BEVERLY HILLS, February 16, (THEWILL) – With yesterday night’s football on for another week, Thomas Tuchel took the opportunity to shepherd his London-based English Premier League side Chelsea back into the top four of the Premier League table thanks to a 2-0 win over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues had first half goals from French forward Olivier Giroud and, finally, from German striker Timo Werner to thank for the victory. Werner got on the scoresheet for the first time in 14 games, a goalless drought that lasted exactly 1,000 minutes.
Giroud, who came on as an early substitute for the injured Englishman Tammy Abraham, was on hand to score the opener after a Werner cross was diverted into his path by Karl Darlow, in goal for the Magpies. While Werner added to the Chelsea tally about eight minutes later when Mason Mount’s corner found its way to him at the far post.
This latest victory makes it four wins out of five with the other match a draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, January 27th, the first game in charge for the former PSG and Borussia Dortmund boss. That streak has seen Chelsea climb to within four points of second-placed Manchester United, who are only ahead of Leicester on goal difference on the table.
At the very top, Pep Guardiola’s rejigging of the Manchester City template has seen the Citizens zoom out of sight of the chasing pack. With a winning January run, City quickly established an unassailable seven-point cushion at the summit. Even with that lead, the men from the Etihad have one game in hand over all their rivals presently in the top six.
It was a different story for the defending champions.
Jurgen Klopp’s charges turned out to be the weekend’s big losers to the advantage of third-placed Leicester City. Liverpool’s 3-1 loss to the Foxes at the King Power Stadium caused them to plummet to sixth after their third straight league loss.
With David Moyes’ remarkably impressive fifth-placed West Ham getting the better of bottom side Sheffield United with a 3-0 victory, the climb gets steeper for Klopp. It could worsen further because Everton and Aston Villa could both overtake them should they win their pending fixtures.
The loss against West Ham left Sheffield United a distant 14 points from safety. The Chris Wilder side are still in the FA Cup but have not built on impressive performances against top table sides United (2-1 win), City (1-0 tough loss) and 2-1 win against fellow relegation strugglers West Bromwich Albion to salvage their Premiership status.
The other side that took something out of a meeting with second-placed United but are still wallowing in relegation waters is Sam Allardyce’s West Brom. Their one point from the United draw was overall better than a loss but it still leaves them cut far adrift with just 14 games left. Allardyce’s mission to keep them in the division which was bolstered by an early draw against Liverpool appears to have come undone.
Meanwhile Southampton, who celebrated going top of the League in November, are currently the most out-of-form side in the EPL. Ralph Hasenhuttl men may manage to keep their heads above the murky waters of the relegation side but, having lost all of their last five matches in the league, their nose dive from first place to 13th tells the story of the changing complexion at the summit of the top flight this season.
Until City came, blitzed to the top and seized it completely.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
