--- Arsenal keep faint title hopes alive with 4-0 thrashing of Watford
--- Manchester City and Chelsea also score identical 4-0 victories with the Blues piling more misery on Aston Villa, while 10-man West Ham hold Crystal Palace to a 2-2 draw
Arsenal crushed Watford 4-0 and Manchester City hammered Bournemouth by the same score yesterday as the faltering big guns breathed fresh life into their faint hopes of lifting the Premier League title on Saturday.
Not even another free kick masterpiece from Dimitri Payet could inspire West Ham United in their push for a Champions League spot as they had Cheikhou Kouyate sent off in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
"I am very happy because it was a good performance. We scored goals and didn’t concede"
ARSENE WENGER
After losing three home games in a row, Arsenal rebounded to dominate Watford, who had knocked them out of the FA Cup at the Emirates Stadium last month, with Alexis Sanchez, Alex Iwobi, Hector Bellerin and Theo Walcott all on target.
“Good to come back with a win after the international break. The team needed a good performance.” Arsenal’s Bellerin said.
“Nice too for youngsters to get experience. If you don’t try you never score. We will never give up on the title chase until the end of the competition.”
Arsenal took just four minutes to score through striker Alexis Sanchez whose header was blocked by Heurelho Gomes although the keeper was powerless to stop Sanchez scoring from the rebound.
Alex Iwobi doubled Arsenal’s lead after 38 minutes when he side-footed home a pass from Sanchez to confirm Arsenal’s dominance.
Watford, who conceded early in the first half, also conceded early in the second, when Bellerin’s shot took a big deflection to put the Gunners further ahead before substitute Theo Walcott made it 4-0 in the dying minutes.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea;
At the other end of the table, Aston Villa’s disillusioned fans made a long, loud protest as their side were humiliated 4-0 at home to Chelsea and now stand on the verge of relegation. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, told BBC Sport: “I am very happy because it was a good performance. We scored goals and didn’t concede, and kept the game having a good flow even at 3-0 up.”
Alexandre Pato scored on his long-awaited Chelsea debut as Guus Hiddink’s experimental line-up piled more misery on Aston Villa with a 4-0 win.
Interim manager Hiddink was without Diego Costa, Eden Hazard, Willian, Gary Cahill and John Terry, but they were not missed as his side romped to an emphatic win at an angry Villa Park.
Youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored his first Premier League goal for the club, while a well-taken double from Pedro Rodriguez put the seal on their triumph in the second half.
To make matters worse, Villa had defender Alan Hutton sent off in the closing stages for a second bookable offence to end a week in which the club parted company with manager Remi Garde.
The victory for Chelsea kept alive their faint hopes of Europa League qualification, after a disappointing month in which they lost ground in the league and also crashed out of both the Champions League and FA Cup.
Bournemouth vs Man City
City were also comfortable winners at Bournemouth, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring on his return to the team after a two-month injury lay-off and Sergio Aguero heading in his 22nd goal of the season. Fourth-place City are three points ahead of West Ham.
Manuel Pellegrini hit back at the critics after Manchester City warmed up for their Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain with an impressive 4-0 victory at Bournemouth.
Goals by Fernando, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov at Dean Court on Saturday tightened City’s hold on fourth place in the Premier League and boosted confidence ahead of Wednesday’s first leg in Paris.
If you have your players all fit together you win games more easily and that’s the way we started the season, winning the first five games
MANUEL PELLEGRINI
A poor run of five losses in seven league matches before the international break, including three successive home defeats to title rivals Leicester and Tottenham and in the derby against Manchester United, caused some to doubt that City manager Pellegrini, due to be replaced by Pep Guardiola next season, could still motivate his players.
City’s dominant display on the south coast was the perfect answer and left them in control of their own destiny in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Even without Joe Hart, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany and Raheem Sterling, City were too good for Bournemouth and Pellegrini took the opportunity to make a point to the doubters.
“The best way to prepare for the next game was to focus on this game, return to our style of play, try to recover the normal performance of our important players,” Pellegrini said.
“We have had a lot of criticism this season but although we have had so many injuries to important players, it is one of the merits of this squad that we are the team that continues to fight in every competition to the end.
Newcastle vs Norwich
Newcastle are six points adrift of safety after conceding a goal to lose 3-2 at Norwich.
Norwich City 3 Newcastle United 2: Martin Olsson's dramatic late strike puts Rafael Benitez's men on the brink
Rafael BenÃtez will have to mastermind a comeback on a par with Liverpool’s miracle in Istanbul if he is to save Newcastle from going down now.
A dramatic injury-time winner from defender Martin Olsson set Norwich on course for Premier League safety while all but condemning Newcastle to a second relegation in seven years.
In short, Norwich are now four points clear of the drop zone with Newcastle cast six points adrift with seven matches to play, having lost seven away games in a row.
BenÃtez inspired Liverpool, with a little help from Steven Gerrard, back from a three-goal half-time deficit to AC Milan to win the Champions League in 2005, but preventing Newcastle from dropping again seems an even more unlikely feat.
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