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LONDON. — Chelsea demonstrated their Premier League championship credentials by coming from behind to beat title rivals Liverpool 2-1 in an engaging and keenly contested game at Stamford Bridge yesterday.
Martin Skrtel gave Liverpool a third-minute lead, but Chelsea hit back before half-time through Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o to give manager Jose Mourinho victory over his former protege Brendan Rodgers.
Having led the league on Christmas Day, Liverpool will finish the year in fifth place, six points below leaders Arsenal, with Chelsea two points off the pace in third place behind Manchester City.
Beaten 2-1 by City on Boxing Day, Liverpool have now lost successive league games for the first time since April 2012, while top scorer Luis Suarez has gone two games without scoring after amassing 10 in his previous four outings.
The game marked the first meeting between Suarez and Branislav Ivanovic since the Liverpool striker was banned for biting the Chelsea defender last season, and the Liverpool man came out on top in their first duel.
After Samuel Eto’o caught Jordan Henderson with a high challenge on the Liverpool left, Philippe Coutinho curled in a free-kick and Suarez got in front of Ivanovic to knock the ball down for Skrtel to prod home.
Chelsea, for whom John Terry was making his 600th appearance, were quick to respond, with Glen Johnson hacking off the line to prevent Skrtel scoring an own goal and Gary Cahill heading wide from a free-kick.
Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet then produced a stunning one-handed save to tip over a shot from Frank Lampard, but in the 17th minute the hosts drew level.
A sharp Chelsea counter-attack culminated in Mamadou Sakho inadvertently diverting a pass from Oscar into the path of Hazard, who swept a magisterial first-time shot inside the right-hand post from 20 yards.
Chelsea then lost Ivanovic to injury, with Ashley Cole coming on, but it did not disrupt their momentum.
They went in front in the 34th minute and Mignolet, culpable for City’s winning goal in Liverpool’s 2-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday, was again partly at fault.
Oscar’s low cross from the right was toed towards goal by Eto’o and despite getting down quickly, Mignolet could only palm the ball inside his right-hand post.
It was an impressive reaction from Mourinho’s side, but gradually Liverpool reasserted themselves.
Petr Cech produced a smart save to prevent Joe Allen from equalising with a deflected shot shortly before half-time, before Sakho headed against the crossbar early in the second period.
Mignolet stood up well to stop Eto’o extending Chelsea’s lead at the other end, but Liverpool were soon back on the attack, with Suarez volleying straight at Cech.
The teams continued to exchange chances, Oscar drilling wide for Chelsea, Johnson working Cech in reply, but Liverpool’s early fire had burnt itself out.
And when Suarez went to ground theatrically in the Chelsea box after Eto’o ran across him, he received only a shake of the head from referee Howard Webb and a torrent of jeers from the home fans.
Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres threatened to seal victory at the death after coming on from the bench, but having taken Sakho out of the game, he saw his shot saved by Mignolet.
Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud ensured Arsenal will finish 2013 on top of the Premier League as his second half goal clinched a 1-0 win against Newcastle yesterday.
Arsene Wenger’s side had surrendered first place after Manchester City’s win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, but just 24 hours later the Gunners reclaimed pole position with a hard-fought victory at St James’ Park.
Giroud’s first goal since November 23 was enough to give Arsenal their second successive win and move them one point ahead of second placed City heading into the new year.
Arsenal, who were without German playmaker Mesut Ozil, were under pressure early on and Wojciech Szczesny had to tip over Moussa Sissoko’s effort, while Mathieu Debuchy’s header hit the crossbar from the resulting corner.
But France forward Giroud bagged his 11th goal of the season with a glancing header from Theo Walcott’s free-kick in the 65th minute.
Wenger’s team then survived a late barrage of Newcastle pressure, with Loic Remy coming closest to an equaliser when Szczesny’s clearance cannoned into his head and rebounded just wide.
“There is a big satisfaction because we surprised many people,” Wenger said. “We played two away games and got six points against West Ham and Newcastle and as you can see the team is ready for a fight.
“Ozil has a shoulder problem. I don’t think he will be available for Cardiff on Wednesday, maybe after that, we will see.”
In the day’s other early kick-off, Everton climbed into the top four with a 2-1 win over Southampton at Goodison Park.
“Southampton are a very good side and we knew we had to be perfect in our performance. The two goals were of outstanding quality,” Martinez said.
“To see the way we got the winning goal was very satisfying and the nature of the victory was also pleasing considering the players we had out.”
Irish defender Seamus Coleman opened the scoring for Everton with a fine strike in the ninth minute. The Toffees were rocked in the 71st minute when Adam Lallana picked out Gaston Ramirez and the Southampton star advanced before smashing a dipping shot past Everton keeper Joel Robles.
But on-loan Chelsea striker Lukaku struck three minutes later to seal Everton’s third win in their last four matches.
James McCarthy slid the ball to Lukaku just inside the penalty area and the Belgian took one touch before lashing home his ninth club goal of the season.
Meanwhile, a Roberto Soldado penalty and fine second-half strikes from Mousa Dembele and Aaron Lennon helped Tottenham beat Stoke 3-0 and record their first Premier League home victory in more than two months yesterday.
The win was also a first for Tim Sherwood in his capacity as Andre Villas-Boas’s permanent successor and lifted Tottenham above Newcastle, who had lost at home to Arsenal earlier in the day, into seventh place.
Villas-Boas had been fired after spending that topped the £100 million (120 million euros, $165 million) mark resulted in a trickle of goals, but this was the second time in three matches under Sherwood that Tottenham had scored three
English Premier League table
P W D L F A Pts)
ARSENAL 19 13 3 3 37 18 42
Man City 19 13 2 4 54 21 41
Chelsea 19 12 4 3 35 19 40
Everton 19 10 7 2 31 18 37
L pool 19 11 3 5 44 23 36
M Utd 19 10 4 5 32 22 34
spurs 19 10 4 5 22 24 34
Ncastle 19 10 3 6 29 24 33
Smpton 19 7 6 6 26 20 27
Hull 19 6 5 8 22 23 23
Swan 19 5 6 8 24 25 21
Stoke 19 5 6 8 18 29 21
A Villa 19 5 5 9 18 25 20
Nwich 19 5 4 10 16 32 19
W Brom 19 3 9 7 22 27 18
Cardiff 19 4 6 9 15 30 18
Palace 19 5 1 13 12 28 16
Fulham 19 5 1 13 19 41 16
W Ham 19 3 6 10 18 28 15
S land 19 3 5 11 15 32 14 — AFP.
Online Reporter