Cesc scores as Blues go 7 clear
Print Edition
CESC Fabregas scored an 88th-minute winner as Chelsea extended its lead at the top of the English Premier League to seven points with an unconvincing 1-0 win against a spirited Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in London yesterday.
Spain international Fabregas, criticized for his drop in form since Christmas, burst into the box before coolly dispatching Eden Hazard’s lay-off to seal an undeserved victory in the west London derby.
QPR, embroiled in relegation battle, was the more dangerous team throughout and created a number of chances but was thwarted by visiting goalkeeper Thibault Courtois.
Chelsea dominated possession but, in the absence of injured forwards Diego Costa and Loic Remy, failed to register a shot on target before Fabregas’s intervention.
Chelsea has 73 points from 31 games but has a game in hand of second-placed Arsenal, whom it plays on April 26.
QPR remains 18th, two points behind Hull City — the side immediately above the relegation zone.
Yesterday’s other top-flight match sees faltering champion Manchester City away to local rival Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Since the turn of the year, City has been eliminated from both the FA Cup and the Champions League.
Top-flight title
Meanwhile, its hopes of retaining the English top-flight title have all but been scuppered by several damaging defeats.
Now it was kicking off in the Manchester derby in fourth place — a point behind its local rival and 12 adrift of Chelsea.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini did not pull any punches in interviews with several British newspapers published yesterday, saying: “It has not been a good season.
“It was not so bad until the end of 2014, when we were top of the table and also had the FA Cup and Champions League.
“But in the last three months we have thrown it into the garbage,” the under-pressure Chilean admitted.
On Saturday, Arsenal’s improbable late run at the league title gained momentum with a 1-0 victory at struggling Burnley, an eighth straight triumph.
Arsene Wenger’s side did not have to be at its best to overcome an organized Burnley side which remained second from bottom. The visitors scored early through Aaron Ramsey and then eased through largely unthreatened.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 with a goal from Christian Benteke while Jamie Vardy netted in stoppage time to secure a 3-2 win at West Bromwich Albion for bottom club Leicester City.
It was a miserable afternoon for Sunderland which was thrashed 1-4 at home by Crystal Palace with Yannick Bolasie scoring a 12-minute hat-trick. Hull City was beaten 0-2 at Southampton.
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