A round-up of all the results and reports from Tuesday and Wednesday in the Premier League.
Middlesbrough 0 Liverpool 3
Liverpool: Lallana (29', 68'), Origi (60')
• Adam Lallana scored twice as Liverpool returned to second in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough that revived their title push.
Liverpool, who lost to Bournemouth and drew with West Ham United in their last two games, took the lead when Nathaniel Clyne’s superb curling cross was met by Lallana at the far post to head home in the 29th minute.
They doubled their advantage in the 60th when Divock Origi put the finishing touch to a swift passing move to score for the fifth straight game in all competitions and Lallana wrapped up the points from close range. The victory moved Liverpool up to second on 34 points, above Arsenal on goals scored, but still six points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
* Reuters
Sunderland 0 Chelsea 1
Chelsea: Fabregas (40')
• Cesc Fabregas’s goal earned Chelsea a 1-0 victory at Sunderland and their 10th in succession as Antonio Conte’s side surged six points clear at the Premier League summit.
Fabregas, who came in for Nemanja Matic, curled in from Willian’s 40th-minute cut-back to establish Chelsea’s longest winning run within the same league campaign since 2005/06.
Chelsea, for whom Eden Hazard missed out due to a knock, have won all 10 league games they gave played since losing 3-0 at Arsenal on September 24, keeping eight clean sheets. But it took a flying save from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to prevent Patrick van Aanholt snatching a point for bottom club Sunderland at the death.
* Agence France-Presse
West Ham United 1 Burnley 0
West Ham: Noble (45'+3)
• The powerful presence of Andy Carroll inspired West Ham United to beat Burnley 1-0 at the London Stadium and move away from the Premier League relegation zone.
West Ham took two minutes to announce their game plan, pumping a ball to the head of the fit-again striker who was starting in the Premier League for the first time since injuring his knee on the first day of the season.
Caroll proved his usual handful and was instrumental in West Ham’s opener when Winston Reid was pulled back trying to get on the end of one of the striker’s knockdowns. Mark Noble converted at the second attempt after Tom Heaton parried his penalty.
Burnley were much improved after the break when Scott Arfield almost equalised from a free kick, which was foiled by an excellent Darren Randolph save as West Ham held on for only their second home league win of the season.
* Reuters
Manchester City 2 Watford 0
Man City: Zabaleta (33'), Silva (86')
• Pablo Zabaleta’s first goal in two years and another from David Silva ensured Manchester City beat Watford to keep up their pursuit of Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.
Without a win at the Etihad stadium in three games and with Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho suspended, City needed a reboot and Zabaleta provided it on 33 minutes, shooting from the six-yard box after a cross from Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne went close to a second soon after as City dominated but although Watford were always dangerous on the break, with Etienne Capoue forcing a good save from Claudio Bravo, City always looked capable of adding to their lead.
Silva obliged in the 86th minute, bursting forward to exchange passes with Raheem Sterling and put the result beyond doubt with his first goal since January.
* Reuters
Stoke City 0 Southampton 0
Red card: Arnautovic (23')
• Mark Hughes endured a difficult night in his 400th match as a Premier League manager but ended up proud as his Stoke City side battled for over an hour against Southampton with 10 men to earn a 0-0 draw.
Marko Arnautovic was shown a straight red card in the 23rd minute for a studs-up challenge on Sofiane Boufal, leaving the home side with an uphill task.
Yet Southampton, who moved up to ninth a point ahead of 12th-placed Stoke, could not take advantage despite dominating proceedings.
Nathan Redmond had one effort cleared off the line, Ryan Bertrand forced a great save from Lee Grant and Jay Rodriguez almost got on the end of a Boufal cross but the Saints finishing was blunt without injured striker Charlie Austin.
* Reuters
Tottenham Hotspur 3 Hull City 0
Tottenham: Eriksen (14', 63'), Wanyama (73')
• Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen scored twice in a 3-0 victory over Hull City on Wednesday, as Mike Phelan’s struggling side fell to their 10th defeat in 16 Premier League games this season.
Eriksen gave Spurs the lead in the 14th minute, rifling left back Danny Rose’s pass into the top corner, and killed the game off with his second in the 63rd when he stabbed home Kyle Walker’s pass from close range for his fifth goal of the season.
The Denmark international then almost bagged a hat-trick only for Hull goalkeeper David Marshall to palm his dipping free kick onto the crossbar, but Victor Wanyama was on hand to rattle home the rebound.
Spurs are fifth on 30 points, while Hull remain second-bottom on 12 points, one ahead of fellow strugglers Sunderland.
* Reuters
West Bromwich Albion 3 Swansea City 1
West Brom: Rondón (50', 61', 63')
Swansea: Routledge (78')
• Salomon Rondon scored a rare hat-trick of headed goals to extend West Brom’s recent good home form and help consign Swansea to more away woe.
The 3-1 result saw West Brom jump up to seventh in the table while Swansea languish in the last relegation spot in 18th.
Rondon proved to be the undoing of Swansea, heading home from close range an inswinging Matt Phillips free-kick early in the second half.
That proved to be a good omen for the home side, West Brom never having lost when Rondon has scored.
To prove the point, that was followed by two more headed goals in short succession, twice Chris Brunt drifting crosses to the far post to be met by the ever-willing Rondon.
With his third goal, just 13 minutes after his first, the Venezuelan became only the second player to score a Premier League hat-trick of headers after Duncan Ferguson, who did it for Everton against Bolton in December 1997.
Wayne Routledge pulled one back for the visitors, beating Ben Foster after the home ‘keeper had deflected a Borja Baston strike.
* Agence France-Presse
Crystal Palace 1 Manchester United 2
Crystal Palace: McArthur (66')
Man United: Pogba (45'+2), Ibrahimovic (88')
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck two minutes from time to earn Manchester United a 2-1 Premier League win at Crystal Palace.
The Swedish striker latched on to a neat through pass from Paul Pogba to seal victory for United in the 88th minute, adding to a controversial goal from Pogba just before halftime in which Ibrahimovic appeared to handle the ball.
James McArthur equalised for a ball-starved Palace in the 66th minute after he ran on to an audacious backheel from Damien Delaney.
United deserved their win, though, with Juan Mata having an effort wrongly ruled out for offside and they extended their unbeaten league run against Palace to 15 games to remain sixth in the table.
* Reuters
Bournemouth 1 Leicester City 0
Bournemouth: Pugh (34’)
• Champions Leicester City were brought down to earth after their 4-2 demolition of Manchester City as Marc Pugh’s goal earned Bournemouth a 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.
Leicester remain without back-to-back league wins this season after defeat at Bournemouth — their eighth of the campaign — kept them in 14th place, just four points above the relegation zone.
Pugh marked his first start of the season with the game’s only goal, slamming home the rebound after Leicester goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler saved from Benik Afobe in the 34th minute.
“The result is too severe against us because we created more chances than Bournemouth,” said Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri.
“If we continue to fight at this level, sooner or later we will get a good result.”
Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth leap four places to eighth, nine points clear of the bottom three.
* Agence France-Presse
Everton 2 Arsenal 1 | Richard Jolly: Chelsea the big winners
Everton: Coleman (44’), Williams (86’)
Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez (20’)
Red Card: Phil Jagielka, Everton (90’+3’)
• Ashley Williams’s 86th-minute header ended Arsenal’s 14-game unbeaten run and kept Arsene Wenger’s side from the Premier League summit as Everton claimed a much-needed 2-1 win on Tuesday.
Arsenal would have provisionally supplanted leaders Chelsea on goals scored with victory and took a 20th-minute lead when Alexis Sanchez’s free-kick deflected in off Williams.
But Seamus Coleman equalised with a 44th-minute header before Williams’s first Everton goal ended his team’s five-game winless run and sent Ronald Koeman’s men up to seventh in the table.
“We showed two faces,” Everton manager Koeman, who had defender Phil Jagielka sent off in stoppage time, told BT Sport.
“The first face, I hate that face because it is all about being nervous. You cannot lose the game like that.
“This was a good match though because we showed how we have to play — with commitment and aggression. You see the reaction of the crowd when you go for it and that’s what we did.”
* Agence France-Presse
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