Chelsea Stay in Touch with Arsenal & City

Chelsea inflicted a knockout blow on Manchester United's hopes of making a successful defence of the Barclays Premier League and kept their title bid on track with a comprehensive 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho's side moved two points behind leaders Arsenal after Samuel Eto'o scored a hat-trick - his fourth, fifth and sixth Premier League goals of the season - in a win that keeps United 14 points adrift of the summit.
Perhaps more crucial for David Moyes and United, whose reply came from substitute Javier Hernandez, is the deficit to the Champions League qualification places. Seventh-placed United sit six points behind fourth-placed Liverpool and fifth-placed Tottenham with 16 games remaining after seeing their seven-match unbeaten away run end. A miserable afternoon was compounded for Moyes and United when captain Nemanja Vidic was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Eden Hazard in stoppage time. Rafael was fortunate not to follow his skipper in being sent off for a two-footed lunge on Gary Cahill.