Man City win 7-0, Chelsea beaten

Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to drop Joe
Hart didn’t hurt Manchester City as they
hammered Norwich 7-0 at the Etihad
Stadium.
Pellegrini had opted to hand the
goalkeeping duties to Costel Pantilimon
following Hart’s error against Chelsea last
weekend, but the Romanian had had little
to do as a Bradley Johnson own goal and
strikes from David Silva, Matija Nastasic
and Alvaro Negredo put the hosts four
goals to the good at half-time.
Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Edin
Dzeko completed the rout after the break
to increase the pressure on Canaries boss
Chris Hughton.
Manchester United also enjoyed a
comfortable win as they secured a 3-1
triumph over Fulham at Craven Cottage
which did little to boost Martin Jol’s long-
term job prospects.
United led 3-0 inside 23 minutes as
Antonio Valencia, Robin van Persie and
Wayne Rooney all got on the scoresheet
for the defending Barclays Premier
League champions, before Alex
Kacaniklic got a consolation for the hosts.
Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy dented
Chelsea’s title charge as Newcastle
erased the memories of their derby defeat
at Sunderland with a morale-boosting
2-0 victory.
Gouffran’s 68th-minute diving header and
Remy’s late strike, his sixth goal of the
season, settled a game which blossomed
from modest beginnings into an end-to-
end encounter.
Indeed, had it not been for keeper Petr
Cech, who had earlier made second-half
saves from Moussa Sissoko and
Gouffran, the Magpies might have won by
more.
Asmir Begovic became the fifth goalkeeper
to score in the Barclays Premier League
with a remarkable long-range goal, but it
was not enough to give Stoke victory in
the 1-1 draw at home to Southampton.
The wind got hold of the Bosnian’s long
kick downfield and it was allowed to
bounce by the Southampton defenders
and fly over Saints’ goalkeeper Artur
Boruc.
But Begovic was beaten by Jay Rodriguez
four minutes before the break to make it
1-1, with Saints also having a late
penalty appeal for handball against Ryan
Shawcross turned away.
Hull boss Steve Bruce enjoyed a win
against his former employers as they beat
nine-man Sunderland 1-0 at the KC
Stadium.
An own goal from Carlos Cuellar was the
difference between the teams after the
defender headed into his own net under
pressure from Yannick Sagbo.