EPL: Arsenal lose Topspot to Chelsea after 5-1 Humiliation at Anfield
Eden Hazard scored a hat-trick to help Chelsea capitalise on Arsenal’s crushing defeat at Liverpool by beating Newcastle United 3-0 to claim top spot in the
Premier League.
Arsenal’s 5-1 demolition at Anfield earlier in the day handed their nearest rivals an opportunity to leapfrog them at the top of the table and Chelsea took full advantage at Stamford Bridge. With 4 goals from the Reds in the first 20 minutes, the gunners could only summon a goal from the Penalty spot by Arteta in the second half to counter Braces from Skrtel and Raheem Sterling and a single from Daniel Sturridge. This left Wenger’s men dropping to second place for the second time in 3 weeks.
Manchester City followed suit drawing 0-0 at Norwich City and slipping to third place in the process having slipped to second place after Chelsea’s impressive 1-0 win at City on Monday and the Blues were quick to take control against Newcastle despite captain John Terry missing out with a muscular strain.
Hazard broke the deadlock in the 27th minute with a first-time finish from a Branislav Ivanovic pass and the Belgian added a second seven minutes later following a neat back-heel pass by Samuel Eto’o. A foul on Eto’o by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa presented Hazard with an opportunity to complete his first Chelsea hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute and he duly obliged by sending Tim Krul the wrong way.
“I know today we are top of the league, but I look to fifth place,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said.”I look to Tottenham v Everton and Manchester United v Fulham tomorrow (Sunday) and I want to be far from fifth. When we are far from fifth and have a Champions League position under control, then it will be time to look at Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool and see where they are and see the distances.”
The Victory took Chelsea a point above Arsenal and two points clear of City, who were unable to repeat their 7-0 annihilation of Norwich from earlier in the season. Manuel Pellegrini’s side dominated proceedings at Carrow Road, but in the continued absence of top scorer Sergio Aguero they came no closer to scoring than a first-half Alvaro Negredo header that hit the crossbar.
“We are frustrated because we could not win, but we did all we could and in front of us there was a team who defended very well,” City manager Pellegrini said. “Every team will drop points, but we are still two points behind the leaders and we have 39 points to play for so we will continue exactly the same.”