Soccer

Chelsea the big losers in top four race after Saints shock

Everton, Spurs and Arsenal win as Southampton claim another high-profile scalp at St Mary’s

Jay Rodriguez of Southampton shoots past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech at St Mary's Stadium. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Jay Rodriguez of Southampton shoots past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech at St Mary's Stadium. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Sat Mar 30 2013 - 17:35

Rafael Benitez saw his hopes of steering Chelsea back into the Champions League suffer a serious blow as Southampton claimed another prize Premier League scalp.

Rickie Lambert’s 35th-minute free-kick proved enough to seal a 2-1 win at St Mary’s after an early opener from Jay Rodriguez had been cancelled out by a header from John Terry.

Chelsea’s shock loss allowed Tottenham to leapfrog into third place with a 2-1 win at Swansea, while Arsenal narrowed the gap behind them to just two points after crushing Reading 4-1.

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In the evening kick-off, Everton kept their chase alive with a 1-0 home win over Stoke City, courtesy of a stunning goal from Kevin Mirallas.

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Their quest to play among Europe’s elite for only the second time remains a possibility and the first half of next month is crucial to their hopes as they face Spurs and, more importantly, Arsenal - the team who stand between them and the top four.

Stoke, however, are looking over their shoulders with increasing anxiety as one win in 12 league matches has brought the bottom of the table into closer focus than manager Tony Pulis would have expected after finishing 2012 unbeaten in 10 games.

Former Chelsea boss Andre Vilas Boas watched another superb display by Gareth Bale inspire Spurs to a valuable win in Wales.

Bale set up Jan Vertonghen for his seventh minute opener then flicked home a superb 21st-minute effort to increase his side’s lead.

Michu had given Swansea hope with a 71st-minute header.

Nigel Adkins’s debut as Reading boss turned out to be one to forget as his side were sunk by the resurgent Gunners and dropped to the bottom of the table on goal difference.

Gervinho opened the scoring after 11 minutes and Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud increased the Gunners’ lead before Hal Robson Kanu gave the visitors a glimmer of hope in the 68th minute. But Arsene Wenger’s men sealed their win in the 77th minute when Adrian Mariappa fouled Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the box and Mikel Arteta stroked home the resulting penalty.

Manchester City kept up their increasingly futile chase of city rivals United with a 4-0 cruise over Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium.

Alex Ferguson’s men had temporarily gone 18 points clear at the top after Titus Bramble’s 27th-minute own goal gave United a 1-0 win over sinking Sunderland in the lunchtime kick-off at the Stadium of Light.

City responded by doing their bit with Carlos Tevez and David Villa giving Roberto Mancini’s men the first-half advantage before Vincent Kompany and an own goal from James Perch completed their easy win.

Roberto Martinez’s Wigan moved out of the relegation zone thanks to a potentially priceless late strike from Aruna Kone to beat Norwich 1-0 at the DW Stadium.

Wigan had laboured for much of the game but Kone fired his 10th goal of the season with nine minutes left to give his side a huge boost in their battle to avoid the drop.

Andy Carroll scored twice as West Ham eased their own relegation fears with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at Upton Park. Carroll headed a 16th-minute opener and after Gary O’Neil made it 2-0 Carroll added his second after 80 minutes.

Graeme Dorrans pulled one back for Albion from the penalty spot before Youssouf Mulumbu was sent off in injury time for an angry reaction to a refereeing decision.