Chelsea stave off Swansea and stretch lead atop table: Premier League round-up

Chelsea's Gary Cahill vies for the ball against Swansea City's Wayne Routledge. Will Oliver / EPA

Chelsea’s stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to 11 points with a 3-1 victory over a resolute Swansea City side at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Cesc Fabregas marked his 300th Premier League appearance with his side’s opener after 19 minutes, finishing well after being picked out by Pedro’s cutback.

Swansea worked tirelessly to avoid further damage and stunned the leaders shortly before halftime when Fernando Llorente rose to head Gylfi Sigurdsson’s quickly-taken free kick past Thibaut Courtois.

Swansea’s hopes of a valuable point in their relegation battle ebbed away when Lukasz Fabianski allowed Pedro’s shot to squirm into the net and Diego Costa wrapped up the points with his 16th league goal of the season, volleying in from Eden Hazard’s pass.

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Crystal Palace 1-0 Middlesbrough

Dutchman Patrick van Aanholt scored his first goal for Crystal Palace since his January move from relegation rivals Sunderland to give them a home win over Middlesbrough and boost their survival hopes on Saturday.

The left back picked up a loose ball on the edge of the penalty box in the 34th minute and drilled in a right-footed shot, giving Palace their first home win in the league since December and lifting them out of the bottom three.

Palace, who are 17th, climbed level on 22 points with their opponents, who have stretched their winless Premier League run to nine games after being on the back foot for much of a scrappy contest at Selhurst Park.

The result also pushed struggling champions Leicester City — who sacked manager Claudio Ranieri on Thursday — into the relegation zone ahead of Monday’s home game with Liverpool.

West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Bournemouth

Bournemouth paid the price for sloppy defending as they lost at West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Saturday, leaving Eddie Howe’s men still searching for their first win of 2017.

Josh King gave Bournemouth the lead from the penalty spot in the fifth minute after Allan Nyom bundled over Ryan Fraser, but Craig Dawson equalised for the home side shortly after with a shot that took a deflection off Charlie Daniels.

A mistake from Artur Boruc led to West Brom’s second goal, which Gareth McAuley stabbed home from close range in the 22nd minute after the Bournemouth keeper failed to deal with a corner.

Ben Foster made two stunning saves in stoppage-time to protect West Brom’s lead and they stayed eighth in the table. Bournemouth are 14th, five points clear of the relegation zone.

Everton 2-0 Sunderland

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David Moyes suffered a wretched return to Goodison Park where he made his managerial name as Sunderland were beaten by a Romelu Lukaku-inspired Everton on Saturday to stay rooted to the foot of the Premier League.

Moyes, who had 11 largely successful years as Everton manager, had to look on with dismay as Idrissa Gueye powered through from midfield to thrash home Seamus Coleman’s cross five minutes before the interval.

Romelu Lukaku sealed Everton’s dominance with an accomplished 17th league goal of the season 10 minutes from time as the Toffees extended their unbeaten run in the league to nine.

Their last loss at home was against Liverpool on Dec. 19 with Lukaku in such good form in 2017 that this was his eighth goal in five Goodison games since the turn of the New Year.

For Sunderland, though, things look bleak as they have now won just one of their last nine league games.

Hull City 1-1 Burnley

Burnley earned only their second point of the season away from home, ending up with 10 men but securing a draw that checked Hull City’s resurgence under new Portuguese boss Marco Silva.

Hull remained in the bottom three of the Premier League after four dramatic second-half minutes which saw Burnley’s Michael Keane effectively hand a goal to the visitors before scoring the equaliser.

Keane was guilty of a careless handball that allowed Tom Huddlestone to put Hull ahead from the spot but he then displayed good skill to control Robbie Brady’s corner on his chest before hammering home the equaliser.

A wholly forgettable first half had been enlivened momentarily five minutes before the break when Burnley’s Ben Mee saw his goal-bound header juggled by Eldin Jakupovic on to the crossbar.

Yet despite having more of the play, Hull, who have now lost only one of their last 11 home matches in all competitions, were left frustrated and still in the relegation zone as the visitors hung on for a point after Ashley Barnes was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow-card foul.

It was a first point on the road for Sean Dyche’s Clarets since a draw at Manchester United in October.

* Reuters

Watford 1-1 West Ham

Watford forward Mauro Zarate was taken to hospital for scans on a serious knee injury during his side’s draw with 10-man West Ham.

The Hornets took the lead through Troy Deeney’s third-minute penalty after Cheikhou Kouyate’s foul on Zarate.

But Zarate was stretchered off with his right leg heavily strapped and an oxygen mask over the Argentine’s face after lengthy treatment in first half stoppage-time.

There was more anguish for Watford in the 73rd minute when West Ham substitute Andre Ayew equalised from close-range, before Hammers winger Michail Antonio was sent off for a second booking in the closing moments.

* Agence France-Presse

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