Focused Chelsea Battle To 3-1 Win At Lowly Norwich

LONDON: Chelsea put their off-pitch worries to one side as they beat a plucky Norwich City side 3-1 to consolidate third place in the Premier League at Carrow Road on Thursday.

The players at Chelsea, whose Russian owner Roman Abramovich has been placed under sanctions by the British government, did not appear to let the controversy affect them as they swept aside struggling Norwich who look headed for relegation.

Chelsea took the lead after three minutes with a Trevoh Chalobah header and soon doubled the advantage when Mason Mount fired home before Kai Havertz wrapped up the win near the end. Norwich had pulled a goal back with a Teemu Pukki penalty.

Chelsea, whose fans sang Abramovich's name throughout the match, are on 56 points from 27 games and moved eight points clear of Arsenal, who are fourth but have two games in hand. Norwich stayed bottom on 17 points.

Bruno Guimaraes scored the winner for Newcastle United with a brilliant back-heeled volley as his side came from a goal down to secure a vital 2-1 victory at Southampton in the Premier League.

Stuart Armstrong gave Southampton the lead midway through the first half with a deflected header, but Chris Wood equalised for the visitors with a precise header from Jonjo Shelvey's superb inswinging cross in the 32nd minute.

It was the striker's first goal in his eighth appearance for Newcastle, but his celebrations were almost cut short as Che Adams struck an angled drive off the underside of the crossbar before it bounced away to safety.

Brazilian Guimaraes also grabbed his first goal for Newcastle with an audacious piece of skill in the 66th minute, reacting quickest to back-heel the ball into the net following a corner.

The visitors looked set to kill the game off as they poured forward looking for a third, and Southampton had to scramble to survive a goalmouth scramble as Guimaraes threatened with a header.

Southampton struggled as they sought to fashion an equaliser but went close when Valentino Livramento's wicked cross was touched over the bar by Martin Dubravka.

The Newcastle keeper pulled off another brilliant save to deny Mohammed Salisu late on, and with the fourth official indicating there would be at least six minutes of time added on, the momentum swung back towards the home side.

Adams had a shot smothered by last-ditch Newcastle defending and Armstrong had a powerful strike from distance touched over by Dubravka as Newcastle preserved their unbeaten league run in 2022.

Eddie Howe's side moved on to 31 points, 10 ahead of 18th-placed Burnley. Southampton are 10th on 35 points.

Leeds United remain firmly embroiled in a Premier League relegation battle after they slipped to a 3-0 defeat by Aston Villa in American coach Jesse Marsch's first home game in charge.

Sitting two points above the drop zone coming into the match, Leeds lacked quality in forward areas as they looked for a first win in eight games, with the hosts falling behind in the 22nd minute when Philippe Coutinho's strike crept in.

The Elland Road crowd grew frustrated as their team misplacing pass after pass, allowing Villa to add a second through full back Matty Cash in the 65th minute and end the clash as a contest.

There was still time for Calum Chambers to curl a sublime third for Villa as fans headed for an early exit, with their side two points clear of Burnley in 18th but having played two games more.

Villa's third win in a row lifted them to ninth in the standings.

Wolverhampton Wanderers scored three times in the opening 21 minutes as woeful Watford proved their own worst enemies in a 4-0 home defeat at Molineux.

Raul Jimenez opened the scoring, before Watford midfielder Cucho Hernandez made it 2-0 with an own goal, and Daniel Podence profited from an error by goalkeeper Ben Foster. Ruben Neves scored a late fourth with a sublime chip.

Wolves, who had lost their last three games, remained in eighth place in the table with 43 points from 28 matches, while Watford are second bottom with 19 points. Agencies

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