Manchester City’s faltering attempts to retain their title suffered a huge blow yesterday when they lost 1-0 at Burnley, giving Chelsea the chance to open an eight-point lead when they host Southampton today.

Second-placed City have now won only three of their last nine Premier League matches and remain five points behind Chelsea who now have two games in hand.

George Boyd scored the only goal after 61 minutes with a superbly-controlled half-volley from 20 metres that not only dented City’s title hopes but also helped Burnley’s chances of avoiding relegation.

Chelsea have 63 points from 27 games, City have 58 from 29 while Arsenal, who beat West Ham United 3-0 at the Emirates, are a point behind on 57.

At the other end of the table Burnley are still in the bottom three but have moved on to 25 points, one behind 17th-placed Sunderland who lost 4-0 at home to Aston Villa.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche told Sky Sports: “Our will and desire to be in the Premier League is all on show but we won’t get too carried away.

“We know there’s a long way to go – the players are grounded. We haven’t been broken from defeat –– we’ve been dented a few times – but this win reinforces our confidence and belief.”

City manager Manuel Pellegrini said things are not right with his team because they are not winning.

“It was a normal performance and I don’t think we played very badly,” he added. “We created more chances, they had one shot on target and got a beautiful goal.

“We didn’t create enough to score but we were very unlucky. Of course we’re doing something wrong as we are not winning the games we normally do.

“I don’t want to focus on two or three players. We are a team, a squad of 22 players, and I’m sure they’re giving the most they can. It’s important to continue trusting what they are doing.”

Villa revival

While City have gone off the boil, Villa have come to life and their revival under new manager Tim Sherwood produced the day’s other eye-catching performance.

The 4-0 romp boosted Villa’s hopes of avoiding the drop while turning up the heat on Sunderland boss Gus Poyet.

The visitors scored all four goals before half-time with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke netting twice to give Sherwood bragging rights over his former Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Poyet.

The Sunderland boss was grim-faced at the final whistle, staring out at a half-deserted stadium following the exits of thousands of home fans long before the end.

“We are delighted to get four goals in one game and for the strikers who have come under a little bit of criticism this year,” said Sherwood who took over last month following the sacking of Paul Lambert.

“We had the game won at halftime so it was important we didn’t give it away. There’s still a long way to go but we’re dragging people in with us.”

Arsenal tightened their grip on a top-four spot, continuing an impressive run of form with goals from Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini sinking West Ham.

Leicester City remained bottom after a 0-0 draw against Hull City, who had Tom Huddlestone sent off in the second half, while Queens Park Rangers are four points from safety after a dismal 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace.

The only bright spot for QPR, who have now lost 13 of their 14 away games, was a contender for goal of the season from Matt Phillips who scored with a 45-metre shot late in the game.

In the day’s other match West Bromwich Albion beat Stoke City 1-0 at The Hawthorns.

Results and standings

Premier League

Arsenal 3
Giroud 45; Ramsey 81; Flamini 84;
West Ham 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 60,000.

Burnley 1
Boyd 61;
Man. City 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 21,216.

C. Palace 3
Zaha 21; McArthur 40; Ward 42;
QPR 1
Phillips 83;

HT: 3-0. Att: 24,886

Leicester 0
Hull 0

HT: 0-0. Att: 31,456.
Red card: Huddlestone (H) 72.

Sunderland 0
Aston Villa 4
Benteke 16, 44; Agbonlahor 18, 37;

HT: 0-4. Att: 45,746.

West Brom 1
Ideye 19;
Stoke City 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 24,323.

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Chelsea	27	19	6	2	57	22	63
Man. City	29	17	7	5	59	28	58
Arsenal	29	17	6	6	56	30	57
Man. United	28	15	8	5	47	26	53
Liverpool	28	15	6	7	42	30	51
Tottenham	28	15	5	8	46	39	50
S’thampton	28	15	4	9	39	20	49
Stoke City	29	12	6	11	33	35	42
Swansea	28	11	7	10	33	37	40
West Ham	29	10	9	10	39	37	39
Newcastle	28	9	8	11	32	43	35
C. Palace	29	8	9	12	34	40	33
West Brom	29	8	9	12	27	36	33
Everton	28	6	10	12	33	41	28
Hull City	29	6	10	13	26	37	28
Aston Villa	29	7	7	15	19	38	28
Sunderland	29	4	14	11	23	43	26
Burnley	29	5	10	14	26	47	25
QPR	29	6	4	19	30	52	22
Leicester	28	4	7	17	24	44	19

Playing today
Chelsea vs Southampton - 14.30
Everton vs Newcastle -17.00
Man. United vs Tottenham - 17.00

Tomorrow
Swansea vs Liverpool - 21.00

Next fixtures

Saturday: 13.45 Man. City vs West Brom. 16.00 Aston Villa vs Swansea; Newcastle vs Arsenal; Southampton vs Burnley; Stoke vs C. Palace; Tottenham vs Leicester. 18.30 West Ham vs Sunderland.

Sunday: 14.30 Liverpool vs Man. United. 17.00 Hull vs Chelsea; QPR vs Everton.

Premier League top scorers
17 goals: Costa (Chelsea), Aguero (Man. City).
16 goals: Kane (Tottenham).
15 goals: Austin (QPR).
13 goals: Sanchez (Arsenal).
12 goals: Berahino (West Brom).
11 goals: Cisse (Newcastle), Giroud (Arsenal).

■ Bournemouth, Watford and Middlesbrough all scored convincing wins at the top of the tightest league in Europe yesterday but Derby County faltered in the English Championship title race by drawing at fellow promotion hopefuls Norwich City. Bournemouth, set on their way by a first-half hat-trick from Brett Pittman, thumped bottom-of-the-table Blackpool 4-0, Watford beat Reading 4-1 and Middlesbrough defeated Ipswich Town 4-1 to take all three teams to 69 points at the top of the second tier. Bournemouth lead with a goal difference of plus-39 while Watford are second, having scored more goals than M’Boro.

The Championship
Birmingham 1 - Huddersfield 1
Bolton 2 - Millwall 0
Bournemouth 4 - Blackpool 0
Brentford 1 - Cardiff 2
Brighton 1 - Wolves 1
Charlton 1 - Blackburn 3
Leeds 0 - Nottm Forest 0
M’boro 4 - Ipswich 1
Norwich 1 - Derby 1
Rotherham 1 - Wigan 2
Sheffield Wed. 1 - Fulham 1
Watford 4 - Reading 1

Standings: Bournemouth, Watford, Middlesbrough 69; Derby County 67; Norwich 66; Brentford 62; Ipswich 61; Wolves 59; Nottm Forest, Blackburn Roves 54; Sheffield Wed. 50; Charlton, Leeds United 48; Cardiff, Birmingham 47; Bolton Wanderers, Reading 44; Huddersfield 43; Brighton 41; Fulham, Rotherham 40; Wigan Athletic 34; Millwall 31; Blackpool 22.

League One
Bristol City 0 - Gillingham 0
Chesterfield 2 - Coventry 3
Colchester 2 - Crawley 3
Doncaster 0 - Peterborough 2
Fleetwood 1 - Rochdale 0
Leyton Orient 3 - Yeovil 0
Notts County 1 - Bradford  1
Oldham 1 - Barnsley 3
Port Vale 0 - Swindon  1
Preston 5 - Crewe 1
Scunthorpe 1 - Sheffield Utd 1
Walsall 1 - MK Dons 1

Standings: Bristol City 80; Preston NE 69; Swindon Town 67; MK Dons 63; Sheffield United 54; Barnsley, Peterborough 53; Fleetwood 51; Bradford, Doncaster 50; Chesterfield, Port Vale 48; Rochdale, Gillingham 47; Oldham 46; Walsall 45; Scunthorpe 43; Notts County, Crewe Alexandra 42; Coventry 40; Leyton Orient 38; Crawley 37; Colchester 34; Yeovil Town 33.

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

Standings: Burton Albion 70; Wyco-mbe Wanderers 67; Shrewsbury 65; Southend 62; Bury 61; Luton Town 58; Plymouth, Stevenage 56; Newport County 54; Northampton 53; Exeter 50; AFC Wimbledon 49; Portsmouth, Morecambe 48; Accrington 44; Cambridge, Oxford, Dagenham 43; Mansfield 42; York, Carlisle 37; Cheltenham 36; Tranmere 34; Hartlepool 30.