Chelsea surge to top; title-chasing City win big

Chelsea surged to the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home win over Stoke City thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Frank Lampard and Willian at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

A 32nd minute strike by Salah, making his first start since joining Chelsea in January, and second-half efforts from Lampard, whose initial penalty was saved by Asmir Begovic, and Brazilian Willian saw the Blues move on to 72 points.

They are one point ahead of Liverpool, who can return to the summit by avoiding defeat at West Ham United on Sunday, and two ahead of Manchester City, who beat Southampton 4-1 in Saturday's early match and have two games in hand on the leaders.

Chelsea's win brought some cheer back to west London after a tough seven days which saw Jose Mourinho's side lose 1-0 at Crystal Palace last weekend and 3-1 at Paris St Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

Title hopefuls Manchester City crushed visitors Southampton 4-1 helped by a two-goal sucker punch moments before halftime to keep the pressure on Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.

Goals from Samir Nasri and Edin Dzeko put the 2012 champions 3-1 ahead at the interval, after Yaya Toure had given City an early lead with a penalty, and substitute Stevan Jovetic extended the advantage nine minutes from time at the Etihad.

Rickie Lambert briefly raised Southampton's hopes with a spot kick to make it 1-1 after 37 minutes but in the end the south coast side, who had England forward Jay Rodriguez carried off with a serious-looking knee injury, were well beaten.

The win took City up to second place with 70 points, one behind Liverpool who visit West Ham United on Sunday.

"I don't remember Joe Hart making an important save," City manager Manuel Pellegrini told BT Sport. "They had possession but no real chances to score."

However, the size of the defeat was harsh on eighth-placed Southampton who had looked threatening before conceding the two quick goals in first half added time.

The loss of leading scorer Rodriguez, who fell awkwardly on his right knee, was a blow and his chance of making England's World Cup could be in doubt with Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino saying ligament damage was possible.

Manchester United moved above Tottenham Hotspur into sixth place with a 4-0 win at Newcastle United, Juan Mata scoring twice and Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj adding one each, although they lost Ashley Young with a hand injury.

Mata, who last week got his first United goal since joining from Chelsea in January, scored with a delightful first half free kick before Shinji Kagawa and Hernandez set him up for his and United's second soon after the break.

The Mexico striker added a third before Mata set up Januzaj for the fourth as Alan Pardew's Newcastle side slumped to a second straight 4-0 loss with the win boosting United who visit Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Fulham moved off the bottom with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa thanks to Hugo Rodallega's late goal. Kieran Richardson's stunning opener was cancelled out by Villa's Grant Holt while Fulham's Lewis Holtby also had a shot cleared off the line.

"It was a great victory for us," Fulham manager Felix Magath told Sky Sports. "I feel very proud of my team. We fought back and we won a big game. With this victory, we are very confident to go on for the rest of the season."

The win took Fulham above Sunderland, who play on Monday, and Cardiff City who lost 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace.

Jason Puncheon's double and a Joe Ledley strike extended Cardiff's miserable run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Palace scoring three away goals for the first time since 1997.

Fulham moved up to 18th on 27 points with Cardiff in 19th place on 26 and Sunderland, who next visit Spurs, a further point back but with three matches in hand.

West Bromwich Albion, who finally appear to have hit form under Pepe Mel, won 1-0 at fellow strugglers Norwich City with an early goal from Morgan Amalfitano while George Boyd's strike gave Hull City a 1-0 victory at Swansea City.

TOURE OPENER

Southampton were on the back foot immediately at Manchester City when Jose Fonte brought down Bosnia striker Dzeko after three minutes, with Ivorian Toure converting his sixth penalty from six attempts this season for his 18th league goal overall.

The hosts were nearly two goals up moments later when Saints keeper Paulo Gazzaniga, starting for the injured Artur Boruc, made a poor clearance that allowed City to gain possession, giving Nasri the chance to hit a first-time shot inches wide.

Southampton, one of the season's surprise packages, slowly fought back into the match through their England core, with Rodriguez, Adam Lallana and Lambert, who have all been pushing for a spot in Roy Hodgson's squad for Brazil, coming to the fore on the back of good wide play by Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers.

They suffered a major blow after 23 minutes, however, when Rodriguez landed awkwardly on his right leg after attempting to control a high ball, forcing him off in obvious distress.

The Saints drew level through Lambert's penalty, his 11th league goal this season, after Jack Cork was felled just inside the area by defender Pablo Zabaleta in the 36th minute.

The visitors looked like they would go into the break deservedly level but instead let their good work go to waste by allowing City to wrestle back control with two strikes.

First, Frenchman Nasri sidefooted home after being set up following a fine move involving Toure, Dzeko and David Silva, although the Spaniard appeared offside.

In the fourth minute of first half added time, Dzeko headed into an empty net after a diving Gazzaniga missed Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.

Jovetic added a final flourish for City, scoring a simple goal after Jesus Navas' cross evaded the suffering Gazzaniga.

Southampton's Pochettino said the failure of the officials to rule out the second goal for offside "killed" the game.

"This action from the linesman for the second goal killed the game, the linesman killed the game," he told BT Sport.

"It's clear that the second goal changed it. We were superior up to that point. We can analyse the game to that point but there is no point after that. It just killed off the game."
 

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