After many years Liverpool of walking in the championship, Chelsea beat arch-rival in London derby.

Southampton 0 Liverpool 3:Reds triumph for championship

f Wayne Rooney is worth £300,000 a week what mind boggling figure must Luis be worth?

Conservative estimates might suggest he is one in a million – pounds that is – if this magical performance against Southampton is anything to go by.

Suarez, already the top scorer in the Premier League, netted one and made the other in a performance that reinforced claims that he is arguably the best player in the world.

What’s more, he’s helping those around him rise to the sort of heights that Liverpool look more than capable of scaling right now.

No one was saying if Luis and co were told the Arsenal score before they went out last night.

There again, given their performance stats perhaps it didn’t matter anyway.

When you’ve got the league’s most prolific goalscorer, and have had more shots on target than anyone else, it seemed a little irrelevant anyway despite the big favour Stoke had already done them.

So when Daniel Sturridge and Suarez were denied only by Jose Fonte’s outstretched boot with little more than five minutes on the clock, the early signs were that Liverpool were in the mood.

That became clear on 16 minutes.

Suarez and Sturridge tied Saints in knots again, and even though the ball that the Uruguyan latched onto took a cruel deflection off Forte there was no denying that his 24th goal of the season was pure class.

But that, realistically, was that for the next half hour – from Liverpool at any rate.

You really couldn’t fault Saints for effort, even if Rickie Lambert did balloon one useful looking chance considerably closer to row Z in the stand than it was to Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal.

And to be fair, Saints did deserve an equaliser on the half hour.

The Liverpool back four showed their fallibility under pressure when Lambert put Adam Lallana in the clear only to see his skipper’s final effort bounce agonisingly off the post with Mignolet beaten.

That was the signal for some sustained pressure from Southampton, which was more than enough to get Kop boss Brendan Rodgers off his seat.

The manager’s concern looked justified when only an instinctive one-handed save by Mignolet denied Jay Rodriguez an equaliser.

Southampton played more than their part in a cracking first 45 minutes and they did not deserve to go in at half-time a goal behind.

But another stroke of magic from Suarez made that all irrelevant again on 59 minutes.

Just when it looked as if Southampton might be getting a hold on the game the little genius found space to latch onto a precision pass from Steven Gerrard and deliver a teasing cross for Raheem Sterling to slot home – just a minute after he had come on for Philippe Coutinho.

It was the sort of finish that makes the lad look a certainty for Brazil with England this summer.

Trouble is, if he and the rest of Roy Hodgson’s team have to play Suarez in the World Cup they could end up making just as quick an exit.

No wonder the Liverpool fans sang “we’re going to win the League”.

They have a point– particularly after Gerrard wrapped it up from the penalty spot in injury time.

Southampton vs Liverpool Match Stats

Southampton: Boruc 5, Chambers 6, Fonte 5, Lovren 5, Shaw 6, Steven Davis 5.5 (Ramirez 46, 5), Cork 5 (Wanyama 77), Schneiderlin 5.5, Rodriguez 6, Lambert 6 (Gallagher 76), Lallana 6.

Subs not used: Clyne, Yoshida, Ward-Prowse, Gazzaniga.

Booked: Wanyama.

Liverpool: Mignolet 7, Flanagan 6, Skrtel 6.5, Agger 6, Johnson 6, Gerrard 7, Henderson 6, Allen 6, Coutinho 6 (Sterling 57, 7), Sturridge 6 (Aspas 85), Suarez 7.5.

Subs not used: Brad Jones, Toure, Moses, Cissokho, Teixeira.

Goals: Suarez 16, Sterling 58, Gerrard (pen) 90.

Booked: Henderson, Gerrard.

Man of the match: Suarez.

Referee: Lee Probert (Wiltshire).

Attendance: 31,659.

Southampton 0 Liverpool 3 Match Video

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Fulham 1 Chelsea 3:Schurrle exploded and rich arch-rivals won

Efficiency came from Chelsea striker Andre Schurrle who struck a superb hat-trick inside 17 minutes in the second half to keep Chelsea firmly on top of the Premier League table and Fulham stuck perilously at the bottom.

The psychology, of course, was the department of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who revealed he gave his team the silent treatment after a hopeless first half to motivate them.

Yet the match was won by Schurrle. Each of his goals was converted with composure and precision, running onto clever passes from Chelsea team-mates and finding the net with low shots. Out on the touchline Magath could only watch with envy at the quality of his compatriot.

The Fulham side on his first match at Craven Cottage were well organised and thoroughly determined – but in the end there is no substitute for sheer class.

Chelsea had that with Schurrle – and with their orchestrator in chief Eden Hazard, whose probing, prompting and deft footwork was a delight.

Indeed, the moment of the match wasn’t one of the goals but a sensational cross-legged centre with his wrong foot from Hazard that was simply sublime and would have created another goal but for last-ditch defending. The trick, apparently, is called a ‘rabona’. You will never tire of watching it on TV replays.

Chelsea’s victory puts them four points clear at the top of the table after defeat yesterday for Arsenal, although Manchester City, six points adrift, have two matches in hand.

That left Mourinho delighted, but he remains cautious about the battle with City, the strongest title rivals.

The Chelsea manager preferred to talk about his half-time tactic, saying: “I was silent in the dressing room. I walked in and then I walked out. I didn’t say one word.

“I have never done this before in my career, but I haven’t had as many first halves like that in my career.

“It was very disappointing, the worst of our season. I would have changed 11 players if I could.

“But the second half was one of the best. My players are very intelligent and they understood what was needed. I didn’t say anything to them after the game either. What could I say then?”

The first half was mostly bland but for one curious incident when Fulham keeper Maarten Stekelenburg dallied on a clearance and kicked the ball straight at Fernando Torres.

Chelsea’s £50million striker collected the loose ball but contrived to shoot hopelessly wide of goal.

Torres had the only worthwhile effort of the half, his angled shot tipped away by Stekelenburg in stoppage time after Fulham captain Brede Hangeland was hurt in an aerial clash with team-mate Kieran Richardson.

Fulham look improved under their new manager Magath, but fashioned little before the break save for a low free-kick from Pajtim Kasami.

Hazard was the spark as Chelsea took complete command after the break and he drifted into spaces and danced past opponents. It was his pass that set Schurrle running clear in the 52nd minute and free to score.

It was a goal of thrilling dynamism.

Schurrle’s second came in the 65th minute, and once again was created by the wizardry of Hazard, who conjured another delicate but destructive pass into the Fulham penalty area which left the German clear to shoot home left-footed.

Four minutes later Torres had time to collect the ball and play a forward pass that sent Schurrle on the run again to complete his hat-trick.

Fulham did grab one goal back, for whatever consolation that held. A corner flew across the area, Darren Bent pulled the ball back and Johnny Heitinga stabbed home. It provoked no alarm among the celebrating Chelsea fans in this one-sided local derby. Their team was never going to lose.

Magath was phlegmatic afterwards, saying: “There is hope for us with the way we played in the first half today, but we have to do that for 90 minutes. Once the first goal was scored it was difficult for the team.”

Fulham vs Chelsea Match Stats

Fulham: Stekelenburg 5; Riether 5.5, Hangeland 4 (Burn 16, 4.5), Heitinga 6, Richardson 6; Dejagah 5, Parker 5 (Karagounis 79), Sidwell 5.5, Dempsey 5; Kasami 5 (Holtby 61), Bent 4.

Subs not used: Stockdale, Riise, Kvist, Holtby, Rodallega.

Goals: Heitinga 74.

Booked: Dejagah, Kasami.

Chelsea: Cech 6; Ivanovic 6, Cahill 6.5, Terry 7, Azpilicueta 6.5; Ramires 7, Matic 7; Schurrle 9 (Luiz 87), Oscar 6 (Mikel 78), Hazard 8.5; Torres 6.5 (Ba 82).

Subs not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Lampard, Willian.

Goals: Schurrle 52, 65, 69.

Booked: Ramires.

Ref: Mark Clattenburg 6.5

Fulham 1 Chelsea 3 Match Video

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English Premier League Match Week 28 Results

Saturday, 1 March

Man United Postponed Man City

Sunderland Postponed West Brom

Stoke City 1 Arsenal 0

Fulham 1 Chelsea 3

Hull City 1 Newcastle 4

Everton 1 West Ham 0

Southampton 0 Liverpool 3

Sunday, 2 March

Aston Villa 4 Norwich City 1

Swansea City 1 Crystal Palace 1

Tottenham 1 Cardiff City 0

Tuesday, 25 March

Man United 19:45 Man City

Barclays Premier League Match Week 28 Table

 

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