Chelsea blow away Gunners to go five clear
PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL Chelsea moved five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, after brushing Arsenal aside 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. There was a bit of niggling from both sides in the opening stages, which spilt over into the technical area mid-way through the half when Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho were involved in a little "hand bags at dawn" moment, Laurent Koscielny then brought down Eden Hazard, who quickly regained his composure to slot home the opener from the spot. The Blues were solid at the back, and whilst controlling that aspect of the game they always had an eye on the counter, and with twelve minutes remaining their patience paid off. Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain, floated a beautiful pass over to Diego Costa - who lobbed Szczesny to
condemn Arsenal to their first League defeat of the season.
Champions, City kept the Londoners in their sights after two late goals from
Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero saw them secure a 2-0 win at Aston Villa.
Toure, who has been criticised of late, was having a quiet afternoon but showed his class when he fired home from the edge of the box to break the deadlock before Aguero, who had earlier hit the post, wrapped up the points two minutes from time.
Mauricio Pochettino got the better of his Southampton successor Ronald Koeman as his Tottenham side ended their four-match barren spell with a 1-0 win, courtesy of a 20-yarder from Christian Eriksen, at White Hart Lane.
Despite a poor start to the season Manchester United moved into fourth place after a 2-1 win over Everton at Old Trafford. The hosts dominated from the start
And took the lead through Di Maria, who curled a beauty past Tim Howard. But the Toffees should have levelled before the break when Tony Hibbert was awarded a very dubious penalty, only for De Gea to save Baines' spot kick.
However, the visitors did get back into it when Steven Naismith headed home just after the re-start. But it didn't stay level for long, Radamel Falcao scored his first goal in English football, putting away a real poachers goal, to earn all three points and record back-to-back victories for the first time under Louis van Gaal.
At Anfield, Jordan Henderson spared Liverpool's blushes after West Brom threatened to frustrate the Reds once again. The former Sunderland midfielder latched onto Raheem Sterling's pass to set the Reds en route to their 2-1 victory, cancelling out Saido Berahino's penalty equaliser. Adam Lallana had earlier scored his first Liverpool goal to the put the hosts in front, only for Dejan Lovren to fell Berahino in his own box and the England Under-21 star made no mistake, blasting home his spot-kick. But six-minutes later Henderson was on hand to end Liverpool's run of four games without a win in all competitions.
West Ham moved into the top half of the table with a convincing 2-0 over, bottom of the table, QPR. An own-goal from Nedum Onuoha had given the Hammers an early lead before Diafra Sakho scored, his fifth goal in as many games, just before the hour to ensure the Hammers go into the International break level on points with Arsenal and Liverpool, and you wouldn't have thought that a few weeks ago.
Steven Fletcher bagged a brace as Sunderland beat Stoke 3-1. Connor Wickham put the Black Cats ahead after just four minutes, before Charlie Adam levelled for the visitors. Fletcher then wrestled back the lead from a Jordi Gomez cross, before Wickham laid on his second.
Hull claimed a 2-0 home victory over Crystal Palace. Mohamed Diame opening the scoring on the hour and Nikica Jelavic killed the game off in the closing stages.
A brace from Papiss Cisse, his second in three matches, was not enough to ease the pressure on Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, despite the Magpies clawing
their way to a 2-2 draw at Swansea. Wilfried Bony put the hosts ahead with his first goal of the season, before Gabriel Obertan teed up Cisse to level just before the break. Five minutes after the re-start, Gylfi Sigurdsson set up Wayne Routledge to put Swansea back in front, only for Cisse to level again.
A last gasp leveller from Ross Wallace earned Burnley a 2-2 draw at Leicester. The hosts were heading for victory thanks to goals from Jeff Schlupp and Riyad Mahrez, but Wallace fired home a free-kick on the stroke of full-time to steal a point for Burnley.