Chelsea dominate Everton in second half to take closer step to title: Premier League round-up

A round-up of all the results and reports from this weekend’s Premier League action.

SUNDAY

Everton 0 Chelsea 3 | Analysis

Chelsea: Pedro (66’) Cahill (79’) Willian (86’)

• Chelsea took a major step towards the Premier League title with an impressive 3-0 win over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin struck the post for Everton in the second minute but Ronald Koeman’s side struggled to create real openings and Chelsea ran away with it in the second half.

Pedro broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion, making some space for himself and then beating Maarten Stekelenburg with a left-foot drive from 25 metres out that flew into the top corner.

Antonio Conte’s side doubled their advantage when Stekelenburg could only parry out a low, diagonal free kick from Eden Hazard and captain Gary Cahill pounced to fire home the loose ball.

Two Chelsea substitutes combined for the third goal, four minutes from the end, when Cesc Fabregas slipped the ball to Willian for a simple close-range conversion.

Chelsea now have a seven-point lead ahead of second-placed Tottenham’s North London derby against Arsenal later on Sunday.

* Reuters

Tottenham 2 Arsenal 0

Tottenham: Alli (55’) Kane (58’ PEN)

• Dele Alli and Harry Kane kept Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League title hunt as their side torpedoed Arsenal 2-0 in White Hart Lane’s last north London derby on Sunday.

Leaders Chelsea extended their advantage to seven points by winning 3-0 at Everton earlier in the day, but Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs cut the gap back to four points with a thrilling display.

The two goals arrived within 146 seconds of each other in the second half, Alli polishing off a rebound and Kane netting a penalty to take their respective goal tallies to 17 and 21 for the campaign.

Spurs will finish above Arsenal for the first time since 1995, ending 22 years of “St Totteringham’s Day” -- the day marked by Arsenal fans when their team can no longer be overtaken by their local rivals.

Spurs will play at Wembley next season before moving into their new stadium — which is being built on the site of their current home — in August 2018.

They have now won nine league games in succession and prevailed in 13 successive league matches at home within the same season for the first time.

* Agence France-Presse

Middlesbrough 2 Manchester City 2

Boro: Negredo (38’) Chambers (77’)

City: Aguero (69’ PEN) Gabriel Jesus (85’)

• Gabriel Jesus headed the decisive equaliser as Manchester City twice came from behind to draw 2-2 away to a Middlesbrough side battling for Premier League survival on Sunday.

Former City striker Alvaro Negredo put Middlesbrough ahead seven minutes before halftime with a shot from the centre of the box that went in off the inside of the post.

Sergio Aguero pulled City level in the 69th with a penalty hotly disputed by Boro after Marten de Roon was ruled to have brought down substitute Leroy Sane.

Eight minutes later Boro went ahead again when Calum Chambers shot high into the net in a goalmouth melee after efforts from Stewart Downing and Negredo were kept out.

But Brazilian teenager Gabriel Jesus, in his first start since returning from an injury layoff, had the last word with a fine header from Aguero’s cross five minutes from time to keep City in the Champions League berths.

* Reuters

Manchester United 1 Swansea City 1 | Analysis

United: Rooney (45’+3’)

Swansea: Sigurdsson (79’)

• Manchester United’s hopes of a top four finish suffered a blow on Sunday as relegation-threatened Swansea City came back for a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney put United ahead from the penalty spot on the stroke of halftime after Marcus Rashford was ruled to have been brought down by Swansea keeper Lukasz Fabianski.

But Swansea earned a potentially important point when Gylfi Sigurdsson curled in a magnificent free kick in the 79th minute.

United’s injury woes continued to mount however with defenders Luke Shaw and Eric Bailly both taken off during the game.

* Reuters

SATURDAY

Southampton 0 Hull City 0

• Eldin Jakupovic saved an injury-time penalty as Hull City inched closer to Premier League safety and condemned Sunderland to relegation by drawing 0-0 at Southampton.

Southampton were given an opportunity to claim victory when Alfred N’Diaye was penalised for wrestling with Maya Yoshida, but Jakupovic plunged to his left to parry Dusan Tadic’s spot-kick.

The result at St Mary’s left Marco Silva’s Hull three points clear of the bottom three ahead of third-bottom Swansea City’s trip to Manchester United on Sunday.

It also served to relegate basement club Sunderland, who were left 13 points from safety with only 12 points to play for after losing 1-0 at home to Bournemouth.

Sunderland visit Hull next weekend.

* Agence France-Presse

Stoke City 0 West Ham United 0

• Stoke City and West Ham United both edged towards Premier League survival after an action-packed 0-0 draw kept them well clear of the relegation struggle below them.

Goalkeepers at both ends shone as Stoke’s Jack Butland kept out two efforts by West Ham’s Ghana forward Andrew Ayew, notably a spectacular overhead kick in the 36th minute, while he also thwarted Manuel Lanzini.

West Ham’s Spanish shot-stopper Adrian denied Marko Arnautovic, Saido Berahino and Xherdan Shaqiri, the latter also missing Stoke’s best chance of the match when he dragged his shot wide from close range.

Stoke piled on the pressure in the closing stages as they started whipping inviting crosses into West Ham’s penalty area but the visitors held firm to stretch their unbeaten run to four games, albeit three of them draws.

* Reuters

Sunderland 0 Bournemouth 1

Bournemouth: King (88')

• Sunderland were relegated from the Premier League with four games still remaining after Josh King struck two minutes from the end to give Bournemouth the three points.

With Hull City earning a point at Southampton, David Moyes’ Sunderland were left bottom of the table with 21 points, 13 points away from safety with just 12 points available.

The impressive King had hit the woodwork in the 20th minute with a clever, curling shot from a tight angle but grabbed the winner with a close-range shot from a Ryan Fraser pass.

Sunderland created little in attack with their best chance of the second half coming from George Honeyman whose shot at the near post, after good work from Fabio Borini, was well saved by Artur Boruc.

* Reuters

West Bromwich Albion 0 Leicester City 1

Leicester: Vardy (43')

• Jamie Vardy pounced just before half-time to earn Leicester City a 1-0 over West Brom at The Hawthorns to take them closer to Premier League survival.

The win lifts reigning champions Leicester, who have spent much of the season facing the threat of relegation, up four places to the relative safety of 11th, nine points ahead of third-from-bottom side Swansea City, with four games to play.

Vardy netted in the 43rd minute after Shinji Okazaki snapped up a bad back pass and played him in, and the England striker slotted home his 12th league goal of the season.

Second-half substitute James McClean provided a much-needed injection of pace and trickery on the left for West Brom, but despite plenty of possession they could not find the back of the net, yet they remain eighth despite losing their last four league games and failing to score in five.

* Reuters

Crystal Palace 0 Burnley 2

Burnley: Barnes (7’) Gray (85’)

Burnley enjoyed their first away win of the season with goals from Ashley Barnes and Andre Gray giving them a 2-0 win at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday.

The win moves Burnley (39 points) eight points above the relegation zone ahead of Swansea’s (31 points) visit to Manchester United on Sunday and should secure their top-flight status for another season.

Barnes converted from close range after a low ball into the box from Stephen Ward and shortly afterwards had a second effort disallowed for handball.

But substitute Gray made sure of the win, five minutes from the end, racing on to a superb through ball from George Boyd and blasting home.

Palace are in 16th place, seven points ahead of Swansea.

* Reuters

Still to come

Monday

• Watford v Liverpool (11pm)

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