Chelsea storm to summit after Man City stumble
LONDON: Eden Hazard scored twice as Chelsea exploited a slipup by Manchester City to claim top spot in the Premier League by stylishly crushing Everton 5-0 on Saturday.
Marten de Roon’s stoppagetime equaliser earned Middlesbrough a 1-1 draw at City and Antonio Conte’s Chelsea took advantage to move a point clear of Pep Guardiola’s side at the summit.
“When you win in this way it’s fantastic because we played good football with good intensity,” Conte told BT Sport.
“All the players played in the right way with and without the ball. We created many chances to score and also it’s the fifth clean sheet in a row, which is fantastic. “It is fantastic to be top of the league.”
Arsenal and Liverpool could also surpass City before the weekend is out, the former tackling Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday’s North London derby and the latter entertaining Watford.
Elsewhere, bottom club Sunderland ended their wait for a first win of the season at the 11th attempt by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Bournemouth despite having Steven Pienaar sent off. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea produced one of their most scintillating performances in recent memory as the 2014-15 champions made it five straight wins without conceding a goal. Hazard opened the scoring in the 19th minute, drifting in from the left to drill a shot into the bottom-right corner, and a minute later Pedro Rodriguez teed up Marcos Alonso for the hosts’ second.