Eden Hazard’s exquisite strike inspired Premier League leaders Chelsea to a 3-1 victory over Arsenal that shattered their rivals’ title challenge, while spluttering Liverpool hit a new low in a 2-0 defeat at Hull yesterday.
Belgian winger Hazard left a trail of defenders in his wake to double Chelsea’s lead in the 53rd minute at Stamford Bridge. Marcos Alonso had opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a contentious effort as the Chelsea defender clattered into Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin before heading home.
Cesc Fabregas rubbed salt into Arsenal’s wounds in the 85th minute when the former Gunners midfielder chipped into the empty net after a woeful miskick from ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech. Olivier Giroud’s stoppage-time goal was no consolation for third placed Arsenal, who trail Chelsea by 12 points with 14 games remaining.
It was Chelsea’s 16th win in their last 18 league games, prompting Blues boss Antonio Conte to hail the triumph as a significant moment in the title race. “I consider Arsenal one of the six teams that can fight for the title. To put them 12 points behind is very important for us,” Conte said.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fumed over Alonso’s opener, saying: “It was 100% a foul. It was even dangerous play. That doesn’t take anything away from the performance of Chelsea. They look solid and we needed to be better.”
Second placed Tottenham are Chelsea’s closest challengers after a 1-0 victory against Middlesbrough kept them nine points behind the leaders. When Son Heung-Min was fouled by Bernardo in the 58th minute at White Hart Lane, Tottenham striker Harry Kane stepped up to convert the penalty for his 16th goal of the season. It was a first win in three league games for Mauricio Pochettino’s team, who are unbeaten in their last nine.
At the KCOM Stadium, Liverpool fell behind in the 44th minute when Alfred N’Diaye took advantage of goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s poor handling to bag a debut goal.  Jurgen Klopp’s side were finished off in the 84th minute when on-loan Everton striker Oumar Niasse raced clear to boost third bottom Hull’s survival bid. “Obviously that was not good enough. We gave both goals away easily and the overall performance was not like it should be,” Klopp said. “It makes no sense for us to play like this. We need to wake up, that was not acceptable.”
Liverpool have won only once in their last 10 games in all competitions and will be knocked out of the top four if Manchester City avoid defeat against Swansea today.
Sunderland stunned their former boss Sam Allardyce with an incredible first half goal rush to demolish fellow strugglers Crystal Palace 4-0 at Selhurst Park. David Moyes’ side drew first blood when Lamine Kone, signed by Palace chief Allardyce when he was in charge at Sunderland, swept home after Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey dropped a 10th minute free-kick.
The Black Cats were two up in the 43rd minute through Didier Ndong’s first goal for the club. Jermain Defoe put the result beyond doubt with two goals in first half stoppage-time as one furious Palace fan to run onto the pitch to confront defender Damien Delaney. Sunderland remain bottom of the table but they are now level on points with Palace, who drop to 19th place, and just two points from safety.
Romelu Lukaku scored four times in Everton’s 6-3 victory against Bournemouth at Goodison Park. Ronald Koeman’s side were ahead after just 31 seconds as Belgian forward Lukaku started his goal spree.
Everton doubled their advantage through James McCarthy in the 23rd minute and Lukaku notched his second six minutes later.
Bournemouth’s Josh King set up a tense finale as he netted in the 59th and 70th minutes. Lukaku struck again in the 83rd and 84th minutes to cap his memorable afternoon before Harry Arter’s 90th minute reply and Ross Barkley’s sixth for Everton. West Ham bounced back from their mauling against Manchester City with a 3-1 win at Southampton. Thrashed 4-0 by City on Wednesday, Slaven Bilic’s team were behind again when Saints striker Manolo Gabbiadini scored on his debut in the 12th minute.
But Andy Carroll equalised two minutes later and Pedro Obiang put West Ham in the 44th minute before Mark Noble’s 52nd minute effort sealed the points.
Watford consigned 10-man Burnley to a seventh successive away league defeat with a 2-1 success at Vicarage Road.
West Bromwich Albion beat Stoke 1-0 thanks to James Morrison’s sixth minute goal.

Results

Chelsea 3 (Alonso 13, Hazard 53, Fabregas 85) Arsenal 1 (Giroud 90+1)
Crystal Palace 0 Sunderland 4 (Kone 10, Ndong 43, Defoe 45+1, 45+3)
Everton 6 (Lukaku 1, 29, 83, 84, McCarthy 23, Barkley 90+4) Bournemouth 3 (King 59, 70, Arter 90)
Hull 2 (N’Diaye 44, Niasse 84) Liverpool 0
Southampton 1 (Gabbiadini 12) West Ham 3 (Carroll 14, Obiang 44, Noble 52)
Watford 2 (Deeney 10, Niang 45+2) Burnley 1 (Barnes 78-pen)
West Brom 1 (Morrison 6) Stoke 0
Tottenham 1 (Kane 58-pen) Middlesbrough 0
Playing today: Leicester v Manchester United (1600 GMT), Manchester City v Swansea (1330 GMT)
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