Chelsea, City close gap at top
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Both Chelsea and Manchester City capitalized on Liverpool’s shock defeat by Hull on Sunday to leapfrog the Merseysiders and close the gap on English Premier League leader Arsenal.
Chelsea recovered from conceding a goal inside the first minute at Stamford Bridge, when Jay Rodriguez pounced on a poor backpass from Michael Essien, to beat high-flying Southampton 3-1.
Second-half goals from central defenders Gary Cahill and John Terry, on his 400th league appearance, put Chelsea ahead before substitute Demba Ba sealed victory in the 90th minute. The win took Chelsea, now in second place, to within four points of Arsenal (31).
“What can you do when they score after 13 seconds?” said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. “We kept calm and the second-half performance was really good. We showed heart and a bit of quality. In this crazy league this result is important as once again title contenders have dropped points.”
Meanwhile City, which went third, was six points adrift of Arsenal after another impressive home display saw Swansea City beaten 3-0.
Samir Nasri scored twice after Alvaro Negredo broke the deadlock in just the eighth minute at Eastlands.
“I’m very pleased because we won against a very difficult team, especially when they had possession,” said City manager Manuel Pellegrini, who again fielded Costel Pantilimon in place of England ‘keeper Joe Hart.
Earlier, Hull beat Liverpool for the first time in its history with a 3-1 win at the KC Stadium.
Liverpool started the match in second place but this result dropped it to third, even before Chelsea had kicked off and City’s win meant it finished the day in fourth place.
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