PL Round-Up: Benteke Nets Winner For Villa

Aston Villa, Leicester and Crystal Palace all claimed away wins in the Premier League on Saturday, as Hull lost again and Arsenal continued their fine run.

Tim Sherwood made a triumphant return to White Hart Lane as his Aston Villa side snatched a 1-0 victory over Tottenham.

In-form striker Christian Benteke followed up his hat-trick against QPR in midweek by netting the winner in the 35th minute with a glancing header from Leandro Bacuna's whipped cross.

It was only Villa's 10th goal away from home this season and the valuable three points took them six points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

One sour note for Villa was the late dismissal of Carlos Sanchez for a second bookable offence and he will now miss next weekend's FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool as a result.

Leicester City remain bottom of the table but they also claimed a precious three points after twice coming from behind to win 3-2 at West Brom.

Albion, wearing a replica of their 1968 FA Cup final white kit as a tribute to their former striker Jeff Astle, took the lead in the eighth minute through Darren Fletcher’s near-post header.

David Nugent levelled in the 20th minute but the Baggies were back in front six minutes later when Craig Gardner volleyed home.

However, the Foxes battled back after the interval and Robert Huth equalised for a second time with an 80th-minute header before Jamie Vardy sparked wild celebrations after running from the halfway line to score an injury-time winner.

Sunderland are now back in deep trouble after slumping to a 4-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace.

The Black Cats were brought crashing back down to earth after last weekend’s win over Newcastle as the Eagles netted four goals in 14 minutes after the break.

Glenn Murray opened the scoring with a header in the 48th minute and Yannick Bolasie then hit a quickfire hat-trick with goals in the 51st, 53rd and 62nd minutes.

Connor Wickham scored a consolation goal in injury-time for Sunderland, who are three points clear of the drop zone.

Hull City are also hovering just above the bottom three in 17th place following a 2-0 defeat at Southampton.

James Ward-Prowse put Saints ahead from the penalty spot in the 56th minute - his maiden league goal and a first for the club in all competitions since January 2012 - after Shane Long was fouled by Alex Bruce.

Italian striker Graziano Pelle then sealed the win with nine minutes remaining with his first Premier League goal since 20 December.

The victory moved Southampton up to fifth in the table, above both Liverpool and Tottenham, although they are still five points off the top four.

Swansea City equalled their best Premier League points haul of 47 as they fought back to stop Everton's winning run in a feisty 1-1 draw at the Liberty Stadium.

Stoke City drew 1-1 at West Ham after Marko Arnautovic’s goal in the fifth minute of injury-time cancelled out Aaron Cresswell’s superb seventh-minute free-kick for the Hammers.

Arsenal closed the gap on leaders Chelsea to four points with an early Aaron Ramsey goal enough to secure them a 1-0 win over struggling Burnley at Turf Moor.