Chelsea, Spurs wins keep race on
HELSEA and Tottenham Hotspur continued their fight for the English Premier League football title, while Manchester City and Manchester United drew in their matches on Sunday.
Chelsea, who hold a fourpoint lead over second-placed Tottenham, tightened their hold on the top spot with a 3-0 win away against Everton at Goodison Park, reports Efe.
Chelsea need nine points to secure the league title during Antonio Conte’s first season in charge. Everton remain seventh with 58 points.
Tottenham kept up the chase with a 2-0 win over Arsenal, riding on goals from Dele Alli (55th) and Harry Kane (58th-minute penalty). Arsenal remain sixth with 60 points.
Earlier in the day, Manchester United were held 1-1 by Swansea at Old Trafford , while Gabriel Jesus’s 85th-minute strike gave Manchester City a point following a 2-2 draw against hosts Middlesbrough.
United captain Wayne Rooney’s 45th-minute penalty was cancelled out by Gylfi Sigurðsson 11 minutes from time as the hosts reached 65 points, one behind City.
At Goodison Park, Everton managed to stand their ground during the first 45 minutes, but Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring for the visiting Blues 21 minutes into the second half.
Gary Cahill extended Chelsea’s lead 13 minutes later and Willian scored the visitors’ third goal just four minutes before the final whistle.
“My players showed great patience waiting for the right moment to lead, and then to score the second and third goals,” Conte said on the Chelsea website. “For us, it was important to keep a clean sheet after 12 games,” he said.
“This is very important for our confidence for the final part of the season. We all know Everton had won eight games in a row at Goodison.” – IANS See Dhirshan Gobind’s Sport Talk column
on Page 23.