ShareBOURNEMOUTH: Chelsea delivered the perfect response to Tottenham Hotspur by winning 3-1 at Bournemouth yesterday to restore their seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Antonio Conte's men went ahead after 17 minutes when Bournemouth's Adam Smith deflected in Diego Costa's shot and Eden Hazard made it 2-0 within a minute.
Joshua King halved the deficit just before half-time, but Marcos Alonso made it 3-1 with a perfectly flighted free kick after 68 minutes.
Tottenham had trimmed Chelsea's advantage to four points by crushing Watford 4-0 earlier in the day, but Chelsea's victory left them seven points clear with seven games of the season remaining.
However, they were almost a goal down in the first minute. Bournemouth midfielder Ryan Fraser curled a cross into the six-yard area and David Luiz, perhaps blinded by the low sun, sliced his attempt at a volleyed clearance back towards his own net.
It looked a certain goal until goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois flung out his left arm to divert the ball for a corner-kick. But Chelsea recovered their composure quickly and took the lead, just after Jack Wilshere-on loan to Bournemouth from Arsenal-had created a chance for Fraser that he put well wide.
Luiz began the move with a pass out to Victor Moses on the right. His low ball inside found Costa, who turned and shot left-footed.
His mishit effort was going well wide until it grazed the head of right-back Smith, who was attempting to block, and dropped gently inside the post with goalkeeper Artur Boruc hopelessly wrong-footed.
Costa had not scored in his previous four appearances for Chelsea, but manager Conte had expressed his confidence in the forward as a scorer and creator of goals. This was vindication of a sort.
A minute later it was 2-0 after Wilshere lost possession in midfield and N'Golo Kante sent Hazard through.
FORTUNE SHINES ON COURTOIS
Just onside, Hazard ran on, feinted to shoot to the goalkeeper's right, went round him to his left and rolled the ball into the net despite appearing to stumble.
It might have been three after 27 minutes when Alonso's clever pass gave Hazard the chance to cross from the left, but when the ball reached Costa, he shot well wide.
That might have proved a costly miss as the home side went close to a goal 60 seconds later. Striker Benik Afobe charged unmarked into space to meet Charlie Daniels's cross from the left, only to volley against the inside of the post.
The ball rebounded across goal, but a fortunate touch off Courtois's leg took it away from King, who would otherwise have had an almost unmissable chance.
It was a sign that Bournemouth were in no mood to surrender to the league leaders and they pulled a goal back three minutes before the interval.
King took Afobe's pass and, as defenders retreated, tried a shot. The ball flicked off the thigh of Luiz and zipped high between Courtois and his near post.
Fraser hit a low shot just wide as Bournemouth looked for an equaliser early in the second half, but Costa missed two good chances to restore Chelsea's two-goal advantage.
First he just failed to get his head to Hazard's volleyed cross and then he missed Alonso's low cross from a yard out.
However, he contributed to Chelsea's third goal when he was fouled 22 yards out by Steve Cook.
Alonso capped an excellent performance with a precise free-kick that soared over the wall and found the top-right corner of the net with Boruc rooted to his line. Boruc, though, did well to deny Chelsea a fourth with a one-handed save from Moses. - AFP
Aguero strikes as Man City end winless run
MANCHESTER: Sergio Aguero struck as Manchester City ended a four-match run without a Premier League win by beating Hull City 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium yesterday. Ahmed Elhmohamady's own-goal, just after the half-hour mark, gave Pep Guardiola's team a lead at the interval, before they pressed home their advantage.
Aguero squeezed in a second goal three minutes after half-time, set up by Raheem Sterling, who also created the third with a short pass that Fabian Delph thumped in for his first league goal of the season. Hull pulled one back late on through Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia, with a shot that recalled goalkeeper Claudio Bravo should have saved. Victory strengthened City's grip on the fourth and final Champions League qualification spot, with Guardiola's men now seven points ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal Meanwhile Hull remained just above the relegation zone. Hull's home form has been the key factor in their push for top-flight survival since manager Marco Silva's arrival in January; they arrived at the Etihad having taken just one point from their previous 13 away matches. Silva set up his team to absorb City pressure and then cause problems on the counter-attack, which they did at times, without causing Bravo too many difficulties for most of the match.
The Chile international was recalled in goal for his first Premier League appearance since January 21, but all he had to do in the first half was punch away one cross from Kamil Grosicki.
STERLING SERVICE
Manchester City threatened early on, with Eldin Jakupovic making a double save from David Silva and Leroy Sane after Aguero's through ball to the Spain playmaker.
Jakupovic was untroubled by three long-range City efforts, one from Aguero and two from Delph, all of which were off target. The goalkeeper, though, needed to be on his toes to tip over a free-kick from Yaya Toure, moments after the midfielder, set up by Delph, had steered a first-time shot that dipped just over.
City's probing brought reward just after the half-hour mark, when Jesus Navas, converted from a winger into a right-back, whipped over a cross on the run that eluded Aguero and was turned into his own net by Elmohamady. Hull should have equalised immediately as Grosicki cut back from the left for Evandro to steer a cross-shot goalwards, but Oumar Niasse lost his bearings and skewed his effort sideways from seven yards out. Silva, making his 300th appearance for City, volleyed over from Sterling's cross on the stretch just before half-time.
But the home side did extend their lead three minutes after the interval, as Sterling darted down the right and cut across goal for Argentina international Aguero to control and squeeze a shot past Jakupovic, Elmohamady and Michael Dawson as they tried to block.
Sane almost added a third instantly, but fired Sterling's cross on the run straight at the goalkeeper.
That third goal arrived just beyond the hour mark, as Sterling raced on to Toure's pass to lead another counter-attack, and then rolled a pass left for Delph to thump in his first Premier League goal in more than a year.
That would have made it a perfect afternoon for Guardiola, but it was spoilt late on as Shaun Maloney cut the ball back for Ranocchia, on loan from Inter Milan, to steer a shot under Bravo's dive with the visitors' only effort on target. - AFP
