News

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has put Newcastle in an incredible position to qualify for the Champions League, while Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery and Brentford’s Thomas Frank are also enjoying wonderful campaigns.

He did, however, have a torrid time at the Bernabeu on Wednesday evening as Brazilian winger Vinicius Junior gave him the runaround.

“Honestly, I have to say some of his behaviour in the second half has been a disgrace.”

Julen Lopetegui’s side edged towards safety and another barnstorming Costa display sparked memories of his bullying best at Chelsea.

Saints midfielder Carlos Alcaraz came close to halving the deficit as he curled against the inside of the left post before the Eagles cruised to victory to take another significant step towards securing their own survival.

Even on their recent poor run, Chelsea have rarely been so outclassed. Brighton were outstanding, their range of passing and intelligence with the ball making a mockery of the £500million spent by Todd Boehly to try and propel Chelsea up the league. On this showing, only one of these teams belonged in Europe next season.

With Fulham in the ascendancy, Everton became increasingly disjointed and were booed off at the full-time whistle after squandering the chance to put daylight between themselves and the Premier League relegation zone as they remain above the bottom three on goal difference alone.

Tottenham remain in fifth but have Aston Villa breathing down their neck and have a critical three-game week against top-four rivals Newcastle and Manchester United coming up with confidence again low while chairman Daniel Levy faced more chants during this 10th defeat of the league season.

And the club legend was predictably downtrodden in his post-match interview.

Stellini, who , said: “It’s a tough moment for everyone and we have to analyse this moment. Everyone needs to analyse how important it is to support the player.