LONDON — South Korean forward Son Heung-min scored twice as Tottenham Hotspur overpowered Watford 4-0 Saturday to put pressure on Premier League leader Chelsea.
Dele Alli and Eric Dier were also on target as Spurs closed to within four points of Chelsea, which visits Bournemouth later in the day.
Liverpool remains third after Brazilian substitutes Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino inspired a 2-1 comeback win at Stoke City, while fourth-place Manchester City beat Hull City 3-1.
Spurs overwhelmed Watford at a sun-soaked White Hart Lane to register their 11th successive home win in the league.
Alli opened the deadlock with a sublime effort in the 33rd minute, arcing a shot into the top-right corner from 25 yards, before his England teammate Dier battered in Spurs’ second.
Son struck either side of half time — a left-foot curler followed by an adroit right-foot volley — and spurned two late chances to complete his hat-trick.
Liverpool sits five points below Spurs, having played a game more, after Firmino’s stunning strike secured victory at Stoke.
Jonathan Walters’s header put Stoke ahead shortly before half time.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made a double change at the break, sending on Coutinho and Firmino for teenagers Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn, and it proved a winning move.
Coutinho, a pre-match doubt due to illness, leveled in the 70th minute and two minutes later Georginio Wijnaldum freed Firmino to thump in a glorious, dipping winner from 20 yards.
Manchester City trails Liverpool by two points, but has a game in hand, after seeing off Hull at the Etihad Stadium to end a run of four league games without victory.
City manager Pep Guardiola, who recalled goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, saw his side take a 31st-minute lead when Ahmed Elmohamady turned in Jesus Navas’s cross for an own goal.
Sergio Aguero made it 2-0 early in the second half, polishing off Raheem Sterling’s cross after a sweeping team move, and Fabian Delph lashed in the host’s third.
Andrea Ranocchia replied for Hull, which remains two points above the bottom three in 17th place.
City now has a seven-point cushion in the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot, although fifth-place Arsenal and sixth-place Manchester United each have two games in hand.
West Ham United eased their relegation fears as Cheikhou Kouyate’s low drive secured a 1-0 home win over third-bottom Swansea City, which trails Hull by two points.
Second-bottom Middlesbrough squandered an opportunity to claim a precious win in a 0-0 draw at home to Burnley.
Jordie Clasie struck from Dusan Tadic’s lay-off as ninth-place Southampton won 1-0 at eighth-place West Bromwich Albion.
Leipzig trims Bayern’s lead
Yussuf Poulsen’s late goal sealed ten-man RB Leipzig’s 1-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen Saturday to trim Bayern Munich’s runaway lead to seven points with seven Bundesliga games left.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Bayern hosts Borussia Dortmund later.
But before the heavyweight clash in Munich, second-placed Leipzig took their chance to reduce the 10-point gap and sealed the win in a dramatic final five minutes.
Hosts Leipzig was reduced to 10 men when captain Willi Orban was sent off for a second yellow card on 88 minutes for a marginal foul on Leverkusen’s Germany forward Kevin Volland.
Leipzig’s victory was a big step toward direct Champions League qualification next season and it is seven points ahead of third-placed Hoffenheim, which crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Hamburg.
Elsewhere, ex-Germany midfielder Aaron Hunt stole the show for Hamburg with both goals as Hoffenheim suffered only their third defeat this season.
Wolfsburg remains on the brink of the relegation battle in 14th — just one point from the bottom three — after its 4-1 hammering away to Schalke, which is in mid-table.
Also down the bottom of the table, Mainz is only out of the relegation places on goal difference after its 1-0 defeat at Freiburg when ex-Bayern striker Nils Petersen scored the second-half winner.
Borussia Moenchengladbach is challenging for a Europa League place next season after its 3-2 win at Cologne as captain Lars Stindl scored its winner nine minutes from time. — AFP
