EPL: Show-stopper Willian preserves Chelsea's lead

London Brazilian midfielder Willian scored an 89thminute winner as Chelsea edged Everton 10 on Wednesday to preserve their sevenpoint lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League With City en route to a 41 win at Stoke City the defending champions looked poised to trim Chelseas lead to five points only for Willian to break Evertons resistance with a crisp low strike at Stamford BridgeChelsea midfielder Willian celebrates with teammates after scoring the only goal of the match against Everton at Stamford Bridge in London on Wednesday PicAFPIts beautiful to win in the last minute and its so sad to lose said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho We are very very happy and we think we deserve it We fought so hard to try and win the game Mourinho handed a full debut to January signing Juan Cuadrado but in the ongoing absence of suspended top scorer Diego Costa his side were initially frustrated by Roberto Martinezs EvertonThe home side dominated the game with Willian and Cuadrado shooting offtarget in the first half and fitagain Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard thwarting Eden Hazard Nemanja Matic and Willian in the second Evertons best two chances fell to former Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku but he was denied on both occasions by Petr Cech Preferred to Thibaut Courtois the Czech shotstopper jutted out a foot to thwart his former teammate in the first half and then produced a stunning pointblank save to deny the Belgian in the 68th minuteChelsea thought they had broken the deadlock in the latter stages when a shot from Matic flicked off Branislav Ivanovic and went in but it was ruled out for offside Mourinhos men continued to press however and after Evertons Gareth Barry had been shown a second yellow card following a heated melee Willian snatched the winner Howard left his line to punch clear a high cross but could only send the ball to Willian who drilled a controlled shot through a crowd of players and into the bottomright cornerCitys victory at the Britannia Stadium constructed around a brace by Sergio Aguero ended a run of four games without a win as they returned to winning ways following a disappointing 1 home draw with Hull City The visitors were looking to record a first league win at Stoke in seven attempts and they took a 33rdminute lead when Aguero ran onto a punt from James Milner and fired into the bottomleft corner United reclaim third Peter Crouch equalised five minutes later stooping to head home a Marko Arnautovic cross at the far post but Milner put City back in front by heading in a cross from Samir Nasri early in the second periodAguero scored from the penalty spot after Geoff Cameron was adjudged to have fouled David Silva before Nasri got on the scoresheet in the 79th minute by surging to the edge of the box and slamming home We returned to our normal performance especially in the second half City manager Manuel Pellegrini told the BBCIt is important not just the score but also because it is not easy to score four goals at Stoke Elsewhere Manchester United climbed above Southampton and Arsenal to reclaim third place by winning 31 at home to secondbottom Burnley with early substitute Chris Smalling scoring twice Stung by accusations his side had played longball football in their 11 draw at West Ham United on Sunday United manager Louis van Gaal saw his team take a sixthminute lead courtesy of SmallingThe England defender had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds after replacing the injured Phil Jones when he scored with his first touch by heading home from a corner Danny Ings headed in Kieran Trippiers inviting cross to equalise six minutes later but another Smalling header restored Uniteds lead in firsthalf injury time before Robin van Persie added a late penalty I didnt like this performance today said Van GaalOf course we have won and the result is fantastic But after this match you cannot say that we are going up and I want to progress every match Southampton fell to fourth place after a 00 draw at home to West Ham in which visiting goalkeeper Adrian was sent off in the 61st minute for handling the ball outside his areaCrystal Palace manager Alan Pardews reunion with former club Newcastle United ended in a 11 draw at Selhurst Park with Fraizer Campbell cancelling out Papiss Cisses opener to earn the home side a point Meanwhile recalled strikers Brown Ideye and Saido Berhaino each scored secondhalf goals as West Bromwich Albion beat Swansea City 20 to climb to 14th