Chelsea go top with Stoke win, City thump Saints

Monday, 7 April 2014 00:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Chelsea bounced back from their mini-slump and surged to the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home victory over Stoke City thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah, Frank Lampard and Willian at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

A 32nd minute strike by Salah, making his first start since joining Chelsea in January, and second-half efforts from Lampard, whose initial penalty was saved by Asmir Begovic, and Brazilian Willian saw the Blues move on to 72 points. They are one point ahead of Liverpool, who can return to the summit by avoiding defeat at West Ham United on Sunday, and two ahead of Manchester City, who beat Southampton 4-1 in Saturday’s early match and have two games in hand on the leaders. Manchester United moved above Tottenham Hotspur into sixth place with a 4-0 win at Newcastle United ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League return at Bayern Munich, while Fulham moved off the bottom of the table with a 2-1 victory at Aston Villa. Chelsea’s win brought some cheer back to west London after a tough seven days which saw Jose Mourinho’s side lose 1-0 at Crystal Palace last weekend and 3-1 at Paris St. Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.

Atletico stay on course for surprise La Liga title

REUTERS: Atletico Madrid remained firmly on course for a surprise La Liga title triumph when Raul Garcia’s header secured a 1-0 win for the leaders at home to seventh-placed Villarreal on Saturday. Lionel Messi scored twice for Barcelona in a laboured 3-1 home victory over bottom side Real Betis as the champions stayed hard on Atletico’s heels, a point behind with six matches left including a clash between the sides at the Nou Camp on the final day of the season. Atletico have 79 points from 32 matches, three more than their tally from last season when they finished third. Barca have 78 and Real Madrid are five points behind in third ahead of their game at sixth-placed Real Sociedad later on Saturday. Atletico were missing top scorer Diego Costa and playmaker Arda Turan through injury but dispatched Villarreal with an efficient performance in front of their boisterous fans enjoying the club’s best campaign since they last won Spain’s domestic league in 1996. Garcia nodded in a Koke corner in the 14th minute at a packed Calderon and the home side comfortably soaked up sustained Villarreal pressure in the second half. Argentine coach Diego Simeone has transformed Atletico into genuine contenders in Spain and Europe since taking over at the end of 2011 despite the club commanding about a fifth of the resources of wealthier rivals Barca and Real, the world’s richest teams by income. Atletico and Barca are locked at 1-1 in their Champions League quarter-final after Tuesday’s first leg at the Nou Camp and play the return in Madrid on Wednesday. “I am running out of words to continue congratulating the players for their effort and commitment,” Simeone told a news conference. “Now we have to focus on the Champions League, it’s important for the club,” added the former Argentina captain. “Hopefully we can recover well in these next four days.” Barca were well short of their best against a Betis side who showed impressive fight despite being eight points adrift at the bottom and having little chance of avoiding relegation.

Bayern slump to first league loss in 18 months

REUTERS: Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich suffered their first league defeat in 18 months when they slumped to a 1-0 loss at Augsburg on Saturday as Sascha Moelder’s first-half strike ended their record 53-game unbeaten league run.

The Bavarians, who clinched this season’s title in record time with seven games left, had not lost in the Bundesliga since a 2-1 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen in October 2012. With Bayern coach Pep Guardiola fielding a second-string team and resting key players ahead of next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Manchester United, the champions had trouble finding their rhythm. “We tried everything until the end,” Guardiola told reporters. “But we have to accept that in football you cannot always expect to win. Now we have to prepare quickly for our big game against Manchester.” The Spaniard left Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and captain Philipp Lahm back in Munich and fielded teenagers Mitchell Weiser, Ylli Salahi and Pierre Hojbjerg. “We want to win every game and we wanted to do it today as well but it did not work,” Bayern midfielder Toni Kroos said. “But we still do not want to give away the games.”