Chelsea 2-0 West Ham Chelsea maintained their perfect home record in the Premier League after easing to a 2-0 Boxing Day victory over West H...
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham
Chelsea maintained their perfect home record in the Premier League after easing to a 2-0 Boxing Day victory over West Ham at Stamford Bridge.
John Terry opened the scoring for the dominant hosts in the 31st minute when he turned home from close range after Diego Costa headed a corner goalwards.
Chelsea spurned a number of chances to extend their advantage, but Costa eventually made sure of the points on the hour mark when he fired a fine low shot past Adrian.
The Hammers, who started the day fourth in the table, failed to muster a shot on target and were perhaps fortunate to only lose 2-0, after being second best from start to finish.
Manchester United 3-1 Newcastle
Wayne Rooney scored twice and set up another goal as Manchester United swatted Newcastle aside with an easy 3-1 win at Old Trafford.
Rooney finished a superb team goal to put United ahead and scored again before the break following a lovely through-ball from Juan Mata.
The United skipper helped kill off the game by pinging a 35-yard pass to Robin van Persie, who headed past Jak Alnwick, before Papiss Cisse scored a late consolation for the Magpies from the penalty spot.
Louis van Gaal's decision to cancel Christmas Day training did not backfire. United were the best team for most of the match.
West Brom 1-3 Manchester City
Champions Manchester City again made light of the absence of strikers as they cruised to a 3-1 win at West Brom.
Fernando, Yaya Toure and David Silva did the damage in the first half at The Hawthorns, scoring inside the opening 34 minutes, as City kept up the pressure on Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea.
Snow made conditions difficult in the second half and West Brom earned reward for showing some late spirit as they scrambled an 87th-minute consolation from a corner, Brown Ideye getting the final touch.
The scrappy end - albeit mitigated by the weather - took the gloss off an otherwise impressive display by City, who raced out of the blocks and led after just eight minutes.
Their victory was their ninth in succession in all competitions, equalling a club record and was the perfect response to Chelsea's defeat of West Ham earlier in the day.
Burnley 0-1 Liverpool
Raheem Sterling scored the winner as Liverpool held off a dominant Burnley to take a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor.
The England forward rounded Tom Heaton before finding the net after Danny Ings had earlier fired a low shot against the upright, while Scott Arfield and George Boyd went close in a game largely dominated by the hosts.
Liverpool were under pressure for most of the match and will feel lucky to have held on to pick up a victory – their first in four Premier League games.
The hosts, meanwhile, remain in the relegation zone with defeat but will be encouraged by a very positive display.
Full Results
Everton 0-1 Stoke
Crystal Palace 1-3 Southampton
Sunderland 1-3 Hull City
Swansea 1-0 Aston Villa
Man Utd 3-1 Newcastle
West Brom 1-3 Man City
Burnley 0-1 Liverpool
Leicester 1-2 Spurs