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Regular-article-logo Tuesday, 07 May 2024

Rivals smell chance after Chelsea loss

Manchester United and Wolverhampton are only two points behind the London side with six games remaining

Agencies London Published 03.07.20, 04:59 AM
West Ham's Tomas Soucek puts his hand on Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger's head after the end of their EPL match on Wednesday

West Ham's Tomas Soucek puts his hand on Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger's head after the end of their EPL match on Wednesday AP

With Leicester and Chelsea both losing, the race for European spots is heating up in the Premier League.

Leicester once looked certain of returning to the Champions League, but are now winless in four games after a 1-2 loss to Everton on Wednesday. Only Chelsea’s 2-3 loss at West Ham kept Leicester in third place — ahead of Frank Lampard’s side by one point.

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Manchester United and Wolverhampton are only two points behind Chelsea with six games remaining.

Even north London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham will have renewed — if fainter — hopes of returning to Europe’s elite competition.

West Ham turned around a night of frustration against Chelsea to seal a victory that moved the side three points clear of the relegation zone.

Tomas Soucek was denied an opener for offside after a lengthy VAR review. But his goal from another corner did stand in first-half stoppage time to cancel out a penalty converted by Willian after Christian Pulisic was tripped.

Michail Antonio put the hosts in front at the start of the second half and Willian looked like recovering a point for Chelsea when he netted for a second time in the 72nd minute.

But Andriy Yarmolenko completed a counterattack to end a run of three successive losses since before the season was suspended.

It ended Chelsea’s three-match winning run in the league. “We had an opportunity to move third,” said Chelsea manager Frank Lampard. “If there’s moments when you switch off you are going to encourage teams on. It’s been there. I’m very aware of it. ”

Bournemouth missed a chance to climb out of the relegation zone after a 1-4 loss to Newcastle extended the winless run to seven games.

A club-record 19th loss in a top-division season was inflicted by goals from Dwight Gayle and Sean Longstaff in the first half and substitutes Miguel Almiron and Valentino Lazaro after the break.

Bournemouth remain a point from safety in next-to-last place.

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