London, April 30 (IANS) Brighton kept their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season alive with a comprehensive 6-0 thrashing of Wolverhampton.
Brighton threw aside any possible tired legs after their midweek defeat to Nottingham Forest to thrash a rival that has built a reputation for solid defensive organisation since Julen Lopetegui took over as coach, reports Xinhua.
The result was never in doubt after Deniz Unadov put Brighton ahead in the sixth minute and Pascal Gross doubled the lead after 13 minutes. Gross made it 3-0 in the 26th minute and Danny Welbeck added a fourth before halftime.
Udanov and Welbeck scored again after the break as Brighton moved to just two points behind fifth place Tottenham, but with two games in hand.
There was late heartbreak for Nottingham Forest in their battle to avoid relegation as two late goals condemned them to a 2-1 defeat away to Brentford.
Danilo put Forest ahead on the stroke of halftime and they were eight minutes away from a vital win before Ivan Toney equalized in the 82nd minute.
Josh Dasilva then side-footed home the winner for Brentford in the fourth minute of injury time to leave Forest in danger of dropping back into the bottom three before the end of the weekend.
West Ham still have work to do to stay up after losing a seven-goal thriller 4-3 away to Crystal Palace, who should now be safe on 40 points.
Tomas Soucek put West Ham ahead in the ninth minute but goals from Jordan Ayew and Wilfred Zaha ahead by the 20th minute and Jeffrey Schlupp made it 3-1 by the half hour.
Michail Antonio got West Ham right back into things in the 35th minute, but a 66th minute penalty from Eberechi Eze put Palace, who had twice as many shots as their visitors in the game, two goals ahead, and although Nayef Aguerd made it 4-3 with 18 minutes left, Palace defended well to hold on for the points.
–IANS
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