City thrash Rovers to open up five-point lead

Manchester City opened up a five-point gap at the top of the Premier League yesterday after a convincing 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers. Goals from Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko secured victory for Roberto Mancini’s side and piled the pressure on second-placed Manchester United in the process. City now sit five points clear of neighbours and rivals United, who play at Norwich City today. Chelsea beat Bolton Wanderers 3-0 yesterday to go clear of Arsenal in the race for fourth, while Newcastle United lost ground in a 2-2 draw with Wolves. City were totally dominant against a Blackburn side who dropped back into the bottom three on goal difference. Paul Robinson kept the scores goalless for half an hour but once Balotelli finished off a fine move to put City in front, the result was never in doubt. Aguero pounced on a mistake from Robinson to make it 2-0 on 53 minutes and Dzeko rounded off the scoring came off the substitutes’ bench to head the third nine minutes from time. At Stamford Bridge, goals from David Luiz, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard secured a comfortable win for Chelsea over Bolton, who battled hard for 45 minutes but were well beaten in the end. The victory put Chelsea clear on their own in fourth, three points ahead of Arsenal, who play Tottenham Hotspur today. Almost as importantly, the victory relieved some of the pressure on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, who has been heavily criticised in recent weeks. “It was important to win after all the recent disappointments,” Villas-Boas said. “We have been trying so hard and today we managed to do a great, great game. “We managed to find the efficiency in front of goal that we haven’t had in the last few games and we are back on track in the league.” Villa-Boas will have been equally pleased with not conceding a goal after the way his defence shipped three in their 3-1 Champions League defeat away to Napoli in midweek. The Portuguese restored Lampard, Ashley Cole and Michael Essien to his starting line-up and his players responded with a much more impressive display. Bolton, fighting for their Premier League lives, battled hard early on but Luiz curled them in front three minutes into the second half. Drogba, again preferred to Fernando Torres in attack, headed the second from close range just after the hour mark and Lampard completed the scoring 11 minutes from time with a volley.