LONDON: Manchester United maintained their push for a Champions League place after a Juan Mata goal on Saturday pushed Norwich City to the brink of relegation.
The Spanish international midfielder again showed his taste for tormenting the Canaries as he scored his fifth goal against them with his 72nd-minute winner.
Cameron Jerome had Norwich’s best chance with a header only to be denied by the excellent David de Gea but a mistake from Sebastien Bassong allowed Wayne Rooney to burst through and find Mata, who provided an excellent left-foot finish.
Sunderland kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation after twice coming from behind to beat Chelsea 3-2 at home in an exciting clash.
The home side were skating on thin ice after goals by Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic either side of a ferocious Wahbi Khazri volley gave Chelsea a 2-1 first-half lead in the Stadium of Light.
However, they staged an epic comeback after the break when Fabio Borini and Jermain Defoe scored in a frantic three-minute spell.
Chelsea had captain John Terry sent off for a second bookable foul in the last minute of stoppage time.
Meanwhile, West Ham United’s hopes of playing Champions League football next season were all but extinguished with a surprise home defeat to mid-table Swansea City.
West Ham were guilty of slack defending as Swansea took a 2-0 lead with goals from Wayne Routledge on 25 minutes and Andre Ayew after half an hour.
Ki Sung-yeung scored Swansea’s third goal at the start of the second half.
Diafra Sakho scored from close range for West Ham on 67 minutes but substitute Bafetimbi Gomis, again on the break, made it four for Swansea in the final moments.
In another match, substitute Matt Ritchie earned a late equaliser for Bournemouth on an afternoon of mixed fortunes for the home side’s goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
It was the Polish keeper’s poor clearance that led to the opening goal after 16 minutes when it went straight to the opposition and ended with Salomon Rondon diving to head home Jonny Evans’ cross.
Boruc then redeemed himself with a fantastic double save from Craig Gardner’s penalty, tipping the spot kick onto the bar before then palming away the rebound with sharp reflexes.
Ritchie, who was brought on with just over a quarter of an hour left, headed home from close range within seven minutes after getting on the end of a long throw and though Gardner hit the post in the dying stages, it proved enough to earn a point.
At Selhurst Park, Dwight Gayle scored twice as Crystal Palace came from behind to beat Stoke City 2-1 in an entertaining game to confirm their Premier League safety.
Gayle secured Palace’s second win in 20 league games with a magnificent 68th-minute free kick.
The visitors had taken the lead in the 26th minute when Charlie Adam finished off a fine team move but Gayle levelled for Palace in their final home game of the season after being picked out by the dazzling Yannick Bolasie two minutes into the second half.
Newcastle United are on the verge of relegation from the Premier League after failing to do what most teams in the Premier League have found easy this season — win at Villa Park. Villa’s defence proved surprisingly resolute and they finally ended their club record-equalling sequence of 11 successive league defeats.