Chelsea and Manchester City tightened their stranglehold on the Premier League title race yesterday, recording victories over struggling clubs to stretch further clear of their increasingly forlorn pursuers.

Normal service was resumed at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea maintained their three-point lead over City at the top with goals from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa sinking 10-man Hull City 2-0.

Champions City maintained their ever more convincing chase, sealing their fifth successive league win at bottom club Leicester City 1-0 courtesy of a 40th-minute goal from the evergreen Frank Lampard.

As Arsenal completed a turbulent week with doubles from Olivier Giroud and birthday boy Santi Cazorla inspiring a 4-1 rout of Newcastle, fourth-placed West Ham’s progress was checked by a 1-1 draw at Sunderland and Southampton lost 1-0 to an Ashley Barnes goal at Burnley.

It all left the chasing pack, headed by Manchester United and West Ham, 11 points behind Chelsea and eight adrift of the champions and put pressure on Louis van Gaal’s third-placed United before their match against Liverpool today.

Chelsea, smarting about their first defeat of the season at Newcastle last weekend, responded with a performance which made their ‘Special One’ manager Jose Mourinho sniff: “It was not a special performance. Just a good enough performance.”

Much more had been expected when Hazard headed home Oscar’s seventh minute cross but Chelsea were initially sloppy and Steve Bruce ended up unhappy that Gary Cahill, already on a yellow card, was not sent off after what the Hull manager felt was a blatant dive.

After Tom Huddlestone was dismissed for a nasty second-half stamp on Filipe Luis, Costa scored his 12th league goal of the season from a Hazard assist after 68 minutes.

Already without Sergio Aguero, Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini had to blood 18-year-old Jose Pozo, the boy acclaimed as the ‘Mini Messi’, after Edin Dzeko was injured in the warm-up.

Lampard strikes

Yet it was still left to the remarkable Lampard to make the breakthrough with a typical, beautifully-timed run into the box to sidefoot home after fine work from Samir Nasri.

The 36-year-old’s latest crucial intervention will have raised eyebrows among his old Chelsea disciples as Lampard’s 175th goal took him to fourth equal on the all-time list of Premier League scorers, an astonishing achievement for a midfielder.

Arsenal, criticised mercilessly after losing at Stoke, looked buoyant after their midweek Champions League trouncing of Galatasaray, staying sixth with two lovely goals from Giroud after 15 and 58 minutes, and a couple from Cazorla after 54 and 88.

The Spaniard’s late ‘Panenka’ penalty was a cheeky way to mark his 30th birthday and Ayoze Perez’s 63rd minute consolation for Newcastle could hardly mask Arsenal’s supremacy at an Emirates Stadium in festive mood.

The home crowd, who have been growing restless with their manager, now serenaded him with “There’s only one Arsene Wenger” as they celebrated moving to within two points of Manchester United and West Ham.

The Hammers’ boss Sam Allardyce, though, was hardly full of Christmas cheer after Jordi Gomez put Sunderland ahead with a 22nd-minute penalty.

Adamant that Adam Johnson had dived to earn the spotkick, Allardyce said: “It was not a penalty. It was given by the assistant referee and he got it horribly wrong.”

Even though Stewart Downing equalised seven minutes later, the Hammers rued a late miss from Andy Carroll.

After a tremendous start to the season, Southampton’s woes continued with a fourth consecutive defeat. They paid the price after Tom Heaton saved Dusan Tadic’s penalty on the hour and Burnley jumped out of the bottom three with Barnes’s winner.

Results and standings

Premier League

Arsenal 4
Giroud 15, 58; Cazorla 54, 88 pen;
Newcastle 1
Perez 63;

HT: 1-0. Att: 59,949.

Burnley 1
Barnes 73;
Southampton 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 17,287.
Missed penalty: Tadic (S) 60.

Chelsea 2
Hazard 7; Costa 68;
Hull City 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 41,626.
Red card: Huddlestone (HC) 60.

C. Palace 1
McArthur 11;
Stoke City 1
Crouch 13;

HT: 1-1. Att: 23,038.

Leicester 0
Man. City 1
Lampard 40;

HT: 0-1. Att: 31,643.

Sunderland 1
Gomez 22 pen;
West Ham 1
Downing 29;

HT: 1-1. Att: 41,694.

West Brom 1
Gardner 72;
Aston Villa 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 24,684.
Red card: Richardson (AV) 22.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	16	12	3	1	36	13	39
Man. City	16	11	3	2	33	14	36
Man. United	15	8	4	3	26	17	28
West Ham	16	8	4	4	27	19	28
S’thampton	16	8	2	6	25	13	26
Arsenal	16	7	5	4	28	19	26
Newcastle	16	6	5	5	18	22	23
Swansea	15	6	4	5	20	17	22
Liverpool	15	6	3	6	19	19	21
Tottenham	15	6	3	6	18	21	21
Stoke City	16	5	4	7	18	21	19
Aston Villa	16	5	4	7	10	20	19
Everton	15	4	6	5	24	23	18
West Brom	16	4	5	7	15	20	17
Sunderland	16	2	10	4	14	24	16
C. Palace	16	3	6	7	19	24	15
Burnley	16	3	6	7	11	24	15
QPR	15	4	2	9	16	27	14
Hull City	16	2	7	7	15	23	13
Leicester	16	2	4	10	15	27	10

Playing today
Man. United vs Liverpool - 14.30
Swansea vs Tottenham - 17.00

Tomorrow
Everton vs QPR - 21.00

Next fixtures

Tuesday: League Cup QFs – 20.45 Derby vs Chelsea; Sheffield Utd vs Southampton.
Wednesday: League Cup QFs – 20.45 Bournemouth vs Liverpool; Tottenham vs Newcastle.
Saturday: 13.45 Man. City vs C. Palace. 16.00 Aston Villa vs Man. United; Hull vs Swansea; QPR vs West Brom; Southampton vs Everton; Tottenham vs Burnley; West Ham vs Leicester.
Sunday: 14.30 Newcastle vs Sunderland; 17.00 Liverpool vs Arsenal.
Monday, Dec. 22: 21.00 Stoke vs Chelsea.

Premier League top scorers
14 goals: Aguero (Man. City).
12 goals: Costa (Chelsea).
9 goals: Sanchez (Arsenal).
8 goals: Austin (QPR).
7 goals: Berahino (West Brom), Cisse (Newcastle), Pellè (Southampton), Bony (Swansea), Sakho (West Ham).
6 goals: Hazard (Chelsea), Lukaku (Everton), Ulloa (Leicester), Van Persie (Man. United), Chadli (Tottenham).

The Championship
Birmingham 6 - Reading 1
Bolton 0 - Ipswich 0
Bournemouth 5 - Cardiff 3
Brentford 3 - Blackburn 1
Charlton 2 - Blackpool 2
Leeds 0 - Fulham 1
M’Boro 2 - Derby0
Norwich 5 - Huddersfield 0
Rotherham 0 - Nottm Forest 0
Sheffield Wed. 0 - Wolves 1
Watford 2 - Wigan 1

Standings: Bournemouth, M’Boro 39; Derby, Ipswich 38; Brentford 37; Watford 35; Norwich 33; Blackburn 31; N. Forest, Charlton, Cardiff, Wolves 30; Sheff. Wed. 28; Fulham, Birmingham, Reading 25; Huddersfield 24; Bolton, Leeds, Millwall 23; Rotherham 21; Brighton 18; Wigan 17; Blackpool 13.

League One
Bristol City 1 - Crawley 0
Chesterfield 0 - Bradford 1
Colchester 1 - Rochdale 4
Doncaster 1 - Gillingham 2
Fleetwood 1 - Sheffield Utd 1
Leyton Orient 1 - Peterborough 2
Notts County 0 - Swindon 3
Oldham 0 - Yeovil 4
Port Vale 0 - Coventry 2
Preston 1 - MK Dons1
Scunthorpe 2 - Crewe 1
Walsall 3 - Barnsley 1

Standings: Bristol City 42; Swindon 41; MK Dons, Preston 38; Sheffield Utd 32; Rochdale, N. County, Oldham, Peterborough 30; Bradford 29; Fleetwood, Walsall 26; Chesterfield 25; Coventry 24; Barnsley, Port Vale, Doncaster 23; Gillingham, Scunthorpe, Crawley 22; Yeovil 20; Leyton Orient 19; Colchester 17; Crewe 16.

League Two
Burton 4 - Hartlepool 0
Cambridge 0 - Shrewsbury 0
Dagenham 0 - Tranmere 1
Exeter 2 - Carlisle 0
Mansfield 1 - Cheltenham 1
Morecambe 3 - Luton 0
Newport 2 - Stevenage 0
Northampton 2 - Plymouth 3
Oxford 2 - Bury 1
Portsmouth 2 - Accrington 3
Wycombe 4 - Southend 1
York 2 - Wimbledon 3

Standings: Wycombe 41; Burton Albion 39; Shrewsbury, Luton 37; Plymouth, Newport, Exeter, Southend 34; Bury, Morecambe 30; Accrington 29; Cambridge 28; Wimbledon 27; Portsmouth 26; Stevenage 25; Northampton, Oxford, Cheltenham 24; Mansfield 23; Dagenham 21; York 19; Tranmere, Carlisle 18; Hartlepool 12.