Chelsea up to 2nd; Spurs slip to 12th

Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to move up to second in the Premier League on Saturday, while Tottenham’s troubles continued with a draw at home to Sheffield United.

League leaders Liverpool host Manchester City in a clash between the champions of Europe and champions of England at Anfield on Sunday.

And Chelsea took advantage of kicking off a day earlier to move a point ahead of City and close to within five of Liverpool with a patient performance to break down a defensively dogged Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.

Tammy Abraham moved level with Leicester’s Jamie Vardy as the top scorer in the Premier League with 10 goals as the England striker pounced on a deft flick through by Willian seven minutes into the second half. Christian Pulisic then secured all three points when the American headed home his fifth goal in his last three Premier League games.

“We won relatively comfortably,” said Chelsea boss Frank Lampard. “A nice, solid win with a clean sheet.”

Tottenham slip to 12th and were lucky to even escape with a 1-1 draw as Sheffield impressed once more to move up to fifth.

John Lundstram struck the post for the visitors with the best effort of the first half, but a rare defensive error from the Blades set up Son Heung-min to open the scoring with his eighth goal of the season just before the hour mark.

David McGoldrick thought he had levelled almost immediately, but after a three-minute delay the goal was ruled out for Lundstram being millimetres offside in the build-up.

To their credit, Chris Wilder’s men were not downhearted and survived another VAR review when George Baldock’s cross from the right evaded everyone and found the bottom corner.

West Ham’s woes continued as Manuel Pellegrini’s men were beaten 3-0 at Burnley to stretch their winless streak to seven games.