Newcastle United cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Leicester City to record their sixth consecutive Premier League victory, also ending a run of six straight league defeats in games played on Boxing Day.After losing only one of their 15 league games before the World Cup break, confidence was evidently still oozing through the Newcastle side, who took a sensational two-goal lead inside seven minutes. Firstly through Chris Wood, who thundered his spot-kick down the middle of the Leicester goal following Daniel Amartey’s reckless challenge on Joelinton. The Magpies wasted little time in doubling their advantage through Miguel Almirón, who registered his ninth goal of the season. Almirón played a neat one-two with Bruno Guimarães, before the Paraguayan drove through the feeble Leicester defence, slotting the ball beyond Danny Ward.Although the hosts began to show signs of improvement, their uphill task became something of a mountain to climb when Newcastle added a third goal in the 32nd minute. Joelinton towered over his marker to thump a powerful header home from Kieran Trippier’s out-swinging corner, ensuring the visitors headed into halftime with a commanding lead.Following a woeful first-half display, the Foxes knew that they would need a Christmas miracle to pull off an unlikely comeback. Rodgers introduced the experience of Jamie Vardy at the break, and although the veteran forward added some much-needed impetus to Leicester’s attacking play, Newcastle’s sturdy defence was proving to be an immovable object. In the closing stages, Nick Pope made a couple of comfortable saves to deny Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Wilfred Ndidi, securing his side their fourth consecutive clean sheet in all competitions and keeping the Magpies’ machine rolling.The win extends Newcastle’s unbeaten run to 11 league games, lifting them up to second place in the Premier League. As for the Foxes, the defeat leaves them in 13th position, and they will be hoping for an improved display when the two sides meet again in the EFL Cup quarter-finals in January.The Bees sting twice before hollow Spurs suddenly awake to save the dignity and a pointElsewhere, Nathan Jones’ first Premier League fixture at St Mary’s Stadium as Southampton boss ended in a 3-1 defeat to high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion, stretching the Saints’ winless home run against the Seagulls to six games.After some exquisite build-up play by the visitors, an unmarked Adam Lallana headed in Solly March’s inviting ball into the area, which was unable to be kept out by Bazunu as the ball trickled through his hands and into the net. After James Ward-Prowse threatened the Seagulls’ goal with a lofted free-kick, Southampton’s afternoon went from bad to worse when Romain Perraud shinned the ball into his own net under pressure from March in the six-yard box.Brighton score three and take all three points in their #PL clash against Southampton at St. Mary’s. pic.twitter.com/lChO0lPIlL— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) December 26, 2022 Brighton added a third goal to their tally in the 56th minute when March unleashed a peach of a left-foot strike from long range to seemingly claim all three points. Saints managed to register a consolation goal when Ward-Prowse headed in a rebound after Robert Sánchez saved his initial penalty, but it wasn’t enough to spark a late comeback for the home side.In a small London derby, Fulham moved up to eighth in the table with a resounding 3-0 victory over nine-man Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, recording a first head-to-head victory in six meetings.Fulham regained control of proceedings after the half-hour mark and took a deserved lead, as it came after Aleksandar Mitrović’s pinpoint cross was brilliantly glanced into the far corner by Bobby Decordova-Reid for his fourth league goal of the season.Desperate for a swift response, Palace looked to up the ante before halftime, but things soon got worse for the Eagles, with Tyrick Mitchell shown a straight red card for an ugly challenge on Kenny Tete.Armed with the numerical advantage, the Cottagers emerged after the restart eager to extend their one-goal cushion, as Joao Palhinha fired a long-range strike narrowly over the bar. Fulham continued to dominate proceedings before the hour-mark, and were given further encouragement when James Tomkins directed an elbow into the face of Mitrović, with the Palace man receiving a second booking in the process.This gave Fulham plenty of space to exploit in the final 30 minutes, and the visitors duly doubled their lead in the 71st minute, when Mitrović’s downward header was rifled into the roof of the net by captain Tim Ream. Having assisted both goals for his side, Mitrović added late gloss to the scoreline with a close-range header to cap off a perfect Boxing Day performanceBoxing Day couldn’t have gone much better for Fulham, who ran out 3-0 victors against Crystal Palace…#FFC pic.twitter.com/HV5KYtZx8R— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) December 26, 2022 The most uncertain clash, score-wise, happened in Liverpool. Julen Lopetegui’s Wolverhampton Wanderers side got his Premier League tenure off to the perfect start, snatching all three points against Everton at Goodison Park in the 95th minute to win 2-1.With Everton having won one in seven of their Premier League games prior to the World Cup and Wolves at the foot of Premier League table, the game had the makings of a crucial clash that could prove vital in the battle to avoid relegation. It was the Toffees who got off to a dream start though, as Yerry Mina gave them the lead after just 7 minutes with a fantastic glancing header from Dwight McNeil’s corner that nestled into the far bottom corner. The Wolves responded and drew level midway in the first-half through Daniel Podence after he calmly volleyed home a lovely ball into the box from João Moutinho.The Toffees looked the more likely to grab a winner and went close inside the last ten minutes, as substitute Thomas Cannon went close to putting them ahead only for his shot to be cleared off the line. However, it was Wolves who grabbed a late winner as Adama Traoré raced forward before squaring to substitute Rayan Äit-Nouri who rifled a shot into the back of the net to secure three points for Wolves. The late goal sees Wolves go just a point behind the Toffees as they climb to 18th and just a point away from safety.PREMIER LEAGUE – ROUND 17MondayBrentford – Tottenham 2-2 (1-0)/Janelt 15, Toney 54 – Kane 65, Hojbjerg 71/Leicester – Newcastle 0-3 (0-3)/Wood 3 pen, Almiron 7, Joelinton 32/Southampton – Brighton 1-3 (0-2)/Ward-Prowse 74 – Lallana 15, Perraud 35 og, March 56/Everton – Wolverhampton 1-2 (1-1)/Mina 7 – Podence 22, Ait Nouri 90+5/Crystal Palace – Fulham 0-3 (0-1)/Reid 32, Reim 71, Mitrovic 81/20:30: (4.60) Aston Villa (3.70) Liverpool (1.85)23:00: (1.55) Arsenal (4.20) West Ham (7.00)Tuesday20:30: (1.35) Chelsea (5.30) Bournemouth (10.0)23:00: (1.35) Man.Utd. (5.30) Nott.Forest (10.0)Wednesday23:00: (9.50) Leeds (5.90) Man.City (1.33)***odds are subject to change***©FlashScore
