Premier League: Marcos Alonso double sees Chelsea retain top-four spot; West Ham, Crystal Palace move away from relegation zone

Bournemouth: Marcos Alonso scored twice, including a late headed equalizer, to help Chelsea earn a 2-2 draw at relegation-threatened Bournemouth, while Crystal Palace and West Ham United moved away from the relegation zone with wins. [caption id=“attachment_8103001” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Marcos Alonso’s late equaliser saw Chelsea rescue a point against Bournemouth. AP[/caption] Alonso opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with a crisp strike after Olivier Giroud struck the crossbar with an acrobatic flick, but Chelsea were punished for dwelling on that lead. Bournemouth scored twice in a three-minute span from the 54th, Jefferson Lerma thumping in a header from a corner before Josh King tapped in at the far post following a low cross from Jack Stacey. Alonso scrambled in the equalizer in the 85th, though, and the draw lifted fourth-place Chelsea four points ahead of fifth-place Manchester United having played a game more. United visit Everton on Sunday and they are two of the eight teams within nine points of Chelsea. A 10th league defeat of the campaign would have opened the door for Chelsea to drop out of the top four for the first time since October, having seemingly consolidated the position by beating Tottenham 2-1 last weekend — when Alonso scored on his first start in two months. Bournemouth remained just outside the relegation zone with 10 games left. Nil-nil Newcastle  Newcastle manager Steve Bruce’s tactical tinkering failed to pay off as his team was held scoreless once again in a hard-fought 0-0 game with Burnley. Bruce changed both personnel and system as he attempted to bring greater creativity to his relegation-threatened team after being unable to score against Norwich, Arsenal and Crystal Palace in recent games. The introduction of a second striker in Dwight Gayle, meaning offseason signing Joelinton moved to the left, was not rewarded with goals. Newcastle did create chances, with Joelinton, Jonjo Shelvey and Miguel Almiron all impressive, but they could not take any of them.   Adios relegation West Ham climbed out of the Premier League’s relegation zone by beating Southampton 3-1, with new signing Jarrod Bowen among their scorers on his first top-flight start. Bowen, who arrived from second-tier Hull in the January transfer window, clipped a fine finish over Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy in the 15th minute to set West Ham on their way to victory at the Olympic Stadium. Michael Obafemi equalized in the 31st for Southampton after starting in place of top scorer Danny Ings, who hadn’t trained for most of the week because of a minor injury. Sebastian Haller regained the lead for the hosts by outjumping McCarthy to win a looping ball before slotting home a sliding finish from an acute angle in the 40th. Michail Antonio, Haller’s strike partner, clinched the win in the 54th by running through unchallenged and finding the bottom corner. Elsewhere, Crystal Palace moved closer to securing another season in the Premier League after riding their luck before snatching a 70th-minute winner through Jordan Ayew in a 1-0 victory over Brighton. Palace climbed to 36 points — 12 clear of the bottom three — and left Brighton in the relegation scrap and regretting a series of missed chances at Amex Stadium. The visitors took advantage by scoring on a breakaway, Christian Benteke playing in Ayew to slot home a finish off the leg of Brighton goalkeeper Mat Ryan.