Michael Essien scored twice on Saturday as Chelsea romped to a 4-0 win over Wolves to lead the Premier League by five points, while Arsenal tumbled 1-0 at Sunderland.
Liverpool and Manchester City fell further out of contention after a 2-2 draw.
Goals by Florent Malouda and Essien put injury-hit Chelsea 3-0 up against Wolverhampton Wanderers inside the first 22 minutes, before Joe Cole scored his first goal in 13 months in the second half.
The result meant that Chelsea have won all seven of their home games and haven’t conceded a goal at Stamford Bridge since the opening match of the season against Hull City.
Darren Bent scored a 71st-minute winner for Sunderland in a surprise victory over Arsenal, who had won six of their previous seven league games, but were left on 25 points from 12 games.
While Liverpool and Manchester City shared a point each at Anfield, the result did not help either team’s chances of catching Chelsea in the title race.
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel, who had a header acrobatically saved by goalkeeper Shay Given in the first half, turned home a free-kick by Steven Gerrard in the 50th minute for his first goal for the club.
Beaten to the ball by Skrtel for the Liverpool goal, Adebayor was left unmarked by the Slovakia defender and was allowed a free header from a 69th-minute corner to score the equalizer.
Stephen Ireland was also left unmarked to prod home Shaun Wright-Phillips’ pass and put City ahead in the 76th minute, but Yossi Benayoun made it 2-2 seconds later from close range after good work by David Ngog.
Aston Villa came from a goal down to draw 1-1 at Burnley where they have not won in 24 visits dating back to 1936.
Steven Caldwell gave Burnley a ninth-minute lead at Turf Moor, only for Emile Heskey to equalize in the 86th minute.
Lee Bowyer scored Birmingham City’s 16th-minute winner in a 1-0 victory over Fulham at St Andrews and there was a six-goal thriller between Hull City and West Ham United.
Visitors West Ham went two goals up in the first 11 minutes through Guillermo Franco and Jack Collison, only for Hull to hit back three times to lead at halftime. Jimmy Bullard’s free-kick was deflected in, Kamil Zayatte made it 2-2 and Bullard scored his first goal for Hull from the penalty spot after Julien Faubert had fouled Craig Fagan.
Hull’s Brendan Mendy was sent off in the 54th minute and Manuel Da Costa scored the Irons’ equalizer in the 69th minute.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
Aaron Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday clung on for a dramatic 29-24 win against the Lions, leaving Detroit’s playoff hopes hanging by a thread as three NFL teams confirmed their post-season berths. Lions quarterback Jared Goff twice thought he had delivered a winning touchdown in the game’s final seconds, only for both to be ruled out for offensive pass interference, sparking furious scenes at Ford Field. “Crazy game ... so happy to get a win,” said Rodgers, describing the high-stakes clash’s final moments as “chaos.” Pittsburgh’s win means the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers are guaranteed spots in the NFL playoffs. A
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