A review of Saturday's Premier League (Feb 4th 2017)

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A review of Saturday's action in the Premier League. -

Eden Hazard struck a stunning solo goal as Chelsea boosted their Premier League title hopes with a 3-1 victory and left Arsenal's dreams in tatters.

Arsenal may have complaints about Marcos Alonso's opener, which came when he clattered Hector Bellerin. But the visitors could do nothing about the second in Chelsea's success at Stamford Bridge.

Hazard picked the ball up in the centre circle, evaded Laurent Koscielny and brushed off Francis Coquelin before fooling Koscielny, again, and drilling in by Petr Cech.

Cech gifted the ball to Cesc Fabregas, who casually lobbed the goalkeeper, for a third, as Chelsea ruthlessly punished Arsenal, who gained scant consolation with a late Olivier Giroud header.

Away from Stamford Bridge, most eyes were on the fight at the bottom and specifically Selhurst Park, where Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace suffered a 4-0 hammering at the hands of his old club Sunderland - with all the goals in the first half.

Premier League

Hull City 2 - 0 Liverpool
So'ton 1 - 3 West Ham
Chelsea 3 - 1 Arsenal
C Palace 0 - 4 S'land
W Brom 1 - 0 Stoke
Tottenham 1 - 0 M'boro
Watford 2 - 1 Burnley
Everton 6 - 3 B'mouth

Premier League Results

Lamine Kone - signed by Allardyce for the Black Cats - swept home the rebound when Wayne Hennessey spilt Sebastian Larsson's 10th minute free-kick.

But it was during a crazy few minutes before half-time that Palace's afternoon completely fell apart.

Didier Ndong made it 2-0 with his first goal for Sunderland when he took the ball off Joe Ledley and rifled home in the 43rd minute.

Jermain Defoe then scored twice in first-half stoppage time to leave Sunderland fans in dreamland.

However, the win was not enough to lift the Black Cats off the foot of the table thanks to Hull's 2-0 victory over Liverpool.

The deadlock was broken in the 39th minute when Alfred N'Diaye stabbed home a goal Simon Mignolet will not want to see again.

Liverpool pressed but were undone on the counter-attack as Oumar Niasse made sure of the win six minutes from time.

Early drama was the order of the day with six goals and a red card inside the opening 15 minutes of the six 3pm kick-offs.

The red card came at Vicarage Road where Jeff Hendrick was sent off for a two-footed challenge on Jose Holebas as Burnley fell to a 2-1 defeat against Watford.

The Hornets took advantage as Troy Deeney scored in the 10th minute with a powerful header.

Premier League

1 Chelsea 59
2 Tottenham 50
3 Arsenal 47
4 Liverpool 46
5 Man City 46
6 Man Utd 42
7 Everton 40
8 W Brom 36
9 West Ham 31
10 Watford 30
11 Stoke 29
12 Burnley 29
13 So'ton 27
14 B'mouth 26
15 M'boro 21
16 Leicester 21
17 Swansea 21
18 Hull City 20
19 C Palace 19
20 S'land 19

last updated 04/02 19:25

Watford doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time through M'Baye Niang's header.

There was a glimmer of hope for Burnley when Sebastian Prodl handled on the line, and Ashley Barnes's penalty went in off the post, but Watford hung on to win.

The fastest goal came at Goodison Park, where Romelu Lukaku needed all of 31 seconds to fire Everton ahead in the 6-3 victory against Bournemouth.

That set the tone as James McCarthy doubled the lead in the 23rd minute from Lukaku's assist and the Belgian's second made it 3-0 after 29 minutes.

But Joshua King gave Bournemouth hope in the 59th minute when he poked home from close-range and the nerves were apparent around Goodison after King made it 3-2 with 20 minutes to go.

However, Lukaku scored his third and fourth goals of the afternoon seconds apart inside the last 10 minutes to secure the victory.

There was time for Harry Arter to pull one back, but Ross Barkley had the final word in a memorable Everton win.

Harry Kane kept Tottenham in touch at the top of the table by scoring a second-half penalty to seal a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

Spurs were dominant throughout at White Hart Lane but they struggled to break down a resilient Boro side until Kane converted his spot-kick after the excellent Son Heung-min was fouled by Espinosa Bernardo.

Victor Valdes was also fortunate not to be sent off early on after he pushed Dele Alli in the face.

Tottenham's win means they reduce the gap behind Chelsea back to nine points.

At Southampton, Manolo Gabbiadini needed only 12 minutes of his debut to score for the Saints, hammering a shot in off the underside of the bar, but that was about all that went right in a 3-1 loss to West Ham.

The celebrations were barely over before West Ham replied through Andy Carroll's 14th minute strike.

Pedro Obiang's low shot deflected in to make it 2-1 before the break, and seven minutes into the second half Mark Noble's free-kick deflected off Steven Davis to find the net.

James Morrison scored his second goal of the week as he opened the scoring for West Brom against Stoke just six minutes in.

Saido Berahino was introduced as a substitute against the team he left in January, but barely made an impact as West Brom won 1-0.