Monday 3 April 2017

Chelsea chasers eye the gap



Week 21- On Sunday Everton Pummelled Manchester City 4-0 at Goodison Park and Liverpool drew 1-1 at Manchester United while on Saturday there were 4-0 wins for Arsenal at Swansea and Tottenham at home to WBA thanks to a hat-trick from Harry Kane. A double from Marcos Alonso helped league leaders Chelsea to a 3-0 victory at champions Leicester and West Ham celebrated a 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace while there were 3-1 wins for Stoke City at Sunderland with a brace from Marko Arnautovic and for Hull at home to Bournemouth with Abel Hernandez also netting twice. Southampton lost 1-0 at Burnley and there was a goalless match between Watford and Middlesbrough.      
Week 22 – Swansea City moved off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone as they ended Liverpool’s 25 match unbeaten record at Anfield with a 3-2 victory having seen their 2 goal lead, given to them by Fernando Llorente, whipped out by a Roberto Firmino double while Tottenham came from 2 down to draw at Manchester City and Manchester United drew 1-1 at Stoke with Wayne Rooney netting his 250th goal for the Red Devils to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s record and earn United a point. Ten-man Arsenal scored a last gasp penalty to win 2-1 at home to Burnley and move into 2nd place while leaders Chelsea won 2-0 at home to Hull City and Sunderland moved to the foot of the table after losing 2-0 at West Brom. Andy Carroll hit a brace to help West Ham to a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough and Leicester City were defeated 3-0 at Southampton while Everton broke the deadlock with a late goal at Crystal Palace and Watford drew 2-2 at Bournemouth.   
Week 23 – On Tuesday evening Arsenal imploded, losing 2-1 at home to Watford while Chelsea drew 1-1 at Liverpool and Tottenham fired blanks at Sunderland. Leicester City lost to a late goal at Burnley and Southampton were beaten 2-1 at Swansea while Crystal Palace enjoyed a 2-0 win at Bournemouth and West Brom drew 1-1 at Middlesbrough. On Wednesday evening Manchester City took West Ham apart 4-0 at the London Olympic Stadium while Manchester United were held to a goalless draw at home to Hull City and Everton drew 1-1 at Stoke.
Week 24 – Arsenal completed a dismal week as they were brushed aside 3-1 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge while a penalty conversion gave Tottenham 3 points at home to Middleborough and Gabriel Jesus completed his brace in stoppage time as Manchester City overcame Swansea 2-1 at the Etihad. Romelu Lukaku scored 4 times as Everton foiled an attempted Bounemouth comeback to win 6-3 at Goodison Park while Liverpool lost 2-0 at Hull and West Ham were 3-1 winners at Southampton. Crystal Palace were pummelled 4-0 at home to Sunderland by the interval with 2 gaols from Jermain Defoe while 3 goals around the break gave Manchester United a convincing victory at Leicester and an early goal gave West Bromwich Albion a home win against Stoke. Ten-man Burnley lost 2-1 at Watford.
Week 25 – Two early Sadio Mane goals in quick succession blew Tottenham away at Liverpool while Alexis Sanchez handed Arsenal a home win with both goals against Hull City and Manchester United enjoyed the same scoreline as they entertained Watford. West Ham fought back from an early goal down but were pegged back to 2-2 in stoppage time by their visitors from West Brom while leaders Chelsea drew 1-1 at Burnley and Everton fired blanks at Middlesbrough. Sunderland were humiliated 4-0 at home with Manolo Gabbiadini netting a brace for Southampton while Crystal Palace lost to a single goal at Stoke and faltering champions Leicester City lost 2-0 at Swansea. On Monday evening Manchester City moved into 2nd place with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth.
Week 26 – While Manchester United were winning the League Cup final 3-2 against Southampton at Wembley with Zlatan Ibrahimovich completing his brace with the late winner after Gabbiadini had given the Saints parity with a double, Chelsea got back to winning ways defeating Swansea 3-1 at the Bridge and Tottenham put Stoke to the sword 4-0 in the first 45 minutes at White Hart Lane as Harry Kane claimed another hat-trick. One goal was enough to give Crystal Palace a home win over Middlesbrough while Sunderland lost 2-0 at Everton and West Bromwich Albion conceded an early goal but hit back with 2 goals to win at home to Bournemouth. There were 1-1 draws for Burnley at Hull and West Ham at Watford with both visiting teams being reduced to 10 men in the dying minutes. Days after the sacking of manager Claudio Ranieri, on Monday evening, Jamie Vardy scored twice to help Leicester City to 3-1 victory at home to Liverpool preventing the Reds from overtaking Manchester City and Arsenal who had their matches postponed due to their opponents being involved in the League Cup final.       
     
Week 27 – Harry Kane netted a brace as Tottenham got the better of Everton 3-2 at White Hart Lane while Arsenal lost 3-1 at Liverpool and Manchester United drew 1-1 at home to 10-man Bournemouth. Marko Arnautovic scored both goals as Stoke sent Middlesbrough packing and there were 2-0 wins for Crystal Palace at Wet Brom and Manchester City at Sunderland while Fernando Llorente completed his double in stoppage time as Swansea edged out Burnley 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium. Manolo Gabbiadini scored twice for Southampton who won 4-3 at Watford and Leicester were 3-1 winners at home to Hull City while on Monday evening leaders Chelsea picked up another 3 points with a 2-1 win away to West Ham United. On Wednesday evening Manchester City were held to a goalless draw at home to Stoke.
Week 28 – With the FA Cup quarter -finals in full swing there were only 4 matches played in the Premier League. Joshua King was one of two Bournemouth players to miss a penalty but made amends with a hat-trick to send West Ham away 3-2 losers and Swansea fell 2-1 to a Oumar Niasse double at Hull City while Everton enjoyed a 3-0 home win over West Brom and Liverpool came from an early goal down to beat Burnley 2-1 at Anfield.
Week 29 – Following the sacking of manager Aitor Karanka, Middlesbrough slipped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Manchester United who overtook Arsenal after their 3-1 loss at West Brom where Craig Dawson netted twice for the Baggies while Liverpool drew 1-1 at Manchester City and a Romelu Lukaku brace in stoppage time condemned 10-man Hull City to a 4-0 drubbing at Everton. Chelsea scored a late 2-1 winner at Stoke where the hosts ended the match with 10 man while Tottenham won by the same scoreline at home to Southampton and Leicester City won 3-2 at West Ham United. Bottom-of-the-table Sunderland picked up a point in a goalless draw at home to Burnley while a single goal gave Crystal Palace all 3 points at home to Watford and Swansea City fell to 2 goals at Bournemouth.
Week 30 – Crystal Palace bounced back from an early goal down with 2 goals in quick succession at Stamford Bridge to end Chelsea’s unbeaten home record while Tottenham narrowed the gap at the top to 7 points with a 2-0 win at Burnley and Liverpool won the Merseyside derby against Everton 3-1 at Anfield. West Ham United took the lead but lost 2-1 at Hull City and Arsenal twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at home to Manchester City while Leicester continued their recent winning streak with a 2-0 victory at home to Stoke and a single goal saw Sunderland lose at Watford. Manchester United were held to a goalless draw at home to West Brom while Middlesbrough drew 0-0 at Swansea and Bournemouth missed a late penalty in their goalless draw at Southampton.  

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