Bournemouth’s Glenn Murray scores against Chelsea in the English Premier League yesterday.
DPA/London
Jamie Vardy’s record scoring streak ended at 11 matches yesterday but his Leicester side sit on top of the Premier League after they took full advantage of a slip-up from title favourites Manchester City.
Riyad Mahrez took over the scoring duties with a hat-trick as Leicester won 3-0 at Swansea while City, who began the day top on goal difference, were beaten 2-0 at Stoke City.
The results left Leicester two points clear of Arsenal, who beat Sunderland 3-1, with City third on goal difference from neighbours Manchester United, who could only draw 0-0 with West Ham.
And Chelsea’s terrible season continued as they were beaten 1-0 at home by lowly Bournemouth.
Vardy may not have found the net but the England striker set up Mahrez for his hat-trick goal to put them top of the pile again and take his own goals tally to 15 in all competitions this season.
“Vardy didn’t score but he played for the team and the team is the leader,” Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said.
“It was a good match, good performance, three goals, many chances and a clean sheet. That’s more important than being top.”
Olivier Giroud scored at both ends as Arsenal beat Sunderland, with Joel Campbell and Aaron Ramsey getting the other goals. “Everyone is going to be taking points off each other - it is going to be tight all the way through - and we have to try and make the most of this busy period coming up,” Ramsey said.
Arsenal are two points behind in second after a 3-1 win over Sunderland, with Olivier Giroud scoring at both ends, while Manchester United missed the chance to do the same as they drew 0-0 with West Ham.
City were all at sea in gusting winds and were completely outplayed by a Stoke side who climbed to 10th thanks to two goals from Marko Arnautovic.
City had Joe Hart back in goal after injury and David Silva started in midfield but they were without captain Vincent Kompany, striker Sergio Aguero and midfielder Yaya Toure and all three were sorely missed.
Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri set up both goals, the first with a low cross for Arnautovic to toe poke the opener on seven minutes and then with a perfectly weighted through-ball that Arnautovic flicked beyond Hart.
Stoke could easily have won by an even bigger margin and the closest City came to a goal was when Aleksandr Kolarov’s shot was turned onto the post by the foot of Jack Butland late in the first half. “It was a great performance by the guys,” Stoke manager Mark Hughes said. “Each and every one of them put in a high level performance. It enabled us to beat the league leaders and that shows great credit to us.”
Manchester United’s struggles in front of goal continued as they were held 0-0 at home by West Ham but their problems are nothing compared to those of Chelsea.
An 82nd-minute goal by Glenn Murray gave Bournemouth a shock victory and moved them out of the bottom three to 16th, just two points behind the champions in 14th.
Dele Alli’s early goal for Spurs was cancelled out by James McClean as West Brom hit back to clinch a 1-1 draw.
Bottom side Aston Villa grabbed a crucial point as they drew 1-1 at Southampton while Watford beat Norwich 2-0.
