Arsenal to go two points clear as Rooney lifts United past Swansea

LONDON

Guus Hiddink has challenged his Chelsea flops to rediscover the winning formula as they start the new year with a tricky trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Hiddink’s side have drawn against Watford and Manchester United since the Dutchman returned for his second spell as Chelsea interim manager following Jose Mourinho’s sacking.

That those two workmanlike performances were regarded as cause for encouragement shows just how far the champions had fallen during the miserable final days of the Portuguese national’s troubled reign.

In a reversal of fortune that would have seemed remarkable at the end of last season, when Chelsea were hoisting the Premier League trophy after beating Palace, Alan Pardew’s fifth-placed Eagles are now 11 points above the 14th-placed Blues.

Chelsea are only three points above the relegation zone and their struggles have been so prolonged that the club’s hierarchy are reportedly concerned about the lack of wage-reducing relegation clauses in their highly paid players’ contracts.

Hiddink knows Chelsea need to improve quickly to avoid a nerve-wracking fight against relegation, while a winning run to start 2016 would also lay a strong foundation for salvaging the season with success in the Champions League and FA Cup.

“We have started gathering some points,” he said. “It (the draw with United) was the third consecutive game we didn’t lose but that’s not enough.
“You see how it is, all the big teams are losing points as well. We must come now into a winning period of games; that’s important.”

In contrast to Chelsea’s woes, Palace, so long one of London’s lesser lights, now harbour genuine hopes of securing one of the few European berths in their history.

Pardew’s men are unbeaten in their past six matches and are unlikely to have any inferiority complex against Chelsea, having beaten them twice in their past four meetings — including a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge earlier this season.

AWARE OF THREAT
Hiddink has been back in English football for a few weeks but the 69-year-old is already well aware of the threat posed by the tenacious Palace.
“Crystal Palace are doing well” he said. “Alan Pardew has done a marvellous job in the period he has been working there.

“If you look at the statistics, you have a team that has scored 23 goals in 19 games and just conceded 16, which means he is well organised with his team.

“Nowadays it’s very difficult, and if you see where our next opponent is in the table, they are close to the Champions League positions.”

Meanwhile, Laurent Koscielny scored as Arsenal edged Newcastle United 1-0 Saturday to pull two points clear of Leicester City at the top of the Premier League table.

Koscielny stabbed home a flick-on from France teammate Olivier Giroud in the 72nd minute at a rain-lashed Emirates Stadium and Leicester were held 0-0 by Bournemouth with Riyad Mahrez squandering a penalty.

At Old Trafford, captain Wayne Rooney scored as Manchester United ended an eight-game winless run by beating Swansea City 2-1.

And Andy Carroll and Michail Antonio both scored in a second successive match as West Ham United leapfrogged Liverpool in the Premier League table by beating them 2-0.

The Gunners were bidding to build on the 2-0 win over Bournemouth that had sent them top of the table but Newcastle squandered several opportunities to go ahead.

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech had to produce smart saves to thwart Giorginio Wijnaldum either side of half-time while Aleksandar Mitrovic diverted a volleyed cross from Ayoze Perez over the bar from close range.

With the home fans growing restless, Koscielny supplied the breakthrough 18 minutes from time, sneaking in behind Perez to toe the ball past Rob Elliot after Giroud had got his head to a high ball.

DEFENDER SENT OFF

Leicester have now gone three league games without winning after their stalemate against 10-man Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium.
Jamie Vardy hit the post in the first half and was then fouled by Simon Francis in an incident that saw the Bournemouth defender sent off and yielded Leicester’s 60th-minute penalty.

But for once this season, Mahrez’s radar betrayed him, the Algerian’s penalty parried by Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Rooney scored a milestone winner against Swansea, which made him the second-highest outright goal scorer in both Premier League (188 goals) and United (238) history.

Anthony Martial headed the Red Devils in front from Ashley Young’s right-wing cross early in the second half, only for Gylfi Sigurdsson to draw Swansea level in the 70th minute from a Modou Barrow cross.

But Rooney converted a cut-back from Martial with a sumptuous near-post back-heel 13 minutes from time.