Sunderland 0-1 Chelsea: Blues go six points clear at top

Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas celebrates his goal at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty

Fabregas, making just his third league start of the  season, struck in stylish fashion five minutes before the break to secure a second 1-0 win inside four days and their 10th success on the trot, although it took a superb stoppage-time save by Thibaut Courtois to deny Patrick van Aanholt a last-gasp equaliser.

Blues boss Antonio Conte, below, saw his men dominate for long periods in front of a crowd of 41,008 at the Stadium of Light, but could not kill off their hosts, who remain rooted at the bottom of the pile despite a spirited display.

Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe carried five-year-old mascot Bradley Lowery, whose fight against Neuroblastoma has captured the hearts of players, supporters and officials from clubs around the country, on to the pitch ahead of kick-off.

But as he and his team-mates got down to business, they attempted to counter Chelsea’s 3-4-3 formation by asking Billy Jones and Van Aanholt to operate slightly in advance of Lamine Kone, John O’Shea and Papy Djilobodji, with Jan Kirchhoff and Jason Denayer providing a further layer of protection in midfield.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the leaders struggled to break their hosts down despite enjoying a wealth of possession with Fabregas orchestrating from deep, and the opening 39 minutes passed largely without incident as the Black Cats soaked up pressure with little real difficulty.

However, the game exploded into life as the whistle approached with defender David Luiz forcing goalkeeper Jason Pickford into his first save with a deflected long-range free-kick, although the respite proved to be fleeting. Seconds later Fabregas exchanged passes with  Willian before curling a right-foot shot wide of Pickford’s despairing dive to give the  visitors a 40th-minute lead which they might have doubled in first-half stoppage-time.

O’Shea upended Diego Costa, who had endured a frustrating evening until that point, on the edge of the penalty area and Willian curled the resulting free-kick inches wide with the travelling fans behind the goal convinced it had gone in as the ball rustled the side-netting.

Sunderland would have been back in it within two minutes of the restart had it not been for the excellence of Courtois, who denied Adnan Januzaj one-on-one after he had been played in by Defoe, a timely warning that the game was far from over.

Pickford needed the help of the crossbar when Willian’s 51st-minute shot clipped  Djilobodji and wrong-footed him, although he got down well two minutes later to parry Costa’s well-struck effort.

David Moyes’ men continued to scrap for a way back into the game and Fabio Borini, making his first appearance since August, skied a 57th-minute shot high over, but Victor Moses went significantly  closer at the other end on the hour after cutting inside substitute Sebastian Larsson.

Chelsea looked to have eased their way to the points, but Courtois had to be at his best to claw Van Aanholt’s  93rd-minute piledriver away to safety.

Pablo Zabaleta’s first goal for two years and a late David Silva strike fired Manchester City to a much-needed - but unconvincing - 2-0 win over Watford.

Defender Zabaleta struck from close range after 33 minutes of a dull Premier League contest at the Etihad Stadium with Silva wrapping up victory four minutes from time.

Liverpool went second in the Premier League with a 3-0 win at struggling Middlesbrough. Adam Lallana scored twice and created another to give the Reds their most emphatic away league win of the season.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored with two minutes to go as Manchester United beat Crystal Palace in a controversial game at  Selhurst Park. United had taken the lead when Ibrahimovic appeared to handle a pass into the path of Paul Pogba to score.

Tottenham bounced back after defeat by Manchester United with a 3-0 home win over Hull, Christian Eriksen scoring twice, while Mark Noble netted a penalty rebound to giveWest Ham their first league win in seven games over Burnley in London.

Three goals in 13 second-half minutes from Salomon Rondon sank Swansea 3-1 at The Hawthorns, Rondon becoming only the second player to score a Premier League hat-trick of headers. Duncan Ferguson did it for Everton against Bolton in December 1997.