Gunners hammer Blues

London, May 3

Arsenal kept the Premier League title fight alive by beating a Chelsea team that seems to be in need of life support under Frank Lampard. Arsenal returned to the top of the standings — for a day at least — by dismantling Chelsea 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday to end a four-game winless run that saw their control of the title race slip away.

The Gunners channelled their disappointment over last week’s 4-1 loss to rivals Manchester City into a dominant first-half display, going 3-0 up inside 34 minutes as Chelsea slumped to a sixth straight loss in all competitions under Lampard.

Martin Odegaard scored two nearly identical goals and Gabriel Jesus added the third minutes later. The visitors offered little in response until Chukwunonso Madueke pulled one back in the 65th but never came close to staging a comeback as the hosts saw out the game. “We came out with a different spirit, a different team to last time (against City),” Odegaard said. “It hurt after the (City) game and we used this anger and the disappointment in this game to bounce back.”

The win puts Arsenal two points above Manchester City atop the standings, but given that Pep Guardiola’s team has two games in hand it may not stay there for long.

10-man Real lose

San Sebastian: Second-placed Real Madrid suffered a 2-0 defeat at Real Sociedad after being reduced to 10 men early in the second half in LaLiga on Tuesday, leaving Barcelona on the brink of the title. Runaway leaders Barca, who earlier beat Osasuna 1-0, will have the chance to clinch their 27th LaLiga crown with a win in their next game at city rivals Espanyol on May 14.

Barca moved to 82 points from 33 matches and extended their lead to 14 points over reigning champions Real Madrid. — Agencies