Wayne Rooney's Man Utd unable to halt Chelsea's title charge

Saturday 18 Apr 2015
Eden Hazard celebrates the game's only goal

Chelsea took a giant step towards their first league title in five years with a 1-0 home victory against Manchester United.

On a day where The FA Cup dominated, there was a near-full league programme of action on a busy Saturday afternoon.

At Stamford Bridge Eden Hazard's first-half goal was enough to edge Chelsea ten points clear of Arsenal in the title race.

The result means Jose Mourinho's men now know they will be crowned champions should they win their next two games – away at Arsenal and then at Leicester.

They had to work for their win though as the visitors pushed throughout and went close on several occasions.

John-Stones-Lukas-Jutkiewicz

John Stones helped Everton keep a clean sheet at home to Burnley

An injury crisis at Manchester United meant Wayne Rooney was moved back into the midfield.

Meanwhile Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Tyler Blackett also featured for the Red Devils and Gary Cahill was in action for the Blues.

It could have been a different story for the England captain Rooney had he capitalised on a glorious chance inside the opening five minutes.

Three Lions left-back Shaw – making his first appearance since the FA Cup quarter-final defeat against Arsenal on 9 March – got in behind the Chelsea back four and squared to Rooney.

From the edge of the box the England skipper fired a left-foot shot into the post behind the goal, fooling many inside the ground – including several United players – into thinking they were ahead.

The visitors dominated much of the game, but in the end the first-half strike was enough to give Mourinho's men the points.

Ross Barkley sees his penalty saved by Tom Heaton

At Goodison Park John Stones, Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Ross Barkley all featured as Everton beat a Burnley side containing Danny Ings by a single goal.

Kevin Mirallas got it after 29 minutes after good work on the wing from Seamus Coleman.

England midfielder Barkley will be relieved his earlier penalty miss went unpunished, after his shot was well saved by Tom Heaton.

The narrow win consolidated Everton’s mid-table position and sunk Burnley to the foot of the table after Leicester 2-0 home win against Swansea.

At Selhurst Park, a West Bromwich Albion side containing Saido Berahino ended their three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace.

Meanwhile, in the Potteries Stoke City came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1.

Ryan Bertrand, Nathanial Clyne and James Ward-Prowse all featured for the Saints.

But they could not prevent goals from Mame Biram Diouf and Charlie Adam grabbing a victory for Stoke, after Morgan Schneiderlin had given them an early lead.

In the Championship England Under-21 midfielder Alex Pritchard scored as Brentford were held to a 2-2 home draw against Bolton.

Tom Ince and Jesse Lingard were both on the scoresheet in an eight-goal thriller in West Yorkshire, where Hudddersfield and Derby County played out an enthralling 4-4 draw.

By Jamie Reid Senior Writer At Stamford Bridge