LONDON - Chelsea’s grip on the Premier League title race tightened Monday as it beat Bournemouth 3-0 for a club record 12th successive league win that took it nine points clear at the top.
Approaching the halfway point of the season Chelsea has 46 points to the 37 of Liverpool, which hosts Stoke City Tuesday, and Arsenal, which needed a late Olivier Giroud goal to beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0.
Manchester City is on 36 points while Manchester United closed in on the leading pack, moving alongside Tottenham Hotspur on 33 points after a 3-1 home win over Sunderland.
With Diego Costa suspended Chelsea boss Antonio Conte opted to play without a recognized striker, with Eden Hazard, Pedro and Willian attacking from midfield.
It proved an astute approach as Pedro showed a forward’s nose for goal with a sumptuous chip to put Chelsea ahead after 24 minutes.
Hazard made it 2-0 with a penalty at the start of the second half after the in-form midfielder had been tripped and a deflected Pedro shot in stoppage time completed a great day for the Londoners.
Chelsea’s 12th victory took the winning run past the 11 it managed in 2009 and left it within two of the top-flight record set by Arsenal in 2002.
The current Arsenal side unsurprisingly made all the running at home against West Brom but lacked spark for long spells.
Alexis Sanchez hit the post and West Brom’s defenders made a series of desperate interventions until its resistance was broken by Giroud’s header four minutes from time.
Manchester United was in command all day against Sunderland as former boss David Moyes returned to Old Trafford but the game remained tense until the latter stages as the host missed a series of chances.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up Daley Blind to fire in the opener in the 39th minute but inspired goalkeeping by Jordan Pickford prevented further damage until Ibrahimovic slotted the second in the last 10 minutes after a neat pass from the impressive Paul Pogba.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan completed a fifth straight win for United when he cleverly flicked in the third before Fabio Borini grabbed a last-minute consolation for Sunderland.
Champion Leicester continued to struggle as it was beaten 2-0 at home by Everton and it was another uncomfortable day for Bob Bradley as his Swansea side was crushed 4-1 at home by West Ham United.
Burnley edged further away from the danger zone with a 1-0 win over fellow-strugglers Middlesbrough and Sam Allardyce’s first match as Crystal Palace manager ended in a 1-1 draw at Watford.
