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Sports

Sunday November 22, 2009

Football: Blues go marching on

LONDON: Chelsea cranked up the pressure on their Premier League title rivals by cruising to a 4-0 win over struggling Wolves yesterday.

A club-record 12th consecutive home win sent Chelsea eight points clear of both Arsenal, who crashed to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, and Man­­chester United, who were entertaining Everton in a late match at Old Trafford.

Florent Malouda opened Chelsea’s account with a 25m drive after five minutes and a Michael Essien double in the space of 10 minutes ended the contest before half-time.

Joe Cole’s first goal of the season, 11 minutes into the second half, rounded off a near perfect afternoon for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

“It was an easy game because we played very well,” said Ancelotti, who was without Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack. “It shows we have a very good squad.”

Arsenal’s first defeat in 14 matches in all competitions came courtesy of Darren Bent’s 71st-minute strike for Steve Bruce’s side.

The England striker flicked on an Andy Reid corner then finished from close range when the ball rebounded back to him off Sunderland striker Fraizer Campbell.

Liverpool and Manchester City’s hopes of challenging for the title were left looking remote after they settled for a 2-2 draw between them.

Liverpool, who have won only once in 10 matches in all competitions, are now 13 points adrift of Chelsea while City trail the leaders by 12 points after drawing their last six league matches.

All the goals in a scrappy encounter at Anfield came after the interval.

Martin Skrtel volleyed Liverpool into the lead five minutes into the second half.

Emmanuel Adebayor headed City back on to level terms and Stephen Ireland gave the visitors the lead only for substitute Yossi Benayoun to equalise barely a minute later.

Despite the latest setback, Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez remained upbeat.

“The positive thing is we showed great character when we went behind,” the Spaniard said. “You cannot ask for more than that from the players.

“I think we won six games in a row not so long ago and we have to think positive. When we have all our players coming back I am confident we will start winning games in a row.”

Aston Villa climbed into the top four at the expense of Tottenham – who entertain Wigan today – after coming from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Burnley.

Scotland international Steven Caldwell’s ninth-minute strike had put Burnley on track for another win at Turf Moor but Emile Heskey salvaged a point for Villa with four minutes left.

Elsewhere, Birmingham recent improvement continued with a 1-0 win over Fulham that gives Alex McLeish’s side some precious breathing space between them and the relegation zone.

Midfielder Lee Bowyer scored the only goal after being sent clear by James McFadden’s fine pass after 16 minutes.

The relegation battle between Hull and West Ham ended in a 3-3 draw. Headers from Guillermo Franco and Jack Collison put the Hammers 2-0 up after only 11 minutes but Hull were ahead by the interval after an own-goal by Carlton Cole, a superb strike by Kamil Zayatte and a Jimmy Bullard penalty.

The home side were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Bernard Mendy was sent off for pulling down Scott Parker when he had a clear run at goal.

The Hammers were unable to take advantage of the resulting free-kick but did manage to earn a point thanks to defender Manuel Da Costa’s 69th-minute equaliser. — AFP

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