Crystal Palace and West Ham force breathing space in relegation battle as Swansea and Hull lose

Dejected: Hull remain two points above the drop zone despite defeat at Stoke
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Dutton15 April 2017

Crystal Palace and West Ham edged a step close to Premier League survival as Hull and Swansea suffered defeats on Saturday.

The Eagles fought back from 2-0 down against champions Leicester to rescure a point and move seven points clear of the drop as Watford secured a narrow win over Swansea, who remain in bottom three after a costly error from Alfie Mawson.

Etienne Capoue capitalised on Mawson's sloppiness to score the only goal of a dull encounter, the 1-0 win taking Watford onto 40 points and all-but securing their top-flight status.

But it was a fifth loss in six games for the Swans, who failed to take advantage of Hull's 3-1 loss at Stoke and are swimming against the tide in their bid to avoid the drop.

It is looking increasingly like a survival shoot-out between Swansea and Hull, who remain two points above the drop zone despite their second defeat in as many games.

Xherdan Shaqiri's stunning 30-yard strike capped Stoke's victory, firing into the top corner with 10 minutes remaining.

Pos Team P W D L GD Pts
1 Chelsea 31 24 3 4 40 75
2 Tottenham 32 21 8 3 46 71
3 Liverpool 32 18 9 5 28 63
4 Man City 31 18 7 6 25 61
5 Everton 33 16 9 8 23 57
6 Manchester United 30 15 12 3 22 57
7 Arsenal 30 16 6 8 22 54
8 West Brom 32 12 8 12 -2 44
9 Southampton 30 11 7 12 0 40
10 Watford 32 11 7 14 -15 40
11 Stoke 33 10 9 14 -11 39
12 Leicester 32 10 7 15 -12 37
13 West Ham 33 10 7 16 -15 37
14 Burnley 33 10 6 17 -14 36
15 Crystal Palace 32 10 5 17 -8 35
16 Bournemouth 33 9 8 16 -18 35
17 Hull City 33 8 6 19 -33 30
18 Swansea City 33 8 4 21 -31 28
19 Middlesbrough 31 4 12 15 -15 24
20 Sunderland 32 5 6 21 -32 21

Still without an away success in the league since August, Marco Silva's side had been level when Harry Maguire cancelled out Marko Arnautovic's opener, yet substitute Peter Crouch restored Stoke's lead before Shaqiri's moment of magic.

Burnley remain eight points clear of the drop despite their 3-1 defeat at Everton.

In Pictures | Sunderland vs West Ham | 15/04/2017

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West Ham are a further point ahead after Fabio Borini's late strike denied them all three points at the Stadium of Light, while Bournemouth dropped to 16th after their heavy loss at White Hart Lane.

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