Chelsea keep five-point lead after 1-1 draw with close rivals City

Chelsea remained five points ahead at the top of the premier league after a 1-1 draw with title rivals Manchester City.

The match marked the return of Chelsea legend Frank Lampard to Stamford Bridge in which he made a late appearance in which this time was unable to alter the score line in favour of his team.

With top scorer Diego Costa ruled out through suspension, Loic Remy was put in the starting line up with Didier Drogba on the bench.

Loic Remy put Chelsea ahead just before the break, but the visitors quickly restored parity before the end of forty five minutes through David Silva.

City were the brighter of the two going into the second half, and Coutois was called into action on several occasions.

The remainder of the contest saw City trying to hard to clinch the winner and reduce the gap with the leaders, but even with the introduction of Frank Lampard they couldn’t break through a steady Chelsea defence.

Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao were on target as Manchester United easily brushed aside a poor Leicester 3-1 in their Barclays Premier League clash at Old Trafford.

Van Persie opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark with a superb strike and the Dutchman, whose future at the club has been placed in doubt following a drop in form, was involved in the build-up to the second that was finished by Falcao.

Wes Morgan contributed to Manchester’s third goals before Marcin Wasilewski nodded in a consolation effort to complete a defeat that left the Foxes at the bottom of the table.

Harry Kane once again was the main man as Tottenham registers a 3-0 victory at West Brom that kept Mauricio Pochettino's side in the hunt for a Champions League place.  Christian Eriksen and Kane scored goals inside the opening 15 minutes and, when Kane added his second from the penalty spot, the result had been placed beyond doubt.

Liverpool kept up the pace for a place in the top four after Raheem Sterling and the returning Daniel Sturridge fired them to a 2-0 triumph over West Ham at Anfield.

Sterling combined with Philippe Coutinho in a fantastic build-up that the England forward finished in style, before Sturridge added the second on his returng after five months out through injury.

The recent progress made by Crystal Palace ground to a halt as Romelu Lukaku's goal earned Everton to a 1-0 victory at Selhurst Park for their first win in nine games in all competitions.

Niko Kranjcar pulled a goal back for QPR but it was not enough to prevent them from slipping to a 3-1 defeat at Stoke.

Two goals from Jonathan Walters gave the Potters a handsome cushion, but Harry Redknapp's side battled back with Kranjcar scoring before Joey Barton hit the underside of the crossbar with a free-kick.

The final half-hour was all QPR as they pushed forward in search of the equaliser, only for Walters to complete his hat-trick in stoppage time.

Sunderland gave their survival hopes a shot in the arm with a 2-0 win against Burnley at the Stadium of Light courtesy of goals from Connor Wickham and Jermain Defoe.

Interim manager Carver had taken just one point from four matches in charge of the Magpies but goals from Cabella, Amoebi and a deflected effort from Gouffran were more than enough to clinch his first victory.

Relegation threated Hull had many opportunities to score throughout the match and even had a goal disallowed for an offside position.  The result means Hull have now gone four games without scoring and will end this weekend in the relegation zone.

Cabella gave Newcastle the lead on 40 minutes through a powerful shot from the edge of the area which gave the keeper no chance.

Sammy Amoebi who was making his return to Newcastle, doubled the score ten minutes later with a long range effort before substitute Yoan Gouffran made it 3-0 with the ball taking a deflection off Hull defender Ahmed Elmohamady.

Newcastle now moved to 10th place with Hulls remaining in the relegation zone in 18th .