Spanish midfielder David Silva equalised as Manchester City prevented Chelsea pulling eight points clear at the Premier League summit in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Loic Remy put Chelsea in front in the 41st minute, but Silva touched in a shot from Sergio Aguero four minutes later to keep the defending champions five points behind Jose Mourinho’s side with 15 matches remaining.
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Manuel Pellegrini’s City have won only one of their last five league games, but following successive defeats by Arsenal and Middlesbrough, they at least prevented Chelsea from streaking away into the distance.
Chelsea great Frank Lampard, sent on by City as a late substitute, was afforded a warm reception on what was likely to prove his final appearance at Stamford Bridge, and it was a broadly positive afternoon for the hosts.
Daniel Sturridge put nearly five months of injury frustration behind him by coming off the bench to score in Liverpool‘s 2-0 win at home to West Ham in the Premier League.
The 25-year-old striker had been sidelined with thigh and calf injuries since September, with his inital fitness problems coming while on England duty.
Raheem Sterling broke the deadlock in the 51st minute at Anfield before Sturridge, a 67th minute replacement for Lazar Markovic, marked just his fourth Liverpool appearance of the season by slotting home 10 minutes from time as the Reds bounced back from their League Cup semi-final loss to Chelsea.
Manchester United climbed into third place with a 3-1 win over basement club Leicester at Old Trafford.
Louis van Gaal’s men went 3-0 up before half-time through goals from Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and an own-goal by Wes Morgan.
Marcin Wasilewski pulled a goal back for Leicester 10 minutes from time.
United will only be in the top three briefly if Southampton regain third place by avoiding defeat at home to Swansea on Sunday when Arsenal, also vying for a top-four finish, face Aston Villa at the Emirates.
Tottenham Hotspur completed a fine week with a 3-0 win away to West Bromwich Albion where Harry Kane scored twice to take his tally for the season to an impressive 20 goals.
Christian Eriksen scored his third goal in two matches and 11th of the season to give Mauricio Pochettino’s men the lead at the Hawthorns.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace saw a run of four successive wins in all competitions since manager Alan Pardew arrived from Newcastle ended with a 1-0 loss to Everton at Selhurst Park.
Romelu Lukaku scored the only goal of the game as early as the second minute when he followed up after a shot from Steven Naismith was blocked by Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
Second-bottom Queens Park Rangers’ dreadful away record continued as they suffered an 11th straight league defeat on the road with a 3-1 loss to former manager Mark Hughes’s Stoke City side as Potters forward Jonathan Walters scored his first top-flight hat-trick.
Super Jon with his matchball. The first Stoke City player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League #GoArnJon pic.twitter.com/yXKYwCXlUo
— Stoke City FC (@stokecity) January 31, 2015
Jermain Defoe scored his first goal since returning to English football from Toronto as he netted Sunderland‘s second in a 2-0 win at home to Burnley after Connor Wickham put the Black Cats ahead.
Saturday’s early kick-off saw John Carver enjoy his first win as Newcastle boss after a 3-0 success away to Hull ended a run of four games without a victory since Pardew’s exit.
