Leeds earn big win as Southampton scrap for a draw

Leeds have climbed out of the Premier League relegation zone with a manic 4-2 win at Wolves while Tottenham’s grip on a top-four place loosened after they threw away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at last-placed Southampton.

Leeds were in danger of wasting a 3-0 lead at Molineux on Saturday as the hosts pulled two goals back before going down to 10 men, but Rodrigo put the game away with their fourth goal in injury time.

Jack Harrison, Luke Ayling and Rasmus Kristensen also struck for Leeds while Wolves had Jonny, an earlier scorer, shown red for a studs-up challenge in the 84th minute and unsused substitute Matheus Nunes also got dismissed in stoppage time, furious that Rodrigo’s goal was not ruled out for a foul.

It’s just the second win in 13 league games for Leeds and lifts the team from 19th place up to 14th in the exceedingly tight lower half of the table.

While the title race has long been a two-way fight between Arsenal and Manchester City, the relegation battle involves no fewer than nine teams who are in real danger of finishing among the bottom three.

Only four points now separate 12th-place Crystal Palace and last-place Southampton, who rallied to draw at home with Spurs after being awarded a contentious penalty in injury time.

James Ward-Prowse smashed that spot kick into the net for a point that helps give Southampton some hope of avoiding the drop, even though they’ve played at least one more game than most of the teams directly above them.

It could be a costly collapse for Tottenham, though, as Antonio Conte’s team had a chance to provisionally climb above Manchester United into third.

Instead, Spurs are now just two points ahead of fifth-place Newcastle, who have played two fewer games.

Leicester remained firmly entrenched in the relegation battle despite halting a five-game losing streak in all competitions with a 1-1 draw at Brentford that keeps them just one point above the drop zone, two points ahead of Southampton.

Mid-table Aston Villa made it three wins in four games with a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth.