Chelsea turns back Arsenal to go five points clear

Published February 05, 2015

London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa propelled Chelsea to a 2-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday in a contentious fixture at Stamford Bridge, moving the Blues five points clear at the top of the English Premier League.

There was no love loss between Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who shoved Mourinho on the touchline 20 minutes into the match after the two became involved in a verbal confrontation.

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to leave the game in the first half after a collision with Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez, calling Petr Cech into action for the Blues.

But it was Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny who was the busier of the two netminders, and he was picking the ball out of his own net in the 27th minute.

Hazard made a nice run through midfield and eluded two defenders before getting into the penalty area, where he was tripped by Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny. The Belgium international then stepped to the penalty spot and sent Szczesny the wrong way to put Chelsea up, 1-0.

Mathieu Flamini nearly turned a cross from Hazard into his own net, but was fortunate that Szczesny got a hand to the ball to turn it onto the post, while Hazard should have made it 2-0 in the second half when he was teed up by Costa but fired over the net from eight yards.

Arsenal was still within a goal as the game entered the final 15 minutes, but Chelsea killed it off in the 78th with a brilliant ball over the top from Cesc Fabregas, allowing Costa to take it down off his chest in behind the Arsenal defense and beat Szczesny with a clever flick.

The defeat is the first of the campaign in league play for Arsenal, and it drops the club to seventh in the table.

Manchester United took advantage of Arsenal's setback to climb to fourth place following a 2-1 win over Everton.

Angel Di Maria scored his third goal of the season for United midway through the first half, while Everton's Leighton Baines had a penalty kick saved by goalkeeper David De Gea a few minutes later, keeping United in front.

Everton equalized in the 55th through Steven Naismith, but Radamel Falcao struck his first goal for United seven minutes later to provide the winning tally.

The points weren't safe until the very end, however, as De Gea played the role of hero by producing two fine saves in the final minutes to deny Leon Osman and Bryan Oviedo.

Tottenham joins United on 11 points after Spurs snapped a four-game winless streak in league play with a 1-0 triumph over Southampton courtesy of Christian Eriksen's 40th-minute goal.

In the other fixture on Sunday, QPR remained on the bottom of the table following a 2-0 loss at West Ham.

The Hammers went in front just five minutes into the match through a Nedum Onuoha own goal, while Diafra Sakho scored just before the hour mark to double the advantage.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/chelsea-turns-back-arsenal-to-go-five-points-clear