Football
ESPN staff 10y

Chelsea thump Arsenal, Reds impress

Arsene Wenger marked his 1,000th match in charge of Arsenal with perhaps the most chaotic game of them all as his side were dismantled by 6-0 Chelsea and were the victims of mistaken identity by referee Andre Marriner.

Wenger takes blame for loss
• Palmer: Chelsea's big-match mentality
• Cox: Rooney's wonder strike
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Goals from Samuel Eto'o and Andre Schuerrle hurtled Chelsea into a 2-0 lead within the opening seven minutes as Arsenal's defence disintegrated before the match exploded with one of the most bizarre incidents seen in Wenger's 18 years at the helm.

An Eden Hazard shot was swerving wide but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain threw his hand out and touched the ball as it fizzed past the post. Referee Marriner awarded a penalty and then astonishingly sent off Kieran Gibbs rather than Oxlade-Chamberlain, who even approached the referee to admit it was his misdemeanour.

Hazard stepped up to take the penalty and made no mistake and Oscar added a fourth goal before half-time, capping a crazy 45 minutes.

Oscar crashed in a fifth goal -- his second of the match -- midway through the second half, although Wojciech Szczesny in the Arsenal goal was beaten by the bounce of the ball just in front of him, before Mohamed Salah scored his first goal for the club to make it 6-0. That equalled the record margin of defeat suffered by Arsenal under Wenger, alongside the 8-2 thrashing by Manchester United in August 2011.

The result leaves Arsenal seven points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea, although Wenger's side do have a game in hand.

Liverpool kept up their pursuit of a first ever Premier League title but had to come from behind twice against Cardiff City before securing an astonishing 6-3 victory in Wales.

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caption:Luis Suarez was again in stunning form for Liverpool.
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Jordon Mutch and Fraizer Campbell both put Cardiff in front in the opening 25 minutes, but Luis Suarez and then Martin Skrtel each equalised to take the game into the half-time break at 2-2.

However, Liverpool continued their incredible goalscoring form in the second half with Skrtel claiming his second before Suarez also doubled his tally. Daniel Sturridge then netted his 22nd of the season to make it 5-2.

Mutch pulled another back for Cardiff before Suarez completed his hat trick in stoppage time. Sturridge and Suarez have scored 47 Premier League goals between them -- one more than Manchester United ahead of their game against West Ham on Saturday evening.

The win keeps Liverpool four points behind Chelsea with a game in hand, which comes at Anfield on Wednesday night against Sunderland.

Wayne Rooney produced his own David Beckham moment to put Manchester United on course for an impressive 2-0 victory at West Ham, firing home one of the most memorable goals of the season from 58 yards.

Returning to league action after progressing to the Champions League quarterfinals with a fine victory against Olympiakos, the England international netted twice as David Moyes' men proved Wednesday's result was no flash in the pan.

Rooney's second saw him move onto 212 goals and usurp Jack Rowley as the third highest goalscorer in United's history, but it was his first just eight minutes into the 2-0 win that will live long in the memory.

The 28-year-old produced a moment of magic, sending the ball sailing over Adrian in a goal similar in audacity and skill to Beckham's wonder strike at Wimbledon in 1996.

Yaya Toure scored his maiden Manchester City hat trick as Manuel Pellegrini's side kept their title hopes on track by cruising to a 5-0 victory at home to Fulham.

Toure opened the scoring from the spot on 26 minutes, sending David Stockdale the wrong way after Fernando Amorebieta had kicked Alvaro Negredo in the back as he chested the ball down in the box.

Amorebieta then hacked down David Silva to give City another penalty and earn a red card. Toure obliged by rolling his second spot-kick into the corner on 54 minutes.

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caption:Toure, like Suarez, helped himself to a hat trick on Saturday.
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The hat trick was completed in style on 65 minutes with Toure arcing a 25-yard shot into the top right corner.

City were not done, however, with Fernandinho's powerful rising shot beating Stockdale at his near post on 84 minutes before Martin Demichelis added a fifth two minutes from time, poking in the rebound after Fulham's keeper had saved Stevan Jovetic's shot.

Everton kept their top four hopes alive with a 3-2 win at home to Swansea that moved them up to fifth place.

Leighton Baines maintained his 100 percent record from the penalty spot for Everton in the Premier League, scoring his 12th to put the hosts in front after Chico Flores brought down Ross Barkley in the box.

However, Wilfried Bony grabbed his 18th goal of the season to level the scores, converting Angel Rangel's square ball from close range on 33 minutes.

But Romelu Lukaku restored Everton's lead eight minutes after the restart, meeting Kevin Mirallas' return pass and finding the back of the net.

Five minutes later Barkley made it 3-1, stooping to nod in Mirallas' corner at the far post. Ashley Williams pulled one back for Swansea in added time with a header from a corner but it proved to be too little, too late.

Norwich eased the pressure on manager Chris Hughton with a 2-0 win over relegation rivals Sunderland at Carrow Road.

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caption:Tettey scored a screamer for Norwich against Sunderland.
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A howler from Wes Brown allowed Norwich to take the lead, the defender passing straight to Johan Elmander who squared the ball for Robert Snodgrass to fire in low in the 20th minute.

Alex Tettey then doubled Norwich's lead just past the half-hour mark, meeting John O'Shea's headed clearance with a first-time volley from 30 yards that sailed into the top corner.

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet wasted no time by making two changes before the break, hooking Jack Colback and Ki Sung-Yueng for Lee Cattermole and Sebastian Larsson. Cattermole then managed to get booked three minutes after coming on.

But the visitors failed to get themselves back into the match before Marcos Alonso was sent off for a second yellow in stoppage time.

Hull also secured three crucial points with a 2-0 win at home to West Brom.

The hosts were awarded a penalty after Craig Dawson brought down Shane Long, with Liam Rosenior nodding home the rebound after Nikica Jelavic saw his spot-kick saved by Ben Foster.

Long then made it 2-0 against his former side with a left-footed volley from six yards out seven minutes from the interval but his celebrations were muted.

Newcastle snatched a dramatic 1-0 win at home to Crystal Palace with Papiss Cisse striking in added time.

Yannick Bolasie came close to giving the visitors the lead when his second-half shot struck the crossbar, before Cisse broke Palace's hearts by heading home Hatem Ben Arfa's cross at the death.

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