Premier League: Newcastle go second, Liverpool beat Aston Villa

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Newcastle United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - December 26, 2022 Newcastle United's Joelinton celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Molly Darlington EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Newcastle United stormed into second in the Premier League by outclassing Leicester City 3-0 away from home on Monday while Harry Kane overcame his World Cup penalty pain by helping Tottenham Hotspur recover to draw 2-2 at Brentford.

Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui got off to a strong start in charge of Wolverhampton Wanderers after his side came from behind to sink Everton 2-1 with a last-gasp goal and increase the pressure on Frank Lampard.

Elsewhere, Fulham eased to a 3-0 win at Crystal Palace, who had two players sent off, while Brighton & Hove Albion earned a comfortable 3-1 win at Southampton.

Later on Monday, Liverpool beat Aston Villa 3-1 thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Stefan Bajcetic to go sixth in the Premier League during a game littered with chances.

Striker Salah tapped in the visitors’ opener in the fifth minute after a sublime passing move from marauding wing-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.

Defender van Dijk bagged Liverpool’s second in the 37th minute with a superb left-footed shot after being set up by Salah, who would have been proud of the finish.

Ollie Watkins put Villa back in the game with a smart 59th minute header across goalkeeper Alisson Becker, before 18-year-old midfielder Bajcetic squeezed in Liverpool’s third – his first senior goal – to secure the win in the 81st minute.

Joelinton, Miguel Almiron and Chris Wood were all on target as Newcastle struck three times in the first half against Leicester to record their sixth successive win in the Premier League.

Eddie Howe’s side have 33 points after 16 games, one more than third-placed Manchester City although the champions have two games in hand.

Fourth-placed Tottenham got off to a nightmare start at Brentford but yet again staged a comeback, Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scoring in the space of six minutes in the second half to cancel out earlier strikes from Vitaly Janelt and Ivan Toney.

It was Kane’s first match since missing a penalty in England’s quarter-final defeat to France in the World Cup and he showed that he had overcome that setback by scoring a thumping header.

Former Real Madrid, Sevilla and Spain manager Lopetegui saw his Wolves side fall behind to an early goal from Everton’s Yerry Mina but they equalised through Daniel Podence in the first half then snatched all three points thanks to a Rayan Ait-Nouri strike deep in added time.

The victory pulled Wolves off the bottom of the table and into 18th on 13 points, one point and one place below Everton.

Southampton sunk to the bottom after their defeat at home to Brighton, who moved up to sixth.

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