Chelsea surged 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League as Pedro inspired a 3-1 win over Swansea, while Leicester’s gloom deepened as the troubled champions plunged into the relegation zone yesterday.
Antonio Conte’s leaders won for the 17th time in their last 20 league games to push them a step closer to the title. Cesc Fabregas, restored to the team in place of Nemanja Matic, was making his 300th Premier League appearance and the former Arsenal star marked the milestone in the 19th minute with his 46th goal in the competition.
Picked out inside the penalty area by Pedro’s cut-back, Fabregas nimbly adjusted his stride before clipping his shot past Lukasz Fabianski. Despite being out-played for much of the first half, Swansea snatched an equaliser seconds before the interval at Stamford Bridge.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s long free-kick caught the Blues napping and Spanish striker Fernando Llorente rose to head powerfully beyond Thibaut Courtois.
But Chelsea’s dominance was rewarded in the 72nd minute when Pedro’s routine long-range effort slipped past a weak attempted stop by Fabianski.
Diego Costa wrapped up the points when he finished off Eden Hazard’s pass in the 84th minute for his 17th goal of the season.
“For sure we dominated the game. We showed great character in the second half and deserved to win,” Conte said.
“Now it’s important to look at ourselves and continue with great focus and concentration.”
With second placed Manchester City’s scheduled derby against Manchester United postponed due to their rivals’ League Cup final date with Southampton on Sunday, Chelsea have opened up a huge lead at the top. Third placed Tottenham can trim Chelsea’s advantage to 10 points if they beat Stoke on Sunday. While sacked boss Claudio Ranieri was saying his farewells at the club’s Belvoir Drive training base on Saturday, Leicester’s fight for survival took a turn for the worse without the players even kicking a ball.

Bad news
Still digesting Ranieri’s stunning dismissal on Thursday, Leicester don’t play until Liverpool’s visit to the King Power Stadium on Monday.
Amid reports a player revolt had led to Ranieri’s exit, several Leicester players took to social media to praise the Italian, although none expressed disappointment at his exit. But there was bad news for the malcontents from Selhurst Park, where Crystal Palace’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough left Leicester one point from safety in 18th place.
Palace had lost six of their last seven league games and their previous five league fixtures at Selhurst Park all ended in defeat.
But Sam Allardyce’s side climbed above Leicester thanks to Patrick van Aanholt, who notched his first goal for Palace since his January move from Sunderland with a cool finish from the edge of the area in the 34th minute. Middlesbrough are without a win in nine league games and lie one point above the bottom three.
“There’s never been a bigger win than this all season,” Allardyce said. “The two-week break helped us refocus and that showed. The three points are important as it puts us out of the bottom three.”
Everton pushed their former manager David Moyes closer to relegation with a 2-0 win over bottom of the table Sunderland at Goodison Park. Ronald Koeman’s team went ahead when Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye fired into the roof of the net in the 40th minute. Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku sealed the points for seventh placed Everton in the 80th minute to leave Sunderland three points from safety.
Hull missed a chance to climb out of the relegation zone with a 1-1 draw against Burnley at the KCOM Stadium.
Tom Huddlestone’s 72nd-minute spot-kick gave Hull the lead but Keane quickly equalised for the visitors. Burnley finished the game with 10 men after Ashley Barnes’ late sending-off and the result leaves them without a win on their travels this season.
Indeed, the Clarets - knocked out of the FA Cup by non-league Lincoln City last weekend - doubled their points tally on the road with this result. Their only other point away from home came at Manchester United in October and Hull must have seen this as a great opportunity to continue their recent improvement under new coach Marco Silva.
Sean Dyche changed more than half the Burnley team following the FA Cup humiliation and the visitors almost went in front late in a poor first half. Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic spilled a Ben Mee effort and was lucky to see the ball hit the bar and bounce out.
A match lacking in drama came to life in the final 20 minutes after the hosts won a penalty for a Keane handball, with Huddlestone converting. Hull were on course to claim a third consecutive home win in the Premier League but Burnley drew level with just under quarter of an hour left.
Keane controlled a Robbie Brady corner and fired past Jakupovic to make it 1-1, before Barnes was dismissed in stoppage time for a second yellow card shown for a foul on Andrea Ranocchia. Hull remain in the drop zone, one point from safety, while Burnley continue to sit comfortably in mid-table.
Bournemouth are just five points above the relegation zone after losing 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion. Eddie Howe’s side took the lead after five minutes when Josh King converted a penalty awarded for Allan Nyom’s foul on Ryan Fraser. But Craig Dawson equalised in the 10th minute with a deflected long range effort before Gareth McAuley’s close-range finish won it in the 22nd minute.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc failed to claim a corner, causing a scramble inside the penalty area, and McAuley was on hand to turn the ball in from close range. It was a nice way for the defender to mark the 500th club appearance of his career but a brave block shortly afterwards to repel a goal-bound effort by Jack Wilshere may have pleased him as much.