Chelsea go top of Premier League table

LONDON: Chelsea moved to the top of the Premier League on Sunday as surging Arsenal climbed up to fourth place.

Eden Hazard scored his leaguebest seventh goal as Chelsea won 3-0 at Southampton to make it eight games unbeaten to start the season.

The win temporarily leaves the Blues one point above champions Manchester City and Liverpool, who meet in the day’s late match.

“It’s too early to be thinking about the title, we know it is tough to win,” Hazard told Sky Sports. “But it is good to be up there.

“We’ll maybe watch Liverpool and Man City on the bus.”

Arsenal, meanwhile, lifted themselves into the final Champions League spot with a 5-1 thrashing of Fulham.

Alexandre Lacazette and Pierreemerick Aubameyang each scored twice as the Gunners won their sixth straight in the league and ninth on the bounce in all competitions.

“We played very well, but we knew that Fulham play good football and would try to hit us on the counter-attack,” Aubameyang told BT Sport.

“Now we have to keep this mentality. We will try to keep focus and continue to win games.”

Southampton missed a chance to grab the lead at St Mary’s Stadium when the unmarked Danny Ings volleyed over the bar from pointblank range.

Hazard made him pay moments later by running onto a ball from Ross Barkley and firing past Alex Mccarthy.

Barkley scored his first goal for the club early in the second half by tapping in Olivier Giroud’s acrobatic scissors-kick cross from a free-kick into the area.

Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga then denied Nathan Redmond and Ings with onehanded saves before Morata wrapped things up in stoppage time.

At Craven Cottage, Arsenal had their way with the league’s worst defence in extending their winning run.