Lowton stunner inspires Villa win

Absolute cracker ... Villa players help celebrate Matthew Lowton stunning volley. Source: Neal Simpson / AAP

Defender Matthew Lowton scores a candidate for goal of the season as Aston Villa boost their survival hopes with a 3-1 win over Stoke City at Britannai Stadium.

The 23-year-old has been a model of consistency for Villa throughout a testing campaign, but goals have never been part of his game.

He has, however, now netted on two occasions this season - and both have been pretty special.

Lowton's latest effort saw him crash a stunning volley past Asmir Begovic, turning a tight contest in Villa's favour and paving the way for Christian Benteke to wrap up the points with a third in stoppage-time.

Villa dominated the game but couldn't add to Gabriel Agbonlahor's ninth minute opener and nearly paid for their profligacy when Michael Kightly equalised for Stoke City late in the match.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	30	25	2	3	39	77
2	Man City	30	18	8	4	29	62
3	Tottenham	31	17	6	8	15	57
4	Arsenal	31	16	8	7	27	56
5	Chelsea	30	16	7	7	27	55
6	Everton	30	13	12	5	12	51
7	Liverpool	31	13	9	9	19	48
8	West Brom	32	13	5	14	-1	44
9	Swansea	32	10	11	11	1	41
10	Fulham	30	10	9	11	-3	39
11	Southampton	32	9	10	13	-7	37
12	West Ham	30	10	6	14	-9	36
13	Norwich	32	7	14	11	-19	35
14	Stoke	32	7	13	12	-11	34
15	Newcastle	31	9	6	16	-15	33
16	Aston Villa	32	8	9	15	-24	33
17	Sunderland	31	7	10	14	-10	31
18	Wigan	30	8	6	16	-20	30
19	QPR	31	4	11	16	-23	23
20	Reading	32	5	8	19	-27	23

But Lowton ensured Villa took the three points that lifted his side out of the relegation zone.

Reflecting on his wonder goal, Lowton said: "At the corner I just thought I would ring the box and if anything comes then I will help it back in. But after I've had my first touch and it sat up like it did, I thought why not hit it. Luckily it has flown in the back of the net.

"The one against Swansea wrong-footed the goalkeeper more than anything, but today it felt sweet when I hit it and it's actually beat the keeper. It was fantastic to see it hit the back of the net."

Villla boss Paul Lambert was delighted with the performance of his players afterwards, with his side having now claimed three wins in their last four to offer renewed hope in their bid to preserve their top-flight status.

"I thought we deserved it. I thought we were terrific in certain parts of the game. For the majority of the game I thought we were outstanding and I thought we thoroughly deserved to win the game," he said.

"And the three goals, especially Matty Lowton's - I don't think you will see a better goal in Europe, let alone Britain."

At Madjeski Stadium, Reading were pushed closer to relegation as Nigel Adkins's first home game in charge ended in a 2-0 defeat against his former club Southampton.

The Royals had their chances in the early stages but fell behind to Jay Rodriguez's 34th minute strike and Southampton never looked back as they sealed another impressive win.

Adam Lallana netted a second goal in the 72nd minute for Saints, who are now seven points clear of the drop zone, while Reading's battle for survival now appears doomed as they remain seven points adrift of safety with just six games to play.

Adkins, sacked by Southampton in January, was given a good reception by the fans of both teams as he acknowledged the crowd before the start of the game.

At Carrow Road, Norwich City continue to face a tense finish to the season after a topsy-turvy 2-2 draw with Swansea City left them looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone.

Naorwich edged a point further away from the drop zone courtesy of the draw but could be pulled back to within two points depending on Monday morning's (EST) results.

Michu had given Swansea the lead only for Norwich to come storming back either side of half-time through Robert Snodgrass and Michael Turner.

But Luke Moore then equalised for Swansea to ensure Chris Hughton's Norwich have now won just once in 15 Premier League games.

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Lampard's 200th inspires Chelsea

Super Frank ... the Chelsea veteran brings up his goal milestone. Source: Darren Walsh / AAP

Frank Lampard scored his 200th Chelsea goal to help the Blues to a 2-0 victory over his former club, West Ham United, which moves them up to third in the Barclays Premier League.

An impressive Eden Hazard teed up the veteran midfielder's 19th-minute header with a skilful chip into the box before adding one of his own early in the second half.

Lampard, on his 595th Blues appearance, was unmarked when he met Hazard's clipped cross from the right channel with a firm header for his first goal since his strike in the FA Cup fourth-round replay with Brentford in February.

Chelsea would have been in front much earlier had Demba Ba converted instead of slicing wide  in one of the misses of the season when played in by Lampard in the seventh minute.

Manager Rafael Benitez admits Chelsea's win could have been even sweeter if they had scored more goals, but says it has still been a "positive" week.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	29	24	2	3	38	74
2	Man City	29	17	8	4	25	59
3	Chelsea	29	16	7	6	28	55
4	Tottenham	30	16	6	8	14	54
5	Arsenal	29	14	8	7	23	50
6	Everton	29	12	12	5	11	48
7	Liverpool	30	12	9	9	18	45
8	West Brom	30	13	5	12	2	44
9	Swansea	30	10	10	10	2	40
10	Fulham	29	9	9	11	-4	36
11	Stoke	30	7	13	10	-8	34
12	Norwich	30	7	13	10	-18	34
13	Newcastle	30	9	6	15	-11	33
14	West Ham	29	9	6	14	-11	33
15	Sunderland	30	7	10	13	-9	31
16	Southampton	30	7	10	13	-10	31
17	Aston Villa	30	7	9	14	-25	30
18	Wigan	29	7	6	16	-21	27
19	Reading	30	5	8	17	-22	23
20	QPR	30	4	11	15	-22	23

The triumph came after they turned around their UEFA Europa League tie with Steaua Bucharest in midweek to advance to the quarter-finals and Benitez is pleased to see his side on the up.

"It's a pity because it was a great win, a great result for us, a clean sheet, two goals, 200 goals for Lampard, but we could have maybe scored three or four goals and it would have been even better," he said.

"West Ham are a difficult team to play against. Free-kicks and corners are always a problem. If they'd have scored one goal they would have been back in the game so we needed to score the third goal, kill the game, but we didn't do it.

"We're still very positive. The week was very positive for us and today the team was playing great football."

On Lampard reaching his milestone the manager said: "He's a great player. 200 goals for any player is a fantastic achievement. For a midfielder it's even better.

"He could have scored one or two more goals. I'm really pleased for the team, really pleased for him and for everyone here."

David Luiz was substituted for John Terry in the 78th minute with an apparent injury and Benitez says he does not yet know the severity of the damage.

"We don't know. We need to talk with the doctor because we don't know how serious the problem is," he said.

"We made the substitution just in case but we need to talk with the doctor."

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