Armando Broja helped Southampton to a comfortable 2-0 victory over an Everton side managed by Frank Lampard, the man who gave the young striker his senior debut at Chelsea two years ago, also in a win over the Toffees. On this occasion, the Saints denied their opponents a single shot on target in a victory which means they have lost just one of their last nine Premier League fixtures, propelling them into the top half of the table.

Norwich City and Billy Gilmour suffered a painful defeat away at Liverpool. Having frustrated their opponents during the first half, the Canaries took a shock lead shortly after the break, but the Reds fought back to score three times in 17 minutes, leaving Gilmour on the losing side of a 3-1 scoreline and Norwich five points from safety at the bottom of the table.

Reading had Baba Rahman and Danny Drinkwater in their side as they returned to form with four points in a week, but it wasn’t enough to save their manager from the sack. First the Royals ended their seven-game losing streak with a 0-0 draw away at Peterborough United last Wednesday, before securing their first win in 13 matches, 3-2 at Preston North End on Saturday.

However, after racing into a three-goal lead against a Preston team who were unbeaten in six games, and hadn’t conceded in four, they ended up hanging on at the end and manager Veljko Paunovic departed shortly after the final whistle, despite that result taking Reading five points clear of the relegation zone.

Jake Clarke-Salter and Ian Maatsen both returned to Coventry City’s starting line-up to help them get back to winning ways and move into the top 10 in the Championship table. The duo came off the bench in the second half as the Sky Blues were beaten 2-0 away at Cardiff City in midweek, but started when they hosted Barnsley on Saturday.

Former Chelsea Academy goalkeeper Bradley Collins kept the visitors in the game, including one fine save to keep out Maatsen’s free-kick, but Coventry found a deserved injury-time winner to triumph 1-0.

Dujon Sterling played the full 90 minutes at right-back as Blackpool drew 1-1 away at Cardiff City in a game that saw both sides battling the elements as much as each other, with each team finding their goal when playing with the gale-force wind behind them.

Jamie Cumming helped MK Dons secure an important win in the League One promotion race. Their 2-1 victory away at Sunderland keeps them at the top of the chasing pack, three points from automatic promotion, and dropped their opponents out of the play-off places.

Mason Burstow came on at half-time for Charlton Athletic but was unable to turn the tide against high-flying Oxford United, as the 10-man Addicks were beaten 4-0 at home. In the Southern League, Ethan Wady suffered a 3-1 defeat with Hendon away at Taunton Town.

Ethan Ampadu featured throughout as Venezia hosted Genoa in a Serie A relegation head-to-head. Despite having the better of the chances and taking the lead in the first half, the Welsh international’s team had to settle for a 1-1 draw, although that was enough to move them out of the relegation zone and six points ahead of their opponents.

Matt Miazga was part of the Alaves defence which stood strong for an hour away at Real Madrid, denying the La Liga leaders chances and being unlucky not to go in at half-time with the lead. However, Real went ahead in the second half and two further goals in the last 10 minutes made for a 3-0 final scoreline which was harsh on Miazga and Alaves.

Emerson Palmieri was in the Lyon side which drew 1-1 at Lens in an evenly matched Ligue 1 game, but it is a result which did neither team much good in their pursuit of European qualification. In Turkey, Besiktas and Michy Batshuayi were on the receiving end of an injury-time equaliser as they were held 1-1 at Adana Demirspor last week, with the striker picking up his fourth booking of the season, meaning he was suspended for the 1-0 win over Altay that moved them up to sixth in the table.