Tim Cahill scored two goals Sunday to lead fourth-place Everton over Crystal Palace 4-0 and help West Bromwich Albion move out of the Premier League's relegation zone for the first time in five months.
Cahill scored in the 47th and 55th minutes at Goodison Park. He first sent a rising volley into the net and later headed in another goal.
Mikel Arteta, on loan from Real Sociedad, curled a free kick into the top corner in the eighth minute to give Everton the lead, and 16-year-old substitute James Vaughan scored the final goal in the 87th.
PHOTO: AP
Vaughan broke three records with his appearance and goal. The teenager, at 16 years and 271 days old, became the youngest Everton player to score in a first team game, breaking Wayne Rooney's record of 16 years, 360 days set in 2002.
He also became Everton's youngest first-team player, beating Joe Royle's 1966 record by 11 days, and is the youngest player in the 13-year history of the Premier League, beating James Milner's record of 16 years and 309 days. Milner played for Leeds when he set the record in November 2002.
"Time will tell if James gets anywhere near to Wayne, it would be fantastic for us all if he did but clearly it would be a bit unfair to say he is the next Rooney because he is the first James Vaughan," Everton coach Alan Irvine said.
Everton, which leads city rival Liverpool by four points, ended a three-match losing streak.
Finishing fourth in the English league should be enough to earn a spot in next season's Champions League. But if Liverpool, which leads Juventus 2-1 in the quarterfinals of this year's competition, wins the European title, it would likely bump Everton into the UEFA Cup even if it finishes below its rival in the league standings.
Everton has 54 points and Liverpool is fifth with 50. Both teams have six games remaining.
Earlier Sunday, Paul Robinson scored an injury-time equalizer to give West Bromwich Albion a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, and Tottenham beat Newcastle 1-0 off a Jermaine Defoe goal to move up two places to seventh.
Craig Bellamy and Chris Sutton scored to give Celtic a 2-1 win over Hearts and a place in the Scottish Cup final.
Celtic will play Dundee United, which beat Hibernian 2-1 in the other semifinal on Saturday, in the final on May 28. Celtic won its 32nd Scottish Cup last season.
Sutton scored after three minutes, heading the ball into the roof of the net from a cross by Stilian Petrov.
Bellamy, on loan from Newcastle since January, added Celtic's second in the 49th minute, taking advantage of poor Hearts defense to swivel and score from 12m.
"I've definitely been inspired but when you come to a club like Celtic, it's hard not to be inspired," Bellamy said. "It's such a great club and I'm just really happy to be playing football.
"I'm playing the position I love playing, I'm playing with players I love being with day in, day out and I'm really happy at the moment."
Hearts pulled a goal back through substitute Deividas Cesnauskis, who lobbed the ball over Celtic 'keeper David Marshall.
Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and Raul Gonzalez scored first-half goals to help Real Madrid to a 4-2 victory over league leader FC Barcelona in the 150th league meeting between the country's biggest teams.
Michael Owen added Madrid's fourth goal after halftime at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, reducing Barcelona's lead to six points with seven rounds to play.
"People said the league was all over. I always said it wasn't," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard. "We came here with an advantage but now we have to lift our heads."
League-leading scorer Samuel Eto'o scored his 21st goal of the season for Barcelona, but the Cameroon striker was carried off with a right knee injury in the second half. The club said he may be sidelined for more than a month. Ronaldinho netted Barcelona's second goal.
"We have to win our games," Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo said. "If Barcelona had won today it would have won the league."
Also, Sevilla downed Espanyol 3-1 and moved into third place, Real Betis drew 2-2 with Levante, while Valencia drew 2-2 with Malaga.
Barcelona still leads the league with 69 points, followed by Madrid with 63. Sevilla is next with 52 points, one more than Villarreal, which has one game in hand. Betis has 50 points, while Espanyol drops to sixth with 49, one more than Valencia.
Marek Mintal scored his league-leading 22nd goal to help FC Nuremberg blank Rostock 3-0 and move out of the relegation zone.
The Slovakia midfielder, chased by most of the Bundesliga's top clubs, headed in an extended 68th-minute free kick as Nuremberg won for the first time in seven matches.
Maik Wagefeld added his first two Bundesliga goals in the 59th and 88th minutes to push Nuremberg five points clear of demotion.
"If we keep showing this kind of class, we'll have no problem staying in the league," said Wagefeld, a second division star last season.
Interim coach Hans-Werner Moser's debut with FC Kaiserslautern was a success as his team beat Bielefeld 2-0.
Rostock is now one spot above last place and six points away from escaping relegation.
The Bundesliga's only club from the former East Germany had raised its hopes of staying in the league by winning three of its past four matches -- cutting the points it needed to avoid demotion in half.
The setback came with six rounds left in the season.
Striker Vincenzo Montella scored his 20th goal of the season to help AS Roma hold fourth-place Udinese to a 3-3 draw that ended the Roman side's four-match losing streak in the Serie A.
Udinese, which at one moment trailed Roma by two goals, squandered at least 10 scoring chances during the second half.
It achieved the final equalizer through David Di Michele in the 75th minute at Friuli stadium.
Udinese held fourth place in the standings with 49 points, one clear of Sampdoria which played a goalless draw at Cagliari.
Palermo beat 10-man Messina 2-1 in the Sicilian Derby, with striker Luca Toni netting the winner and his 14th goal this season in the 72nd minute.
Atalanta downed Chievo 3-0 to tie Brescia at 27 points and revive its hopes of escaping relegation.
Lecce and Siena drew 2-2 and Lazio beat Livorno 3-1 with Brazilian Cesar converting a penalty and setting up a goal by Roberto Muzzi at Stadio Olimpico. Parma won 3-1 at Reggina to move away from the relegation zone.
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