It was a day to remember in the Premier League for Didier Drogba and Nikica Jelavić as Drogba’s 100th goal in the Premier League helped Chelsea beat Stoke 1-0, while Jelavic’s goal gave Everton the win over Spurs.
Chelsea struggled all day against 10-man Stoke, who played a man short for 65 minutes after icardo Fuller was given a straight red for a stamp on Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
It took Chelsea until the 68th minute to break down Stoke and it was Drogba who was the scorer, running on to Juan Mata’s pass, where he rounded Stoke City FC goalkeeper Asmir Begović for the only goal of the game.
Chelsea, who play Napoli on Wednesday in the Champions League are fifth, four points behind third-placed Tottenham who are in a free fall at the moment.
Since Harry Redknapp was named as the England manager in waiting, Spurs have been terrible and have now lost their last three league games in a row. In three weeks Spurs have gone from title contenders to barely holding onto a Champions League spot.
Martin O’Neill continues to weave his magic at Sunderland, as they sent a poor Liverpool side to their third consecutive loss. Sunderland are now up to 8th in the league, only two points behind 7th place Liverpool.
There were a couple of huge games at the bottom of the table where Bolton beat QPR 2-1 and Blackburn beat Wolves 2-0. The wins by Wanderers and Rovers moved them both out of the relegation zone.
How is replacing Steve Warnock with Mark Hughes working out for QPR boss Tony Fernandes now? Rangers have to play most of the sides in the top seven of the table yet, and the odds on them avoiding relegation are shrinking by the day.
Elsewhere Aston Villa got a late goal from Andreas Weimann to beat overcame Fulham and ease the pressure on Villa boss Alex McLeish.
