London (AFP)
Chelsea defeated its London neighbor and guest, West Ham, by five, in the thirty-sixth round of the English Football Championship.
Chelsea rose to seventh place temporarily with 54 points, with a goal difference in front of Manchester United, which is visiting Crystal Palace on Monday.
Chelsea clung to its continental fortunes; Because it trails sixth-placed Newcastle by only two points, and because the sixth-placed team participates in the “Converse League” competition, or even the European League “Europa League”, if Manchester City wins the FA Cup at the expense of its neighbor United in the final scheduled for the 25th of this month.
The result would ease the pressure on Chelsea’s Argentine coach Mauricio Buquinho, but in return it put the fate of West Ham’s Scottish coach David Moyes in the wind, especially since reports indicate his dismissal at the end of the season, after the board of directors entered into negotiations with potential candidates to succeed him, the most prominent of whom is The Portuguese Ruben Amorim and the Spanish Julen Lopetegui.
Chelsea’s top scorer, Cole Palmer, who moved to him at the beginning of this season from Manchester City, started scoring, taking advantage of the West Ham defense’s failure to clear one of the balls and putting it into the net (15).
Palmer, who celebrates his twenty-second birthday on Monday, raised his tally to 21 goals this season in the local league, in second place on the list of scorers, led by Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Arling Haaland with 25 goals, thanks to a quartet against Wolverhampton.
Scottish international Connor Gallagher added the second with a wonderful shot inside the “30” area.
Noni Maduike scored the third, taking advantage of a header pass from veteran Brazilian defender Thiago Silva (36).
Chelsea added two goals in the second half through Senegalese Nicholas Jackson, after a wonderful individual effort from Maduike, with the former following the ball from close range into the net (48), before Jackson himself ended the goal festival ten minutes before the end of the match.
The match witnessed the participation of Chelsea striker, Frenchman Christopher Nkunku, after being absent from the field since last February due to injury, as he came on as a substitute in the second half.
In a second match, Brighton defeated Aston Villa with a goal scored by Brazilian Joao Pedro in the 87th minute from a penalty kick saved by Swedish goalkeeper Rob Olsen, but Pedro succeeded in returning it to the net.
The loss is the second for Aston Villa, which is in fourth place, after its sudden defeat at home to the Greek Olympiacos 2-4 in the semi-finals of the Conference League competition.
The loss also put a brake on Villa, who is seeking to boost its chances of grabbing a ticket to qualify for the Champions League next season, as it leads Tottenham by 7 points.
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