Costa heads Chelsea to 11th successive Premier League win

A first-half header from Diego Costa has earned Chelsea a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace, a result which takes the Blues nine points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

Antonio Conte's men have now won 11 games in a row in the top flight and they are all but assured of ending 2016 in first place in the standings.

As for Palace, a second defeat in three days leaves them looking over their shoulder with just three points separating the club from the relegation zone.

The home side put a lot of effort into the opening stages of the game but despite their endeavour nullifying Chelsea, they were unable to create any opportunities of their own.

It took them until 20 minutes to threaten an opening goal with Jason Puncheon miscuing the ball wide of the post after meeting Martin Kelly's low cross.

Moments later, Costa ended his lengthy run without a caution by picking up his fifth yellow card of the season -a booking which means he will miss the Boxing Day fixture with Bournemouth.

The Spaniard also picked up a cut to his face after being unintentionally kicked by James McArthur and he remained on the periphery of the game as Palace went close through a McArthur header and Puncheon free kick.

However, with three minutes of the first half remaining, Costa got on the scoresheet as he rose above Scott Dann to head Cesar Azpilicueta's cross into the bottom corner.

Palace returned for the second half on the front foot with Yohan Cabaye forcing a solid stop out of Thibaut Courtois from 25 yards, before N'Golo Kante warmed the fingertips of Wayne Hennessey from long range.

Alan Pardew's side proceeded to dominate the following 15 minutes but with a quarter of the game remaining, Chelsea began to regain control with Marcos Alonso's volley going into the side-netting and Fabregas's firsttime effort being comfortably saved by Hennessey.

Palace hit back through Christian Benteke, who miscued a volley at Courtois after getting the better of Gary Cahill, before Hennessey made two saves in as many minutes from Kante and Alonso.

With six minutes left, Alonso struck the crossbar with a sublime free kick from just over 20 yards and it led to Chelsea remaining just one goal ahead as the game went into the closing stages.

However, despite five minutes of added-on time, Palace were limited to a wayward Andros Townsend free kick and Conte's side were able to register yet another three points without much alarm.

West Ham has five English Premier League victories all with 1-0 scorelines after edging Hull.

Mark Noble, who clinched Wednesday's win over Burnley, netted from the penalty spot at the Olympic Stadium as Hull slipped to the bottom of the standings.

West Ham was abject against a Hull side that hasn't scored on the road in more than eight hours but did enough to climb five points clear of the relegation zone.

West Ham earned its penalty with 15 minutes to go when Michail Antonio was brought down by Tom Huddleston.

Noble missed his spot kick against Burnley, only to put in the rebound, but he made no mistake this time.

Struggling champion Leicester conceded twice after Jamie Vardy was sent off before staging a late comeback to draw 2-2 at Stoke in the Premier League yesterday.

Vardy saw red in the 28th minute for a tackle on Mame Diouf. Danny Simpson's hand ball then gave Stoke a penalty that Bojan Krkic converted, and Joe Allen sent the hosts into a two-goal lead at halftime.

However, Claudio Ranieri's side dug deep, with Leonardo Ulloa beginning the recovery in the 74th and Daniel Amartey equalizing in the 88th to give Leicester only its second point on the road in its weak title defense.

Sunderland moved off the bottom of the English Premier League after beating Watford 10.

Patrick van Aanholt scored four minutes into the second half, and Sunderland earned its fourth league win in seven games.

A poor and quiet first half by Sunderland was instantly forgotten after halftime when Adnan Januzaj fed Jermain Defoe on the run, and the striker crossed to Van Aanholt, who shrugged off Watford defender Christian Kabasele and tucked the ball in off the far post.

Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo were constantly threatening for Watford, especially in the first half, but the visitors fell to a fourth defeat in five games.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a brace, one in each half, as the Red Devils beat West Brom 2-0.

PW D L F A Pts Chelsea 17 14 1 2 35 11 43 Liverpool 16 10 4 2 40 20 34 Arsenal 16 10 4 2 37 17 34 Man City 16 10 3 3 34 19 33 Tottenham 16 8 6 2 27 11 30 Man United 17 8 6 3 24 17 30 West Brom 17 6 5 6 23 21 23 Everton 16 6 5 5 21 20 23 Southampton 16 5 6 5 14 15 21 Bournemouth 16 6 3 7 22 25 21 Stoke City 17 5 6 6 19 24 21 Watford 17 6 3 8 21 29 21 West Ham 17 5 4 8 19 31 19 M’brough 17 4 6 7 16 19 18 Leicester 17 4 5 8 23 29 17 Burnley 16 5 2 9 15 26 17 Crystal Palace 17 4 3 10 28 32 15 Sunderland 17 4 2 11 15 28 14 Swansea 17 3 3 11 20 37 12 Hull City 17 3 3 11 14 36 12 Wa ord v Crystal Palace Arsenal v West Bromwich Burnley v Middlesbrough Chelsea v Bournemouth Leicester v Everton Man Utd v Sunderland Swansea v West Ham Utd Hull City v Man City Liverpool v Stoke City

Wednesday 28 December

Southampton v To enham Friday Yesterday Celtic Rangers Aberdeen Hearts St Johnstone Ross County Kilmarnock Motherwell Hamilton Dundee FC Inverness Partick PW D L F A Pts 16 15 1 0 46 13 46 18 10 5 3 25 18 35 17 8 4 5 29 17 28 18 7 7 4 32 22 28 17 6 6 5 23 20 24 18 4 8 6 19 29 20 18 4 7 7 16 30 19 17 4 5 8 21 28 17 18 2 10 6 19 25 16 18 4 4 10 15 24 16 18 3 7 8 23 34 16 17 3 6 8 19 27 15

PW D L F A Pts Newcastle U 22 16 1 5 45 17 49 Brighton 22 14 6 2 35 14 48 Reading 22 12 4 6 30 29 40 Huddersfield 22 12 3 7 26 26 39 Leeds 22 12 2 8 26 22 38 Sheffield W 22 11 4 7 26 23 37 Derby 22 10 6 6 23 15 36 Birmingham 22 9 7 6 27 29 34 Fulham 22 8 9 5 38 28 33 Norwich 22 10 3 9 37 34 33 Preston 22 9 5 8 30 27 32 Barnsley 22 9 4 9 38 35 31 Aston Villa 21 6 10 5 22 21 28 Brentford 22 8 4 10 27 28 28 Ipswich 22 7 7 8 22 24 28 Bristol City 22 8 3 11 28 27 27 Nottingham 22 7 5 10 35 39 26 Wolves 22 6 7 9 28 30 25 QPR 21 6 5 10 20 30 23 Cardiff 22 6 5 11 24 36 23 Burton 22 5 7 10 23 30 22 Blackburn 22 5 5 12 27 37 20 Wigan 22 4 6 12 18 27 18 Rotherham 22 2 4 16 21 48 10

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