EPL Gameweek 20: City, Chelsea and Liverpool cruise; Arsenal scrape through

Southampton 0-3 Chelsea:

Oscar of Chelsea controls the ball prior to scoring his team’s third goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Southampton and Chelsea at St Mary’s Stadium on January 1, 2014 in Southampton, England.

Second half goals from Oscar, Willian and Torres gave Chelsea a comfortable 3-0 victory over Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium. Oscar was at the centre of things after coming on from the bench and duly capped off a fine performance by scoring the final goal of the match by capitalising on being played through after a link-up play between Ramires and Eden Hazard.

It happened just minutes after the Brazilian, cutting inside from the left, picked Willian at the edge of the area, who sealed the game for the Blues in the 71st minute.

Fernando Torres netted the first away goal in 13 months by a Chelsea striker to give his team the lead in the 60th minute. The Spaniard headed home from six yards after Oscar’s initial cross had taken a wicked deflection off Calum Chambers.

Chelsea would have considered themselves unlucky not to be in lead at the end of the first half as they created the better chances but would have also been mindful of those nervous moments in which they were forced to put their bodies on line to prevent a goal from being scored against them.

Line-ups:Southampton XI: K. Davis, Chambers, Fonte, Lovren, Shaw, Cork, Schneiderlin, S. Davis, Lallana, Rodriguez, Ramírez.

Chelsea XI: Cech; Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Mikel, Ramires; Schurrle, Mata, Hazard; Torres

Swansea 2-3 Man City:

Manchester City’s Serbian defender Aleksandar Kolarov (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Swansea City and Manchester City at The Liberty Stadium in Swansea, south Wales on January 1, 2014.

A fantastic solo effort from Aleksandar Kolarov, who unleashed a powerful shot to score a goal through a deflection off Jose Canas in the 66th minute of the game, put the game and an unrelenting Swansea team, who scored in the injury time of both the halves, to bed as the visitors won 3-2 at the Liberty stadium.

The 90th minute goal from Wilfried Bony proved to be too little and too late for the home team who had done very well to match City throughout the match.

Just when one may have thought Swansea could pull this off, as despite holding the Blues 1-1 for 57 long minutes the home team also looked potent up front, Yaya Toure got the better of three defenders to score his 12th goal of the season and give his team the lead.

After conceding early in the game, the Swans refused to bow down which made the encounter all the more interesting. City’s wastefulness in front of the goal came back to haunt them at the end of the first half as Wilfried Bony managed to get in between Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta to head home a ball played out by Angel Rangel. The injury time goal cancelled out the opener scored by Fernandinho, who netted a low shot from a corner in the 14th minute of the game.

Line-ups:Swansea: Tremmel, Rangel, Chico, Williams, Ben Davies, de Guzman, Canas, Routledge, Shelvey, Hernandez, Bony. Subs: Amat, Taylor, Lamah, Tiendalli, Pozuelo, Vazquez, Zabret.

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, Kolarov, Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, Toure, Nasri, Negredo, Dzeko. Subs: Lescott, Milner, Javi Garcia, Rodwell, Clichy, Pantilimon, Boyata.

Liverpool 2-0 Hull City:

Liverpool’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez celebrates scoring their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Hull City at Anfield in Liverpool, northwest England, on January 1, 2014.

Liverpool were back to the winning ways, after consecutive losses against Manchester City and Chelsea that saw them drop from being league-toppers to a fifth spot team, with a 2-0 victory over Hull City at Anfield.

A perfect free-kick over the wall and right into the top corner by Luis Suarez doubled the lead as soon as the second half resumed. Earlier, Liverpool captain Daniel Agger opened the scoring via a header from the corner in the 36th minute of the game.

Line-ups:Liverpool XI: Mignolet, Johnson, Cissokho, Skrtel, Agger, Lucas, Henderson, Coutinho, Aspas, Sterling, Suarez

Hull XI: McGregor, Figueroa, Bruce, Chester, Davies, Meyler, Huddlestone, Koren, Livermore, Sagbo, Elmohamady

Arsenal 2-0 Cardiff City:

Arsenal’s English midfielder Theo Walcott (L) celebrates scoring their second goal during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Cardiff City at the Emirates Stadium in London on January 1, 2014.

Goals from Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner in the dying minutes of the game turned what was becoming a scrappy affair on its head and gave a dramatic 2-0 victory for the Gunners against Cardiff City at the Emirates Stadium.

Bacary Sagna’s header was parried away by David Marshall only to find Nicklas Bendtner who slotted it home from six yards in the 88th minute and just seconds latter, Theo Walcott, capitalising on a well-timed through ball from Jack Wilshere, doubled the lead and sealed the game out of nowhere.

Despite having most of the possession, Arsenal had nothing to show for by the end of the first half as a dogged Cardiff defence continued to frustrate them.

Line-ups:Arsenal XI: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Flamini, Wilshere, Walcott, Cazorla, Podolski

Cardiff XI: Marshall; McNaughton, Caulker, Turner, John; Whittingham, Medel, Kim, Noone, Mutch; Campbell