Chelsea keep Champions League hopes alive at Burnley

Chesleas players celebrate with Chelseas Nigerian midfielder Victor Moses C after he scores their winning goal during the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Chelsea at Turf Moor in Burnley PicAFPChelsea kept their outside chances of chasing down Tottenham Hotspur for a place in next seasons Champions League alive as a muchchanged side secured a 21 win at Burnley At the other end of the table Southampton crept closer to relegation as a 00 draw at Leicester leaves the Saints still four points off safety with just four games remaining to save themselvesChelsea closed to within five points of fourthplaced Spurs but Mauricio Pochettinos men also have a kinder run in than their London rivals Southampton and Chelsea meet for the second time in eight days in a FA Cup semifinal on Sunday after Antonio Contes side came from 20 down to win 32 at St Marys on Saturday And with the Cup representing Chelseas last chance at silverware this season Conte left Eden Hazard and Willian on the bench as Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata started together up front for the first time Burnleys opening day 32 win at Stamford Bridge was an early indicator as to how the season would develop for both sides with Sean Dyches side now dreaming of qualifying for European competition for the first time since 1967However Burnleys hopes of leapfrogging Arsenal into sixth were dealt a blow by a first defeat in seven games Conte has lamented Chelseas inability to take their chances all season and it was another night to forget for club record signing Morata as he passed up a host of opportunities to score just his third goal of 2018 The Spanish internationals first clear opening was well saved by England World Cup hopeful Nick Pope low to his right Pope though could arguably have done better when the opening goal arrived on 20 minutes as he punched Victor Mosess cross into the onrushing Kevin Long and the ball ricocheted off the defender into his own net Much worse was to come for Morata on the hour mark when he burst clear on goal but with just Pope to beat sidefooted wide of the targetThat miss looked like it could be the turning point in the game when four minutes later Burnley levelled in fortuitous fashion Joey Gudmundssons longrange effort was heading well wide until it deflected off Ashley Barnes to completely wrongfoot Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois Just minutes later though Chelsea retook the lead when Moses fired in low at Popes near post from Emerson Palmieris cross Morata then stormed off the field in disgust at himself as he was replaced by Hazard for the final 20 minutes But despite some delightful touches by the Belgian Chelsea had to settle for victory by the finest of marginsAt the King Power Leicester manager Claude Puel took his revenge after Southampton sacked the Frenchman despite finishing eighth and reaching the League Cup final last season by pushing his former employers closer to the drop In a game of few clearcut chances Shane Long had Southamptons best effort as he was denied by a pointblank save by Leicesters reserve goalkeeper Ben Hamer At the other end Alex McCarthy also made a smart stop from Jamie Vardy as Southampton at least stopped a run of four straight league defeatsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever