Chelsea consolidated their position in the Premier League’s top four on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Manchester City claimed a 1-0 win over Leicester at the King Power Stadium to move seven points clear of them in second place.
Elsewhere, there were victories for Crystal Palace, Burnley and Southampton over Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Aston Villa, respectively.
Brighton & Hove Albion held European hopefuls Sheffield United to a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane.
Scores
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Burnley 3-0 Bournemouth
Crystal Palace 1-0 Newcastle United
Sheffield United 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Southampton 2-0 Aston Villa
Leicester City 0-1 Manchester City
Recap
Chelsea led after quarter of an hour thanks to a goal from Olivier Giroud on a rare start.
The visitors struggled to provide much attacking impetus throughout, and Marcos Alonso doubled the hosts’ tally with a fine second early in the second half.
Giovani Lo Celso should have been sent off shortly after for a stamp on Cesar Azpilicueta, but no action was taken after a lengthy VAR review. Stockley Park later confirmed to BT Sport they should have dismissed the Argentinian.
Tottenham grabbed a late consolation when Erik Lamela’s cross hit Antonio Rudiger and wrong-footed Willy Caballero, but their lack of creativity saw them fail to threaten an equaliser.
Leicester were somewhat unfortunate not to be ahead at half-time in their clash with City.
Jamie Vardy rattled the post in the eighth minute, and on another day they might have been awarded penalties when a free-kick struck Kevin De Bruyne’s arm and Ederson collided with Kelechi Iheanacho.
The Foxes conceded a spot-kick themselves in the second half when the ball struck Dennis Praet on the elbow, but Kasper Schmeichel denied Sergio Aguero.
The Citizens eventually grabbed the decisive goal through substitute Gabriel Jesus in the 80th minute.
Palace entered their match with Newcastle on the back of three consecutive defeats and with one win in all competitions since December 3, but they grabbed a crucial win to take themselves nine points clear of the relegation zone.
The decisive goal came on the stroke of half-time courtesy of a Patrick van Aanholt free-kick, after Martin Dubravka had made excellent stops to deny Gary Cahill and Scott Dann.
Shane Long bundled home Moussa Djenepo’s cross to give Southampton the lead after just eight minutes against Aston Villa, who didn’t muster a single shot in the first half.
Stuart Armstrong wrapped up proceedings in the final seconds when the Saints broke after Villa goalkeeper Pepe Reina had gone up for a corner.
The Athletic’s Carl Anka shared the stats from the match:
Matej Vydra netted his second goal in as many games when he broke the deadlock in Burnley’s clash with Bournemouth in the 53rd minute.
Harry Wilson thought he’d equalised for the Cherries from a counter-attack four minutes later. However, upon VAR review, his goal was disallowed and Burnley were awarded a penalty for an Adam Smith handball at the other end of the pitch.
Jay Rodriguez dispatched the spot-kick in the 61st minute, and Dwight McNeil added a third late on with a venomous strike past Aaron Ramsdale.
Sheffield United could have gone fifth with victory over Brighton & Hove Albion, and the hosts scored first through Enda Stevens’ emphatic finish in the 26th minute after the Seagulls failed to clear their lines. However, Neal Maupay replied with a header four minutes later, and the game finished with honours even.
