Chelsea held, Man U cruise past Spurs

Chelsea moved six points clear at the top of the Premier League after drawing with Southampton in a superb contest at Stamford Bridge.

Diego Costa gave Chelsea the lead with a header before Dusan Tasic equalised from the spot after Nemanja Matic had fouled forward Sadio Mane.

Southampton keeper Fraser Forster made a series of great saves to deny Oscar and Eden Hazard.

In the closing moments he made a point-blank block from substitute Loic Remy.

Chelsea still have a game in hand on second-placed Manchester City, while Southampton moved into sixth above Tottenham, who later lost 3-0 to Manchester United.

The Blues’ remaining major hurdles are Manchester United and Liverpool at home and Arsenal away, but some bookies still have them as 10-1 odds-on favourites for the Premier League, such is the belief that Jose Mourinho will claim his third title in England.

With one trophy already in the bag, it is set to be a very successful season for the Portuguese, marred slightly by the blip in midweek when Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris St-Germain.

Mourinho gave 10 of the 11 players that started in midweek the chance to redeem themselves against the Saints, but the first-half display was poor.

It began well for the home side when the unmarked Costa, who had not scored since January, got on the end of a delightful Ivanovic ball to head in his 18th of the campaign.

However, Southampton were level eight minutes later. Mane, who was a constant menace for centre-backs Gary Cahill and John Terry, found himself sandwiched by Ivanovic and Matic in the penalty area.

Referee Mike Dean awarded a penalty and showed an incensed Matic a yellow card. Tadic was left to despatch the spot-kick.

The Serb was close to adding a second when his angled drive was brilliantly saved by Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian keeper then came to his side’s rescue again when his one-handed stop kept out Toby Alderweireld’s free-kick.

Chelsea did have a shout for a penalty at 1-1 when Ivanovic’s heel appeared to be clipped by Tadic, but the referee waved away the player’s appeal.

Mourinho’s side needed some inspiration and whatever he said at half-time appeared to do the trick.

The Portuguese brought on Ramires to replace Matic, which gave Chelsea more pace and industry in midfield.

They suddenly looked a different proposition. If only they had not come up against Forster, who was in sparkling form.

The Southampton stopper staked a very strong claim for the England number one jersey with blocks to twice deny Oscar, Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta, who was agonisingly close to scoring his first league goal for the club.

Meanwhile, Manchester United put a huge dent in Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four with a comfortable 3-0 win at Old Trafford yesterday afternoon.

Spurs struggled all game long to break down the home side, one of the more dangerous moments they had was in the early stages when United defender Phil Jones sidefooted a strong backpass towards goal that David de Gea had to poke away by sliding in.

The hosts were in front after eight minutes, though, when Michael Carrick slid the ball into Marouane Fellaini and the Belgian drilled low across goal into the corner with his left foot.

Ten minutes later the lead was doubled and this time Carrick was the scorer with a well-placed header into the far corner after Nacer Chadli had only been able to direct Fellaini’s header to the Englishman.

United were having plenty of joy down their left-hand side and Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino wasted no time in making a change by taking off Andros Townsend for Moussa Dembele on the half-hour mark.

However, it was soon three in the 34th minute when Wayne Rooney pounced on Nabil Bentaleb’s lazy pass and drove past the Spurs defence before finishing low past Hugo Lloris.

After a video surfaced of him being knocked out in a kitchen by fellow footballer Phil Bardsley, Rooney light-heartedly celebrated by falling to the ground as if he had been floored.

Three points mean that fourth-placed United have more points at home than anyone else this season. They are five points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool, who face Swansea City tonight, while Spurs drop six points behind the top four.

In another match, Everton pulled six points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with a 3-0 win over Newcastle United this afternoon.

Roberto Martinez’s side, who had drawn their last four games at home in the league, got off to a shaky start and were almost behind inside three minutes as Yoan Gouffran and Mike Williamson both went close. – BBC Sport/Sportsmole.