Late Willian strike keeps Blues seven clear of City
IT’S as you were at the top of the Premier League after wins for leaders Chelsea and closest rivals Manchester City on Wednesday.
The 1-0 victory over Everton maintained Chelsea’s seven-point lead at the top, but the gap to City looked set to be narrowed to just five until Willian scored for the Blues in the 90th minute at Stamford Bridge. City at the same time were romping to a 4-1 win at Stoke.
Manchester United are back up to third after beating Burnley 3-1 at Old Trafford. The Red Devils leapfrog Southampton who could only draw 0-0 at home to West Ham despite the visitors being down to ten men following keeper Adrian’s red card for handball.
West Brom beat Swansea 2-0 at the Hawthorns while Crystal Palace and Newcastle drew 1-1 at Selhurst Park.
The biggest news of the night came earlier in the evening when Paul Lambert became the latest top-flight manager to lose his job as Aston Villa announced they had parted company with the Scot.
Lambert was relieved of his duties after Villa were beaten 2-0 at Hull on Tuesday night to leave them in the bottom three.
Lambert had been the short-priced favourite to be the next gaffer to go.
Former frontrunner for the QPR manager’s job, Tim Sherwood, was the early 6-4 favourite with Coral, but Ladbrokes made the former Tottenham boss an 11-10 shot, with Paddy Power just 4-6.
Lambert had been the short-priced favourite to be the next gaffer to go.
Punters who piled into Michael Laudrup to be the next QPR manager were in a bad position on Wednesday as the former Swansea boss drifted out to 14-1 for the role.
The Dane had been as short as 1-2 on Tuesday night following a huge gamble principally prompted by a tweet from QPR chairman Tony Fernandes.
He wrote: “Think I have got my dream manager. Not what anyone thinks. Take a while. Still a bit to go but I’m happy. Press all wrong.”
The money then came for Laudrup, at that point 50-1, while former red-hot favourite Tim Sherwood was cast aside and pushed out to 14-1.
However, the most important part of that tweet could have been where Fernandes said it will take a while, as Laudrup is currently in charge of Qatari outfit Lekhwiya and believed to be tied to them until this summer.
His agent moved quickly to warn that: “It’s not easy to break a contract.”
Interim boss Chris Ramsey, who led QPR to their first away win of the season when the Hoops saw off Sunderland 2-0 on Tuesday, is the new favourite. He is rated a 2-1 shot by Ladbrokes to get the job permanently, while most other firms are a shade of odds-on.
Next in the betting comes former Southampton and Reading manager Nigel Adkins, who is 7-1 with bet365. The price of Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement has been yo-yoing, but he is 8-1.
