LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea bounced back from their mini-slump and
surged to the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home victory over
Stoke City thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Frank Lampard and Willian
at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
A 32nd minute strike by Salah, making his first start since joining
Chelsea in January, and second-half efforts from Lampard, whose initial
penalty was saved by Asmir Begovic, and Brazilian Willian saw the Blues
move on to 72 points.
They are one point ahead of Liverpool, who can return to the summit
by avoiding defeat at West Ham United on Sunday, and two ahead of
Manchester City, who beat Southampton 4-1 in Saturday's early match and
have two games in hand on the leaders.
Manchester United moved above Tottenham Hotspur into sixth place
with a 4-0 win at Newcastle United ahead of Wednesday's Champions League
return at Bayern Munich, while Fulham moved off the bottom of the table
with a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa.
Chelsea's win brought some cheer back to west London after a tough
seven days which saw Jose Mourinho's side lose 1-0 at Crystal Palace
last weekend and 3-1 at Paris St Germain in the first leg of their
Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
"Normally after a defeat you don't start confidently but this team
today went upwards all the time," the Portuguese told Sky Sports. "In
the first half we should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up because we played well.
After the second goal the game was over.
"I think the team played well and we were solid defensively. That
was only possible with the contribution of every player. With the ball
we were fast, Mohamed Salah and Willian won individual duals.
"It's a pity Fernando Torres didn't score because goals give
confidence but he worked hard for the team and I'm pleased with him,"
added Mourinho, having criticised his strikers after the defeat at PSG
who they host on Tuesday in the second leg.
Stoke seem like a new side under Mark Hughes and four wins in their
last five matches means no threat of relegation, but they struggled to
create any real openings.
Salah settled home nerves after 32 minutes, calmly finishing after
Nemanja Matic created space for himself down the left and cut the ball
back for the Egyptian.
Chelsea thought they had doubled their lead just before the break
but Branislav Ivanovic was correctly ruled offside after heading in
Salah's cross.
The hosts got a deserved second after 61 minutes when Salah was hacked down in the box by Andy Wilkinson.
Lampard's spot kick was saved but he buried the rebound before
Willian capped an industrious display with Chelsea's third goal,
clipping a delightful shot into the corner.
SAINTS CRUSHED
Southampton, this season's surprise package, were on the back foot
almost immediately at Manchester City when Jose Fonte brought down Edin
Dzeko after three minutes.
Ivorian Yaya Toure calmly converted his sixth penalty from six attempts this season for his 18th league goal overall.
The Saints slowly rallied with the trio of Jay Rodriguez, Adam
Lallana and Rickie Lambert, who were hoping to impress watching England
manager Roy Hodgson, pulling the strings with width provided by Luke
Shaw and Calum Chambers.
They suffered a major blow after 23 minutes, however, when Rodriguez
landed awkwardly on his right leg after attempting to control a high
ball and was carried off in tears with possible knee ligament damage
raising doubts about his World Cup hopes.
Southampton deservedly equalised through Lambert's penalty, his 11th
league goal this season, after Jack Cork was felled by defender Pablo
Zabaleta in the 36th minute.
The visitors were playing well and looked like they would go into
the break level but instead they let their good work go to waste by
allowing City to wrestle back control.
First, Frenchman Nasri sidefooted home after being set up following a
fine move involving Toure, Dzeko and David Silva, although the Spaniard
appeared offside.
In the fourth minute of first half added time, Dzeko then headed
into an empty net after goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga dived but missed
Aleksandar Kolarov's cross.
Jovetic added a final flourish for City, scoring a simple goal after Jesus Navas' cross evaded the suffering Gazzaniga.
"I don't remember Joe Hart making an important save," City manager
Manuel Pellegrini told BT Sport. "They had possession but no real
chances to score."
POCHETTINO ANGER
Southampton's Pochettino said the failure of the officials to rule out the second goal for offside ended the contest.
"This action from the linesman for the second goal killed the game, the linesman killed the game," he told BT Sport.
"It's clear that the second goal changed it. We were superior up to that point."
Manchester United, missing injured strikers Wayene Rooney and Robin
van Persie, won easily at Newcastle United, Juan Mata scoring twice and
Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj adding one each, although they lost
Ashley Young with a hand injury.
For Alan Pardew's Newcastle it was a second straight 4-0 loss with
the win boosting United who visit Bayern on Wednesday in their Champions
League quarter-final level at 1-1.
Fulham had Hugo Rodallega's late goal to thak for their win at Villa
which took them above Sunderland, who play on Monday, Cardiff City who
lost 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
Jason Puncheon's double and a Joe Ledley strike extended Cardiff's
miserable run under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with Palace scoring three away
goals in a top-flight match for the first time since 1997.
Fulham moved up to 18th on 27 points with Cardiff in 19th place on
26 and Sunderland, who next visit Spurs, a further point back but with
three matches in hand.
West Bromwich Albion, who finally appear to have hit form under Pepe
Mel, won 1-0 at fellow strugglers Norwich City with an early goal from
Morgan Amalfitano while George Boyd's strike gave Hull City a 1-0
victory at Swansea City.
(Editing by Ken Ferris)
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