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28 March 2024

Chelsea march on, Aguero hits four, eight for Saints

Manchester City's Sergio Aguero (right) shoots past Tottenham Hotspur's Jan Vertonghen to score his fourth goal during their English Premier League soccer match against at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England October 18, 2014. (REUTERS)

Published
By Reuters

Chelsea maintained an iron grip on the Premier League top spot with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace, Sergio Aguero netted four times for Manchester City versus Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton put eight past Sunderland on Saturday.

Goals from Oscar and Cesc Fabregas made it seven wins from eight games for Chelsea, who overcame the sending off of Cesar Azpilicueta before halftime to stay five points clear of City who won 4-1 in a game containing four penalties and a red card.

Third-placed Southampton came within a goal of equalling the record Premier League win as they crushed Sunderland 8-0 with Graziano Pelle scoring twice for the Saints who were helped by two own goals, including a bizarre one from Santiago Vergini.

Manchester United's 9-0 thumping of Ipswich Town remains the biggest victory in the Premier League era.

West Ham United moved into the top four thanks to a 3-1 win at struggling Burnley but Arsenal's season is still awaiting lift-off as they were held to a fifth draw from their opening eight league games in a 2-2 thriller with Hull City.

Danny Welbeck's stoppage time goal at The Emirates salvaged a point for Arsenal who are already 11 points behind Chelsea.

Chelsea lead the standings with 22 points followed by City on 17, Southampton with 16 and West Ham on 13.
Manchester United, who visit West Bromwich Albion on Monday, are in fifth spot level on points with Arsenal, Swansea City and Spurs.

RED CARDS

Fabregas scored his first league goal for Chelsea since signing from Barcelona after Oscar's free kick had given Jose Mourinho's side an early lead.

Red cards for Azpilicueta and Palace defender Damien Delaney before halftime disrupted the flow but Chelsea were comfortable despite a late rally from Palace who halved the deficit through Fraizer Campbell.

"Against Palace it is never finished until the last seconds," Mourinho told the BBC. "They scored and the situation becomes dangerous for us."

City's Aguero was described as football's Mozart by Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino in the run-up to Saturday's clash at the Etihad and the striker produced a dazzling display to crush a Spurs side who have conceded 15 goals in their last three meetings with City.

He scored the opener after 13 minutes and struck again from the penalty spot after Christian Eriksen had equalised for the visitors on a counter-attack.

Aguero, who has now surpassed Carlos Tevez as City's leading Premier League scorer with 61 goals, saw another spot kick saved by Hugo Lloris before halftime.

But, after Spanish striker Roberto Soldado squandered a penalty for Spurs, the Argentine made no mistake from the spot in the 68th minute, converting after he had been pulled back in the area by Federico Fazio who was red-carded.

Aguero's fourth goal, a clinical finish, completed a slightly flattering win for champions City.

"It's a very good victory for us. It's always difficult to come back from the international break," manager Manuel Pellegrini said. "We played well, we scored four goals and I don't know how many chances we had."

SOUTHAMPTON ROMP

A day after being named the Premier League's manager of the month, Dutchman Ronald Koeman watched his Southampton side destroy Sunderland for their record top flight win.

Sunderland's hapless Vergini began what was to be a miserable afternoon for his side when his attempted interception rocketed past his own goalkeeper after 12 minutes.

Pelle and Jack Cork made it 3-0 at halftime and the goal-flow accelerated after the break as Sunderland slumped to their biggest defeat for 22 years.

"The second half we played fantastic football," Koeman told the BBC. "But the first half was not perfect."

Alexis Sanchez gave Arsenal an early lead at home to Hull but the visitors levelled thanks to Mohamed Diame and went ahead just after the break through Uruguayan Abel Hernandez.

Welbeck's late equaliser spared Arsenal's blushes but manager Arsene Wenger was left frustrated.

"It was disappointing because we had 80 percent of the possession but got one point," the French coach told reporters.

Everton finally found some form with a 3-0 win over visiting Aston Villa - Phil Jagielka, Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman were all on target for Roberto Martinez's side.

Newcastle United managed a long overdue first league win of the season to lift some of the pressure off manager Alan Pardew - beating Leicester City 1-0 in match that was delayed because of safety concerns about a giant TV screen at St James' Park.