PL round-up : Chelsea win again

Chelsea extended their lead to nine points at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge.

Antonio Conte’s side opened the scoring in the 23^rd minute after fine interplay between Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard found Pedro whose shot rippled the back of the net with the aid of a slight deflection.

Hazard was impeded inside the area in the 49^th minute after Simon Francis caught the Belgian with a trailing leg, leaving the 25-year-old to tap the ball past the helpless Artur Boruc for his 50^th Premier League goal for Chelsea.

Pedro started the scoring, and completed it in the 93rd minute when the former Barca man ran at the visitor’s defence before unleashing his shot to bag his brace, and another three-points for the run-away leaders.

Chelsea will stay nine points ahead of Liverpool, if Jürgen Klopp’s side lose to Stoke City on Tuesday evening.

A late Olivier Giroud strike helped Arsenal end a run of two losses in the Premier League with a slender 1-0 win over West Brom at the Emirates Stadium.

The French striker - who has spent much of the season on the bench – complimented his first Premier League start with a fine header after Mesut Ozil found the Frenchman with a precise ball in the 86th minute.

Tony Pulis’ side frustrated the home crowd with a stubborn performance and despite the Gunners dominating 80 percent of the ball, former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster kept his side in the tie with saves from Alexis Sanchez and Alex Iwobi respectively.

West Brom should have converted when Claudio Yacob’s shot whizzed over the bar following a mistake from Petr Cech, who struggled to hold the ball from a corner.

Arsenal are nine points behind Chelsea, while West Brom remain ninth, three points of Everton in Seventh.

A late mistake from Victor Valdes handed Burnley a 1-0 win over fellow-strugglers Middlesbrough at Turf Moor.

The 34-year-old failed to gather Andre Gray's 81st-minute strike which trickled into the back of net, to hand the hosts a win in what was an under-whelming game.

Sean Dyche’s side had the better of the opening exchanges and were unlucky not to have got their noses in-front after George Boyd and Ashley Barnes saw their shots saved by the former Manchester United and Barca man.

Burnley now move ahead of Middlesbrough into 14^th, while the away side sit 15^th, four points from safety.

Everton claimed a 2-0 win away win over champions Leicester at Kingspan Stadium.

Goals from Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku secured the win for the Toffees as they maintained their position in seventh in the table; Leicester lie 16^th, three points above the drop.

It took until after the break for the first goal to come. Joel Robles hoofed a long ball up the pitch for Mirallas to run onto and finish home past Kasper Schmeichel with the help of a deflection.

The second came in injury time with a simple ball over the top reaching Lukaku to to brush off the challenge of Wes Morgan before charging into the box and smashing to the net.

Man United proved far too strong for Sunderland at Old Trafford as they swept aside the Black Cats on a 3-1 scoreline to claim their fourth win on the bounce.

United had to wait until six minutes before the break for the opener. Marcos Rojo piled forward and fed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to slip inside for Daley Blind to finish into the bottom corner.

United got two in the final ten minutes to kill off the game. Paul Pogba closed down and dispossessed Didier Ndong before playing in Ibrahimovic past Papy Djilobodji for the Swede to finish into the bottom-right corner. Henrikh Mikhitaryan got the third. Zlatan crossed from the right for the Armenian to flick from behind him into the bottom corner with a stunning finish; Mkhitarayn was clearly offside but the linesman missed it and the goal stood.

With the game over as a contest, Fabio Borini grabbed a superb consolation as he chested down 25 yards out before volleying home to the top-left corner.

West Ham crushed Swansea 4-1 at Liberty Stadium to move up to 11^th in the league table.

Goals from Andrew Ayew, Winston Reid, Michail Antonio and Andy Carroll did the damage for the Hammers, with Fernando Llorente grabbing a late consolation for the home side.

The Hammers took the lead in the tie against the run of play. Carroll climbed highest to head across goal for Antonio to force Lukasz Fabianski into a parry which Ayew tucked away.

Shortly after the break the Hammers made it two. Reid beat several Swans to the ball to head home and double the London club’s advantage.

The Hammers put the game beyond doubt when Antonio drilled home his eighth goal of the season before Llorente pulled one back with a neat finish to the bottom corner. But the last word was to be from the Hammers as Carroll chested down and drilled past Fabianski to complete a horrible afternoon for the Swans – they lie rock bottom of the table, four points from safety.

Photo: Getty/Darren Walsh

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