LONDON: Chelsea fought back to beat Fulham 2-1 on Monday and go five points clear at the top of the Premier League, while Tottenham returned to the Champions League places by easing to a 2-0 victory over West Ham.
Chelsea secured the victory courtesy of Chris Smalling’s own goal after Didier Drogba had canceled out Zoltan Gera’s opener for Fulham.
Chelsea’s grip on the league lead had been loosened by two consecutive draws, but the team returned to winning ways in front of former manager Jose Mourinho.
The Inter Milan coach witnessed a dire start for Chelsea with Gera netting inside three minutes when he met Bobby Zamora’s pass after Chelsea captain John Terry had failed to clear.
It took until the 73rd minute for Drogba to equalize in the Ivory Coast striker’s last match before going to Angola for the African Cup of Nations.
And inside two minutes, Smalling inadvertently turned the ball into his own net after goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer blocked Daniel Sturridge’s shot.
Chelsea has 45 points, while Manchester United has 40 before it hosts Wigan on Wednesday, when third-place Arsenal travels to Portsmouth.
At White Hart Lane, Luka Modric marked his return to Tottenham’s starting lineup by scoring the opener against West Ham.
Modric, who has been restricted to two brief substitute appearances since breaking his right leg in August, scored in the 11th by sweeping Aaron Lennon’s cross into the net.
Lennon also fed Jermain Defoe in 81st and the former West Ham striker fired home after keeper Robert Green parried his initial shot.
“We’ve got a fantastic squad, great players and I think we’re good enough to compete up there,” Defoe said.
The victory lifted Tottenham to fourth with 37 points, one behind Arsenal but two ahead of Aston Villa, which hosts Liverpool on Tuesday. West Ham is a point above the relegation zone having played three more matches than 18th-place Bolton.
Birmingham climbed above Liverpool into seventh after Cameron Jerome clinched a 1-0 win at Stoke.
At Goodison Park, Everton ended a seven-match winless streak by beating Burnley 2-0 with both goals coming after Stephen Jordan was sent off for the visitors.
James Vaughan broke the deadlock in the 83rd, with his first goal in two years coming seconds after he went on as a substitute. Steven Pienaar added another in stoppage time.
Blackburn and Sunderland played out a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park with all the goals coming in the second half.
Morten Gamst Pedersen quickly canceled out Darren Bent’s opener for Sunderland.
The visitors regained the lead against the run of play in the 65th when Bent netted his 13th goal of the season.
But substitute El-Hadji Diouf salvaged a point for Blackburn with a 77th-minute header.
Manchester City plays Wolves in a late night match.
