Leaders
Leicester City belatedly grasped their golden opportunity to pile the
pressure on their Premier League pursuers on Saturday as a late
strike from Leonardo Ulloa sank struggling Norwich City 1-0 at the
King Power Stadium.
With
closest challengers Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal not in action until
Sunday, Leicester had the stage to themselves to forge five points
clear at the summit and made the most of their chance with a victory
they scarcely deserved.
It
stretched Leicester's advantage significantly over the north London
duo although both second-placed Spurs, at home to Swansea City, and
Arsenal, who visit Manchester United, can reduce the deficit to two
points again on Sunday.
Chelsea
also provided a rare reminder of their champions' mettle, fighting
back from a goal down to take an excellent 2-1 win at Southampton,
with an 89th-minute booming header from Branislav Ivanovic earning
the spoils.
Afterwards,
Chelsea's Guus Hiddink, delighted his side had moved into 11th place
under his soothing stewardship, reported that he was in no hurry to
bring captain John Terry back into action after his recent hamstring
injury.
"I
hope that John is close to returning but we have a lot of games
remaining. I don't want to take a big risk on his fitness,"
Hiddink told the BBC.
At
the bottom of the table, Aston Villa's mission looked ever more
impossible, with them still seven points adrift of the pack after a
Marko Arnautovic double in the space of five minutes just after
halftime helped Stoke City to beat them 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.
In
the day's early game, West Ham United surged into fifth place in the
table in what has become their best-ever Premier League campaign in
their final season at Upton Park, holding off a stirring fightback
from Sunderland to win 1-0.
Bournemouth
earned a valuable point in their relegation fight, a goalless draw at
Watford taking them to 29 points in 15th place, five clear of the
drop zone, even though manager Eddie Howe felt they had played well
enough to earn the win
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