Hull City and Swansea City earned valuable victories in their battle for Premier League survival but Middlesbrough slid further toward the drop after a 4-0 hammering at Bournemouth Saturday. Hull's 2-0 win over Stoke City and Swansea's identical scoreline against Watford increased the pressure on Crystal Palace and Burnley, who are hovering above the relegation zone and play Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively, Sunday. With four games remaining 17th-placed Hull is just a place above the drop zone with 33 points to the 31 of Swansea. Boro is in 19th spot on 24 points and Sunderland is bottom on 21. Hull had a tough task after Oumar Niasse was surprisingly shown a straight red card after 25 minutes for a challenge on M'Baye Niang. But the Tigers took the lead just past the hour when Liverpool loanee Lazar Markovic scored from close range after his header had bounced down on the goal line. Hull made sure of the points nine minutes later when Sam Clucas found the top corner with superb 30-meter shot. They have now won four consecutive home league games. Spanish striker Fernando Llorente gave Swansea the lead with a trademark header from a corner in the 10th minute and the Welsh side was given a break when Marko Arnautovic missed a second-half penalty. Swansea made sure of the win when Tom Carroll's shot found the top corner via a deflection off Joe Allen. Time is running out for Boro which has not won in 16 league games and they endured a nightmare opening 20 minutes in which it conceded two goals and had midfielder Gaston Ramirez sent off for a second booking. Josh King scored just 96 seconds into the match and Benik Afobe doubled the advantage for the Cherries. Winger Marc Push made it 3-0 and Charlie Daniels completed the rout. Bayern draws with Mainz Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich twice came from a goal down to struggle to a 2-2 draw against visitor Mainz 05 Saturday, but stayed nine points clear at the top with four matches remaining. The Bavarians are on 70 points, with second-placed RB Leipzig on 61, ahead of it match at Schalke 04 Sunday. Bayern, which next faces Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup semifinal next week, made an error-ridden start and Bojan Krkic sneaked in to fire the visitors ahead after four minutes. Levin Oztunali could have doubled the lead from close range a little later as Bayern looked disorganized. Arjen Robben leveled after a fine break from the Bavarians, but they were again on the backfoot when Mainz was awarded a 40th-minute penalty and Daniel Brosinski beat Ulreich. Thiago Alcantara's low drive from the edge of the box drew Bayern level for the second time. It has now gone three matches in all competitions without a victory. Vedad Ibisevic's 12th goal of the season gave Hertha Berlin a 1-0 win over VfL Wolfsburg to stay on course for a Europa League spot in fifth place on 46. Max Kruse scored four times in 46 minutes as Werder Bremen crushed Ingolstadt 4-2 to extend its unbeaten run to 10 matches and climb to sixth on 42 points. Last-placed Darmstadt 98 earned itself a mathematical lifeline with a 2-1 win at Hamburg SV. — Agencies
