LONDON: Everton kept alive their hopes of Premier League survival by shocking Chelsea 1-0 on Sunday, as Arsenal maintained their two-point lead over Tottenham in the battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Arsenal were 2-1 winners at West Ham to move back above Spurs, who earlier beat Leicester 3-1 thanks to a Son Heung-Min double.
Everton's huge win at a raucous Goodison Park means Frank Lampard's side are just two points from safety and have a game in hand to come over Leeds and Burnley.
The only goal arrived just a minute into the second half when Richarlison pressured Cesar Azpilicueta into losing possession and the Brazilian forward finished coolly from Demarai Gray's pass.
Mason Mount's shot hit both posts as Chelsea sought a response before man-of-the-match Jordan Pickford sprinted across his line to keep out Azpilicueta's follow-up effort.
The England goalkeeper also denied Antonio Rudiger at point-blank range and kept out Matteo Kovacic in a nervy seven minutes of stoppage time.
Former Chelsea boss Lampard, who took over from the unpopular Rafael Benitez at the end of January, has struggled to revive the fortunes of the Merseyside giants, who last played outside the top flight in the 1953/54 season.
But he was delighted with the passion shown by his players and the supporters.
"The fans are in the middle of this'', he told Sky Sports. "I am pleased the players could see on the way in what it means to the fans.
"They know that and understand it. They got behind us, were nicely aggressive — this place has to be a hard place to come."
Defeat leaves third-placed Chelsea still with work to do to seal their place in the Champions League next season.
The Blues' lead over Tottenham is down to five points, but Thomas Tuchel's men have a comfortable run-in on paper.
GUNNERS ON COURSE
Arsenal's centre-backs got the job done to keep the Gunners on course to end a five-year absence from the Champions League.
Rob Holding's header from Bukayo Saka's corner put the visitors in front at the London Stadium.
West Ham had one eye on the second leg of their Europa League semifinal against Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, but David Moyes named a strong side and was rewarded with an equaliser before half-time from Jarrod Bowen.
The Hammers' strength from set-pieces has been one of the successes of their season.
But they were undone at the back from another corner as this time Gabriel Magalhaes turned in Gabriel Martinelli's cross.
The battle for fourth could come down to a north London derby between Tottenham and Arsenal on May 12.
But Mikel Arteta's men will hope to extend their lead to five points next weekend when they host relegation-threatened Leeds, while Spurs face a daunting trip to title-chasing Liverpool. — AFP
English Premier League results on Sunday:
Everton 1 (Richarlison 46) Chelsea 0
Tottenham 3 (Kane 22, Son 60, 79) Leicester 1 (Iheanacho 90+1)
West Ham 1 (Bowen 45) Arsenal 2 (Holding 38, Gabriel 54)
On Saturday
Aston Villa 2 (Watkins 41, Ings 90+3) Norwich 0
Leeds 0 Manchester City 4 (Rodri 13, Ake 54, Jesus 78, Fernandinho 90+3)
Newcastle 0 Liverpool 1 (Keita 19)
Southampton 1 (Romeu 9) Crystal Palace 2 (Eze 60, Zaha 90+2)
Watford 1 (Tarkowski 8-og) Burnley 2 (Cork 83, Brownhill 86)
Wolves 0 Brighton 3 (MacAllister 42-pen, Trossard 72, Bissouma 86)
English Premier League table after Sunday's matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Man City 34 26 5 3 84 21 83
Liverpool 34 25 7 2 86 22 82
Chelsea 34 19 9 6 68 29 66
Arsenal 34 20 3 11 54 41 63
Tottenham 34 19 4 11 59 39 61
Man Utd 35 15 10 10 54 52 55
West Ham 35 15 7 13 53 46 52
Wolves 34 15 4 15 33 32 49
Brighton 35 10 14 11 34 42 44
Newcastle 35 11 10 14 40 56 43
Leicester 33 11 9 13 48 54 42
Crystal Palace 34 9 14 11 45 42 41
Aston Villa 33 12 4 17 44 46 40
Brentford 34 11 7 16 41 49 40
Southampton 35 9 13 13 41 58 40
Burnley 34 7 13 14 31 46 34
Leeds 34 8 10 16 38 72 34
Everton 33 9 5 19 35 55 32
Watford 34 6 4 24 32 69 22
Norwich 34 5 6 23 22 71 21
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