A goal in each half from John Terry and Diego Costa earned Chelsea a comfortable 2-0 victory over West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.
The result lifted Jose Mourinho’s side six points clear at the top of the Premier League table but that advantage was halved when Manchester City swept aside struggling West Brom 3-1 at a snow-covered Hawthorns later in the day.
First-half goals from Fernando, Yaya Toure (penalty) and David Silva proved decisive for the visitors, whose score was matched by city neighbours Manchester United at Old Trafford. Brown Ideye countered for Albion with time running out.
Wayne Rooney scored twice and Robin van Persie completed the scoring for Louis van Gaal’s side as they beat Newcastle to retain their grip on third place. Papiss Cisse gave the vocal travelling army their one moment of cheer from the spot three minutes from time.
Another 3-1 win – by Southampton at Selhurst Park – saw the Saints leap-frog West Ham into fourth place. Sadio Mane, Ryan Bertrand and Toby Alderweireld were on the mark before Scott Dann countered late on for Crystal Palace.
Arsenal are sixth after beating QPR 2-1 in an incident-packed encounter at the Emirates, which left the visitors still looking for their first point of the season away from home
The hosts dominated the first-half and, although the outstanding Alexis Sanchez had an early penalty saved by Rob Green, he put Arsenal into the lead with a 37th-minute header.
Olivier Giroud received a straight red card for a second-half head-butt on Nedum Onuoha but Arsenal initially made light of their numerical disadvantage, doubling their lead courtesy of Tomas Rosicky.
However, QPR were awarded a contentious 79th-minute penalty which Charlie Austin converted, and Arsenal had to survive a fraught final 10 minutes.
Raheem Sterling’s first league goal since September proved decisive for Liverpool at Burnley, while Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson’s early strike ensured Aston Villa left the Liberty Stadium without a point.
Harry Kane continued his fine run of form with the opening goal after just two minutes as Tottenham chalked up their sixth 2-1 scoreline in the league since early November against Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Leonardo Ulloa gave City hope with a fine strike early in the second half but a superb half volley from Christian Eriksen secured all three points for Spurs.
Former Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic completed a remarkable turnaround for Hull City, who fell behind to an Adam Johnson tap-in with just 30 seconds on the clock at Sunderland.
Goals either side of half time from Gaston Ramirez and James Chester put Steve Bruce’s side 2-1 up and Jelavic made the points safe deep into stoppage time to lift Hull out of the bottom three.
And a first-half penalty by Bojan earned Stoke City victory over Everton at Goodison Park. The former Barcelona striker picked himself to score after a coming together with James McCarthy in the 38th minute.
The match, played in torrential rain from the first minute, saw home midfielder Gareth Barry set an unwanted record as he became the first player in Premier League history to receive 100 yellow cards.
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