A round-up of Saturday's matches in the English Premier League.
Manchester United were held 1-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and missed out on taking top spot in the English Premier League.
Holders Chelsea eased into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 4-1 home victory over Championship (second division) side Cardiff City on Saturday while Portsmouth won by the same score at local rivals Southampton. After a season of shocks, the upsets dried up in the fifth round as Birmingham City came from behind to win 2-1 at Championship side Derby County with a last-minute goal by Liam Ridgewell while Manchester City and Stoke City drew 1-1.
Leaders Chelsea hit seven goals in the top-flight for the first time in 50 years when they hammered Sunderland 7-2 on Saturday to lay down an ominous marker for the second half of the Premier League title race.
Manchester United, notoriously slow starters in the race for the English title, cannot afford another stumble out of the blocks when they make the short trip to Wigan Athletic Saturday. For the last two seasons they have won only one of their opening four league matches -- and still ended up winning the Premier League.
Wayne Rooney scored a two-penalty hat-trick as Manchester United won 4-1 at Portsmouth on Saturday to trim Chelsea's Premier League lead to two points.
Arsenal's new manager Unai Emery faces a baptism of fire after the Gunners were handed an opening day fixture at home to Premier League champions Manchester City.
Arsenal romped to a 4-1 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to move into second place in the English Premier League while Manchester City's hopes of threatening the top four were hit by a fifth consecutive draw. City drew 3-3 with Burnley after having battled back from a two-goal deficit to lead with three minutes remaining.
Chelsea opened up a six-point lead at the top of the Premier League despite being held to a 1-1 draw against top-four hopefuls Southampton in an absorbing game at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
'If you look at the points we've lost at home -- all the matches where we draw -- you're thinking about 10 or 12 and, with these points we wouldn't just be speaking about the top four, we'd be speaking about the top two or the top one'
Manager Juergen Klopp's leadership is laying the foundations for "something special" at Liverpool, forward Giorginio Wijnaldum has said. Liverpool have started the new Premier League campaign with 10 points from a possible 15 after a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Friday. The Merseyside club, who won at Arsenal and also beat champions Leicester City 4-1, were held to a 1-1 draw by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane following their 2-0 defeat by promoted Burnley last month.
Winter returned to Anfield on Friday but while the temperature dropped, the standards of Juergen Klopp's side certainly did not as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah both struck twice in a 5-0 thrashing of relegated Huddersfield Town.
Tottenham Hotspur's bid to break up the Premier League's big-four cartel suffered a hefty setback on Saturday when they lost 1-0 at home to Stoke City courtesy of an 86th-minute goal by Glenn Whelan.
Five talking points from the Premier League weekend:
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Tottenham moved up to seventh place with 36 points from 22 games
Three goals in seven minutes gave Chelsea a 3-0 Premier League home win over Burnley on Saturday while champions Manchester United were thankful for an Abou Diaby own goal as they came from 1-0 down to beat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford.
Champions Manchester United shook off their midweek defeat at Burnley with an emphatic 5-0 away win at Wigan Athletic in the Premier League on Saturday.
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has been banned for three matches for throwing a coin towards Burnley supporters during his club's shock League Cup defeat at Stamford Bridge last week. The 30-year-old Ivory Coast international will serve the ban with immediate effect, ruling him out of the Premier League matches against Newcastle United, Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers.
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba will discover Tuesday whether he is to be punished for throwing a coin at Burnley fans after the FA said he had admitted a charge of violent conduct.
The three favourites for the English League Cup were kept apart when the draw for the quarter-finals was made on Saturday. Manchester United will host Blackburn Rovers in the only all Premier League clash while Arsenal, who will keep faith with their policy of fielding the reserves in the competition, will travel to Championship (second division) Burnley who beat Chelsea on penalties on Wednesday.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said elite-level coaches cannot give guarantees about their touchline behaviour due to the pressure that comes with being involved in the Premier League but he urged his counterparts to set higher standards.
Title-chasing Tottenham Hotspur made hay in the sunshine as Son Heung-min scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Watford that closed the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to four points in Saturday's early kickoff.
Hull City were relegated and Newcastle United survived the drop on a dramatic final day of the Premier League season on Sunday when West Ham United announced that manager Sam Allardyce's contract was not being renewed at Upton Park.
Chelsea made light of striker Diego Costa's absence to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points with a 3-0 win at champions Leicester City.
Wenger has until Friday to respond to the charge.
English Premier League leaders Liverpool will need to maintain their excellent recent record against Everton in Sunday's Merseyside derby if they are to hold their advantage over second-placed Manchester City.
Hull City and Swansea City earned valuable victories in their battle for Premier League survival but Middlesbrough slid further towards the drop after a 4-0 hammering at Bournemouth.
Rediff.com brings a preview of the main matches coming up this weekend in the English Premier League.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has been charged with violent conduct by the Football Association after he threw a coin towards Burnley fans during the League Cup, fourth-round tie at Stamford Bridge Wednesday.
It took him 15 Tests over four tours but James Anderson, England's most prolific Test wicket-taker, finally claimed his first five-wicket haul on Australian soil in the second Ashes Test on Tuesday.
Diego Costa has accused Chelsea of treating him like a "criminal" in a forthright newspaper interview which will deepen the breach with the Premier League club.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
The points table of the English Premier League 2014-15 season.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action:
England striker Daniel Sturridge celebrated his return after a five-month injury layoff when he came off the bench to score as Liverpool beat West Ham United 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.
His 6-0, 6-2 thrashing of Belgium's David Goffin in the O2 Arena followed Monday's tense three-set win over Dominic Thiem when he became the first Bulgarian to take part in the elite tournament for the top eight players in its 48-year history.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
The first few months of this season have been disappointing, as Spurs have won only three of their opening 12 Premier League games and are in 14th spot. They were also thrashed 7-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and knocked out of the League Cup by fourth-tier Colchester United.
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