| credits: Sky Sports
Chelsea stay five points clear at the top of the Premier League as Sergio Aguero nets four times for Manchester City and Southampton go goal crazy against Sunderland.
Jose Mourinho’s men overcame a red card shown to Cesar Azpilicueta to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park, although Palace only had their man advantage for three minutes.
Oscar gave Chelsea a sixth-minute lead but Azpilicueta was dismissed on 39, only for Damien Delaney to level the sides up at 10 apiece three minutes before half-time when he was shown a second yellow.
Cesc Fabregas added to Chelsea’s lead six minutes after the break but they were forced to hold on in the closing stages after the lively Fraizer Campbell pulled a goal back for the Eagles.
Victory leaves Chelsea five points clear of Manchester City, who came out on top of 10-man Tottenham 4-1 in an entertaining lunchtime kick-off.
Sergio Aguero scored all four of their goals and also managed to miss one of four penalties handed out by referee Jon Moss.
Aguero’s 13th minute opener was cancelled out by Christian Eriksen’s goal for Spurs, but the Argentinian succeeded with a penalty, missed one, completed his hat-trick from the spot and then made it 4-1 with 15 minutes to go.
Tottenham were also awarded a penalty with the score excitingly poised at 2-1 but the usually reliable Roberto Soldado missed from 12 yards on what turned into a bad day for his side – City also had Frank Lampard stretchered off and he is a doubt for their Champions League trip to face CSKA Moscow in midweek.
But the biggest winners of the afternoon were third-placed Southampton, who crushed Sunderland 8-0 at St Mary’s in one of the most one-sided games in Premier League history – only Manchester United’s 9-0 victory over Ipswich in 1995 produced a bigger winning margin.
Santiago Vergini got the Saints off to a flying start with a spectacular own goal – not Sunderland’s last of the day – and Graziano Pelle helped himself to a couple of goals.
Goals from Jack Cork, Dusan Tadic, Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane and a Liam Bridcutt own goal completed the rout, which equalled Southampton’s biggest league victory.
Everton were also comfortable winners, with England defender Phil Jagielka on the scoresheet again as they eased past Aston Villa 3-0.
Ross Barkley returned to action after a long spell on the sidelines, setting up a goal for Romelu Lukaku, and Seamus Coleman completed the scoring as Roberto Martinez’s side climbed away from the danger zone.
There was almost a shock at the Emirates, where Arsenal had to fight back to claim a 2-2 draw with Hull City.
The Gunners took the lead through Alexis Sanchez on 13 minutes, but only claimed a share of the spoils in injury time when Danny Welbeck scored to deny the Tigers, who had taken the lead with goals from Mo Diame and Abel Hernandez.
West Ham moved up to fourth place with a 3-1 win over struggling Burnley at Turf Moor.
The prolific Diafra Sakho added to his impressive goals tally with their opener and there were also goals for Enner Valencia and Carlton Cole, who settled their nerves after George Boyd pulled a goal back for the Clarets.
The final 3pm kick-off was put back by an hour after a problem with Newcastle’s big-screen TV forced health and safety officials to close St James’ Park to supporters and delay their clash with Leicester City.
But Alan Pardew’s men responded best to the delay and picked up three valuable points with a 1-0 win, Gabriel Obertan scoring the only goal with 18 minutes left to play to ease a little bit of pressure – they remain in the bottom three though.
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