LIVERPOOL, England — Nottingham Forest appeared to question the integrity of a match official in a social media post published soon after a 2-0 loss at relegation rival Everton in the Premier League on Sunday.
Precise shots that flew in off the post by Idrissa Gana Gueye in the 29th minute and Dwight McNeil in the 76th clinched a crucial victory at Goodison Park for Everton, which is looking to preserve its 70-year stay in the top division.
Soon after the match, a post from Forest's official account on X, formerly Twitter, criticized the failure to award the visitors a penalty.
“Three extremely poor decisions — three penalties not given — which we simply cannot accept,” the post said.
Forest said it warned the referees' body ahead of the game that the person overseeing the video review for the match “is a Luton fan." Luton is in third-to-last place, a position and one point below Forest.
“Our patience has been tested multiple times,” the post continued. “(Nottingham Forest) will now consider its options.”
Everton is in fifth-to-last place and moved five points clear of the relegation zone with five games remaining. Forest is a place lower — though all of this could change.
Both teams have lodged appeals after being docked points in recent weeks for breaching the league’s financial rules. Everton, which had already been hit with a six-point deduction, is appealing against being handed a further two-point hit while Forest has appealed against its four-point deduction.
Forest appeared most aggrieved after an incident in the 44th minute when Everton full back Ashley Young's right arm blocked a header back into the six-yard box. Players on the field and backroom staff appealed furiously, but the VAR did not award a penalty.
By then, Gana Gueye had given Everton the lead after collecting a clearing header and driving a low shot in off the post from outside the area.
McNeil's was a similar strike, though from slightly further out and hit more powerfully after a run from near halfway.
In stoppage time, Forest's Morgan Gibbs-White and Everton substitute Beto clashed heads. Beto came off worse and was carried off on a stretcher — though he raised his hand and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd after being tended to by medical staff.
Aston Villa 3, Bournemouth 1
BIRMINGHAM, England — Aston Villa’s push to secure Champions League qualification was boosted with a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.
Trailing to Dominic Solanke’s 31st-minute penalty, Villa turned things around with Morgan Rogers equalizing in first-half stoppage time, Moussa Diaby putting the hosts ahead just before the hour mark and Leon Bailey adding a third in the 78th minute.
Ollie Watkins set up the finishes from Diaby and Bailey as he became the Premier League’s outright leading assist-maker this season with 12, to go with his 19 goals that sees him lie only one behind joint leaders Erling Haaland and Cole Palmer in the race for the Golden Boot.
The result strengthens Villa’s grip on fourth place, the final Champions League qualification spot. Villa is six points ahead of fifth-place Tottenham, which has two games in hand.
It also capped an excellent few days for Villa after last weekend's 2-0 win at Arsenal and Thursday’s penalty shootout triumph at Lille that took the team into the Europa Conference League semifinals.
Crystal Palace 5, West Ham 2
LONDON — Crystal Palace scored four goals in the first 31 minutes to set up a 5-2 victory in the Premier League over West Ham, whose ambitions of qualifying for Europe next season were dented on Sunday.
Palace, which had not previously scored more than three goals in a league match this season, opened the scoring with Michael Olise's header before Eberechi Eze made it 2-0 with a bicycle kick. Emerson intensified West Ham's woes when he turned the ball into his own net before Jean-Philippe Mateta made it four.
Michail Antonio clawed one back for the visitors before the break but Mateta grabbed his second in the 64th minute to re-establish the four-goal advantage.
Just as it looked to be the exclamation mark on a thumping victory, Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson was caught out and allowed Tyrick Mitchell’s back pass to skip past his foot and into the hosts’ net.
The defeat left West Ham in eighth place, two points adrift of Newcastle and Manchester United which both have two games in hand.
Liverpool 3, Fulham 1
LONDON — Liverpool stayed in the hunt for the Premier League title and moved level on points with leader Arsenal with a 3-1 victory over Fulham that was illuminated by a brilliant free kick by Trent Alexander-Arnold on Sunday.
Liverpool bounced back from Thursday’s exit to Atalanta in the Europa League quarterfinals and last weekend’s home loss to Crystal Palace by winning at Craven Cottage after Jurgen Klopp dropped Mohamed Salah and Alexis Mac Allister to the bench.
Alexander-Arnold’s curling free-kick in the 32nd was canceled out by Timothy Castagne's first goal for Fulham in first-half stoppage time.
Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota scored in the second half as Liverpool joined Arsenal on 74 points — one more than defending champion Manchester City, which has a game in hand.
Fulham academy graduate Harvey Elliott, who swapped London for Merseyside in 2019, was galvanized by jeers from the home fans as he helped his side create the first chance of the match.
The attacking midfield player instinctively picked out Alexander-Arnold, whose cross could not be directed in by Luis Diaz’s glancing header as the ball narrowly missed the inside of the post.
Alexander-Arnold then showed off his elite ball-striking ability. First, he received the ball centrally and he delivered a first-time side-footed pass in behind Fulham full-back Antonee Robinson before Diaz’s low cross to Jota was struck wide of the right-hand post.
Then, after Joao Palhinha brought down Jota on the counterattack, Alexander-Arnold stood over the set-piece in an almost central position near the edge of the area and whipped the ball over the wall into the top left-hand corner.
The Cottagers had been quiet all half but they came alive in added time to equalize.
Rodrigo Muniz’s blocked header off Alex Iwobi’s cross fell kindly to the unmarked Castagne, who slammed his effort home from close range.
Parity did not last long as, in the 53rd minute, Liverpool punished a series of errors to retake the lead. Iwobi's wayward pass found Elliott in a dangerous position and he opted to lay the ball off to Gravenberch, whose first-time curled effort flew past Bernd Leno to make it 2-1.
Liverpool wrapped up the win in the 72nd after Cody Gakpo’s pass split the defense and Jota finished with a strike into the bottom right-hand corner.
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