Southampton climbed above Leeds into third place with an emphatic 5-0 home win over Swansea City that extends their unbeaten run to 16 league matches. Joe Aribo finished on the rebound to put the hosts a goal up at the break against the Saints manager Russell Martin’s former club. Samuel Edozie made it two soon after the restart, punishing the Swansea keeper Carl Rushworth’s error, before Ryan Fraser’s fine finish from Alan Armstrong’s pass made the points safe in the 74th minute. Fraser smashed in a second for the dominant hosts with three minutes to play, and there was still time for the winger to set up Che Adams for a fifth in stoppage time. Southampton’s best league run for more than a century goes on as Martin reaped the rewards of allowing his players to miss training on Christmas Day. “I gave the players Christmas Day off because they are human beings,” Martin said. “It would only have been the right thing if we won, if we lost then it would be the reason why we lost. They really repaid me today.” Leeds slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Preston in an early kick-off at Deepdale, Liam Millar sealing victory after Illan Meslier was sent off in the second half. The Leeds keeper inexplicably earned himself a straight red card with the game still goalless, shoving Preston striker Milutin Osmajic in the face after clashing with Ben Whiteman eight minutes after the restart. Alan Browne headed the hosts in front soon after but Pascal Struijk looked to have earned 10-man Leeds a valuable point from the penalty spot. Millar struck in the 89th minute to earn Preston victory, however, firing home brilliantly beyond the replacement keeper, Karl Darlow, and into the top corner. West Brom are in fifth place after Brandon Thomas-Asante’s 50th-minute goal earned a 1-0 home win over Norwich, who had Borja Sainz sent off in the first half. The striker scrambled home his eighth goal of the season from two yards out after Grady Diangana had headed Jed Wallace’s cross goalwards. Sainz saw red for two yellow cards after bringing down Diangana and then earning a second booking for dissent. Jack Clarke’s late winner at the MKM Stadium saw Sunderland climb above Hull and into the top six as Michael Beale earned his first win as Black Cats manager. The winger cut inside and found the bottom corner in the 82nd minute to delight Beale – and the watching Jude Bellingham, whose brother Jobe turned out for the visitors. Bristol City climbed to eighth after thrashing Watford 4-1 at Vicarage Road. Cameron Pring’s strike and a Wesley Hoedt own goal put the visitors in charge at half-time. Giorgi Chakvetadze pulled one back, but further goals from Mark Sykes and Andreas Weimann secured another impressive victory under Liam Manning. “We’re going in the right direction but I told the players afterwards that we can play better than that,” said Manning. “That’s what excites me about the group. The challenge is to strive every day to improve, but there were so many positives today.” Rotherham, the Championship’s bottom club, boosted their survival hopes as Cohen Bramall’s fortuitous goal earned a surprise win over Middlesbrough. The hosts got the only goal in the 72nd minute when Bramall’s miscued cross deceived Tom Glover and flew into the top corner. The Millers move level with Sheffield Wednesday, who lost 2-0 at Coventry, the Japan international Tatsuhiro Sakamoto with a goal in either half. Huddersfield moved five points clear of the drop zone with a 3-0 win over a disappointing Blackburn side. Jaheim Headley’s low strike handed Darren Moore’s side a first-half advantage, before Delano Burgzorg set up Sorba Thomas to score the Terriers’ second and then notched himself from Josh Koroma’s through-ball. Millwall eased their relegation fears with a 2-0 home win over fellow strugglers QPR. Tom Bradshaw and Murray Wallace were on target as the hosts ended a seven-game winless run. Elsewhere, Morgan Whittaker scored twice as Plymouth picked up a point in a 2-2 draw at Cardiff. In the later kick-off, Birmingham’s poor form under Wayne Rooney continued as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Stoke. The Potters ended a nine-game winless run and climbed above their opponents in the table after Jordan Thompson, Lynden Gooch and André Vidigal all netted before Jay Stansfield’s consolation goal.