March 16 (IANS) Manchester United strengthened its grip on a top-four finish on Sunday with a 3-1 win at home to Aston Villa.

The win leaves Michael Carrick’s side third in the table, ahead of Aston Villa, which has now lost its last three Premier League games.

Casemiro opened the scoring in Old Trafford with a powerful 53rd minute header following Bruno Fernandes’ cross, although Ross Barkley drilled home a left-foot shot to make it 1-1 after an assist from Lucas Digne after 65 minutes.

Matheus Cunha took advantage of another Fernandes assist seven minutes later to slide the ball home and re-establish Manchester United’s lead and Benjamin Sesko assured the points nine minutes from time, reported Xinhua.

Richarlison hit a 90th-minute equalizing goal to give Tottenham a 1-1 draw away to Liverpool, which could lift some of the pressure off coach Igor Tudor, who was heading for his fifth defeat since taking over.

Liverpool had taken an 18th-minute free kick thanks to Dominik Szoboszlai’s free kick that Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario might have done better with.

The draw leaves Tottenham a point above the relegation zone after the two other games involving teams battling to avoid relegation both ended in 0-0 draws as Nottingham Forest was held at home to Fulham, while Leeds United took a point away to Crystal Palace.

Leeds played for all of the second half with 10 men after Gabriel Gudmundsson was sent off for two yellow cards, but could have taken all three points if Dominic Calvert-Lewin hadn’t dragged a first-half penalty well wide.

Saturday’s results look to have tilted the title race definitively Arsenal’s way after Mikel Arteta’s side beat Everton 2-0, while Manchester City could only draw 1-1 away to West Ham.

Viktor Gyokeres put Arsenal ahead in the 89th minute, before Max Dowman made it 2-0 in the 97th minute with a goal that made history as he became the youngest player to ever score in the Premier League, aged just 16 years and 73 days.

Bernardo Silva put Manchester City ahead away to West Ham with a clever chip, but Konstantinos Mavropanos’s powerful header quickly made it 1-1 with West Ham’s only effort on target all game, while Manchester City wasted chances for a vital win and are now nine points behind Arsenal.

Anthony Gordon scored the only goal after 18 minutes as Newcastle United won 1-0 away to Chelsea, which was guilty of wayward finishing and missed chances.

Yankuba Minteh scored the only goal as Brighton won 1-0 away to Sunderland, while Burnley and Bournemouth drew a dull match 0-0.

–IANS

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