Blues move up a gear
Real ride their luck
PACE-SETTING Chelsea came from behind against Tottenham as they continued their impressive early season form in the English Premier League last night.
On a freezing night in West London it was the players who warmed the hearts of the fans with high-tempo attacking football at Stamford Bridge.
Christian Eriksen opened the scoring for the visitors in the 10th minute from outside the area which gave Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois no chance. It was the first goal that Chelsea had conceded since September 24.
And it took another wonder goal for the Blues to be back on level terms, with Pedro smashing home a long-range strike seconds before half-time.
Just minutes after the re-start, Chelsea took the lead through Victor Moses, who had a tap-in after being freed up by Diego Costa. And try as they might, Spurs had no answer as they searched for an equaliser.
Meanwhile Sergio Aguero struck twice as Manchester City came from behind to beat Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor.
Aguero scored the winner in the 60th minute when he fired home at the far post for his 33rd goal in his last 34 games having equalised in the 37th minute when he beat Burnley’s stand-in keeper Paul Robinson from close range.
Dean Marney had opened the scoring for Burnley in the 14th minute with a volley from Nicolas Otamendi’s headed clearance.
Sean Dyche’s Burnley side have troubled the division’s top sides at home this season and the visitors’ defence - without injured captain Vincent Kompany and John Stones - struggled to deal with their direct play early on.
Marney volleyed home his first goal since 2009 but City began to get possession and Yaya Toure clipped the post with a powerful effort before Aguero equalised after the hosts failed to clear a corner.
The Argentine striker added his 10th of the season when he was picked out by Fernandinho and City weathered late Burnley pressure to come through another testing examination.
Leicester City’s Islam Slimani scored a stoppage-time penalty to rescue a point in a 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.
The goal came in injury time after Wes Morgan drew a foul from Marten De Roon in the area. It was Leicester’s second penalty of the game, with Riyad Mahrez also scoring from the spot in the first half after Calum Chambers handled.
Boro thought they had done enough for victory after twice leading through Alvaro Negredo, who scored either side of the break with a leftfoot shot on 13 minutes and a clinical finish from Adam Forshaw’s cross on 71 minutes.
But Claudio Ranieri’s side, who qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, refused to buckle and averted a third consecutive Premier League defeat.
Gareth McAuley’s header was cancelled by Michael Daw- son’s late tap-in as West Bromwich Albion were held 1-1 at struggling Hull City.
Dawson scored his third goal in his last five matches when he beat Ben Foster in the 72nd minute following Dieumerci Mbokani’s nod down.
McAuley looked set to be the hero after he evaded the home defence and sent a header past David Marshall after being picked out by Matt Phillips.
Salomon Rondon put a header in stoppage time, leaving West Bromwich 17 points. Hull remained in 18th place on 11 points.
Fernando Llorente’s two injury-time goals saw Swansea come from behind to snatch a 5-4 win over Crystal Palace at the Liberty Stadium, snapping an 11-game winless streak and handing the Eagles their sixth straight defeat.
Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring for Palace but Bob Bradley’s Swans looked set for their first win since the opening day of the season as a Gylfi Sigurdsson free kick and a brace from Leroy Fer put them 3-1 midway through the second half.
Alan Pardew’s Palace came roaring back, James Tomkins forcing home a corner and Jack Cork deflecting the ball into his own net before Christian Benteke put the visitors 4-3 up with six minutes left.
But Llorente netted twice in the 91st and 93rd minute to put the home side back on top, and they hung on grimly through seven minutes of injury time for the three precious points that take them off the bottom of the table.
Substitute Divock Origi and James Milner both scored as Liverpool beat Sunderland 2-0 at Anfield.
Liverpool dominated possession without finding a way past Sunderland’s stubborn defence, spurning a host of chances until Origi, on in the first half for the injured Philippe Coutinho, curled in his first league goal of the season in the 75th minute.
Milner wrapped up the points from the penalty spot in the 91st minute, sending Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford the wrong way after Sadio Mane was brought down in the box by Didier Ndong. - Reuters BARCELONA: Cristiano Ronaldo continued his rich vein of form by scoring twice in Real Madrid’s 2-1 home win over struggling Sporting Gijon yesterday, though the La Liga leaders got a lucky break when the visitors squandered a second-half penalty.
The Portuguese put Real ahead from the spot in the fifth minute, and dived in to head the second in the 18th, claiming his eighth goal in four league games to go top of the scoring charts with 10 strikes this season.
Despite the early goals, Real struggled to control the game at the Bernabeu, and Carlos Carmona pulled one back for the visitors 10 minutes before half-time.
Sporting could have levelled in the 78th minute, after Nacho was punished for a shove on Victor Rodriguez, but Duje Cop sent the penalty sailing over the bar to hand Real a sixth successive league victory. Real top the standings on 33 points, seven ahead of Barcelona, who visit Real Sociedad today.
Sporting went to the Bernabeu in the relegation zone and without a win in their last nine games, but gave Real two frights, Cop firing wide after a pass by Danilo, and Carmona failing to hit the target inside the box. – Reuters