Ruddy hell for Chelsea as Norwich stifle the Blues

By Dylan Hill 7:02PM 21 JAN 2012

Chelsea continue to make heavy weather of securing a top-four Premier League finish after being held to a 0-0 draw at Norwich.

Canaries goalkeeper John Ruddy was the toast of those who backed no goalscorer at 16-1, remarkably keeping his first clean sheet of the season with a man-of-the-match exhibition, though he was helped by another tentative Chelsea performance in front of goal.

Arsenal were the big winners yesterday without even playing as Liverpool lost 3-1 at Bolton and Newcastle were thumped 5-2 at Fulham. The Gunners are 7-4 to qualify for the Champions League while the Reds are out to 7-2 and the Magpies are 40-1.

QPR marked Mark Hughes’ first home game in charge by moving out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win at home to bottom-of-the-table Wigan. And with Blackburn managing another good result with a 1-1 draw at Everton, where David Goodwillie scored a second-half equaliser, Wolves were the team to really suffer.

Mick McCarthy’s men paid a heavy price for having Karl Henry sent off in the second half as Robbie Keane soon scored his second goal to give Aston Villa a 3-2 victory.

Wins for Villa, Fulham, West Brom and Sunderland – the four clubs placed 12th to 15th at the start of the day – means the bottom five are in danger of being cut adrift, and Wigan are now just 2-9 to go down after Bolton’s heroics against the Reds – the Trotters are 8-11 for the drop.

West Ham have been cut to 6-5 to win the Championship after moving top with a 2-1 win at home to Nottingham Forest. It looks like a three-way battle after Middlesbrough were beaten at
Coventry, with 11-4 shots Southampton not playing until tomorrow and Cardiff cut to 7-1 after a last-gasp victory over Portsmouth.