Chris Maduewesi
Member
Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal all secured victories in their games on Saturday to maintain the top two positions of the English Premier League.
With just three points separating the top two teams, none of them needed to capitulate so as not to open up for the other team to capitalize.
Missing several key players through injuries, Manuel Pellegrini's team had to do it the hard way before they could defeat Leicester City 1-0.
None other than Frank Lampard stepped up to score the decisive goal for City as they held off a stiff challenge from the bottom placed team in the league.
Lampard further underlined his importance to Pellegrini's side, popping up in the box at the right time to tap in a Samir Nasri's low cross in the 40th minute of the game.
With City's top man, Sergio Aguero missing with an injury, there was no Stefan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko picked up an injury during warm-up which made them short of firepower in attack.
However, they still had enough in them to see off a resilient Leicester.
Chelsea on their part shook off last week's disappointing loss to Newcastle, beating Hull City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
An early goal from Eden Hazard made it look like it was going to be a routine victory for the Blues, however they didn't look that menacing.
Gary Cahill was lucky not to have been sent off in the match, following a challenge on Sone Aluko and also for a blatant dive in the box.
Hull City faced a more daunting task when Tom Huddlestone was sent off for a reckless foul on Filipe Luis.
Chelsea capitalized and scored the second decisive goal through Diego Costa who calmly finished off a perfect through ball by Hazard.
Jose Mourinho's team saw out the win and consolidated on their top spot.
Meanwhile Arsenal produced one of their best performances of the season to defeat Newcastle United.
Newcastle went from ending Chelsea's unbeaten run last weekend to losing at the Emirates 4-1.
Two goals each from Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla gave Arsene Wenger some respite from the fans as they are now steadily climbing their way up the table, with Ayoze Perez scoring the consolation goal for Newcastle.
Alan Pardew's men didn't produce that vigor that they have shown in recent games, missing some of the clear cut chances they got to level up things.
But Arsenal were more clinical, taking their chances and now top four is within sight for the Gunners.
With the festive period approaching very soon, it is left to be seen which of the top teams will blip first.
With just three points separating the top two teams, none of them needed to capitulate so as not to open up for the other team to capitalize.
Missing several key players through injuries, Manuel Pellegrini's team had to do it the hard way before they could defeat Leicester City 1-0.
None other than Frank Lampard stepped up to score the decisive goal for City as they held off a stiff challenge from the bottom placed team in the league.
Lampard further underlined his importance to Pellegrini's side, popping up in the box at the right time to tap in a Samir Nasri's low cross in the 40th minute of the game.
With City's top man, Sergio Aguero missing with an injury, there was no Stefan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko picked up an injury during warm-up which made them short of firepower in attack.
However, they still had enough in them to see off a resilient Leicester.
Chelsea on their part shook off last week's disappointing loss to Newcastle, beating Hull City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
An early goal from Eden Hazard made it look like it was going to be a routine victory for the Blues, however they didn't look that menacing.
Gary Cahill was lucky not to have been sent off in the match, following a challenge on Sone Aluko and also for a blatant dive in the box.
Hull City faced a more daunting task when Tom Huddlestone was sent off for a reckless foul on Filipe Luis.
Chelsea capitalized and scored the second decisive goal through Diego Costa who calmly finished off a perfect through ball by Hazard.
Jose Mourinho's team saw out the win and consolidated on their top spot.
Meanwhile Arsenal produced one of their best performances of the season to defeat Newcastle United.
Newcastle went from ending Chelsea's unbeaten run last weekend to losing at the Emirates 4-1.
Two goals each from Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla gave Arsene Wenger some respite from the fans as they are now steadily climbing their way up the table, with Ayoze Perez scoring the consolation goal for Newcastle.
Alan Pardew's men didn't produce that vigor that they have shown in recent games, missing some of the clear cut chances they got to level up things.
But Arsenal were more clinical, taking their chances and now top four is within sight for the Gunners.
With the festive period approaching very soon, it is left to be seen which of the top teams will blip first.