League leaders Chelsea stamped their authority at the top of the table as they rampaged to a 3-1 victory over their London rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. The win takes Chelsea 12 points clear of Arsenal.
Arsenal lost their second consecutive tie in the league.
Marcos Alonso scored the first goal for Chelsea in the 13th minute on a followup header after Diego Costa’s shot hit the crossbar. Alonso headed the aerial ball inside the goal but knocked down opposing defender Bellerin in the process, though the referee deemed the goal to be legal. Bellerin had to be substituted subsequently after suffering the knock.
Arsenal missed several chances before the half-time. Gabriel missed a sitter as his header flew straight to Courtois while Mesut Ozil’s attempt at the goal also was saved easily by the Chelsea goalkeeper.
Eden Hazard scored the second goal for Chelsea in the 53rd minute after fending off three Arsenal defenders en route a magnificent solo goal. Receiving the ball at the centre-line, he shrugged off Coquelin and beat Koscielny and Mustafi before scoring.
The third goal for Chelsea came served to them on a silver platter. Petr Cech cleared a back-pass terribly only for the ball to land in former Gunner Cesc Fabregas’ path. The Chelsea midfielder made no mistake and slotted the ball in an unguarded Arsenal goal, scoreline 3-0.
Arsenal scored a consolation goal in the extra-time, Giroud heading home from a Monreal cross to make it 3-1.
Liverpool also lost their game to Hull City.
In other matches of the day, fourth-placed Liverpool shockingly lost 2-0 away to Hull City while the second-placed Tottenham won 1-0 at home against Middlesbrough. Sam Allardyce’s Crystal Palace lost 4-0 to his former club Sunderland which are now managed by David Moyes. West Brom, West Ham and Watford also won their games against Stoke City, Southampton and Burnley respectively. Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku scored four-goals in Everton’s 6-3 win over Bournemouth in a goal-fest at Goodison Park. Lukaku now leads the premier league scoring charts for this season with 16 goals. He is followed closely by Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez with 15 goals each.
Manchester clubs, City and United, face Swansea and Leicester on 5th February to complete the 24th round of matches.
