CLICK ON THE SCORES FOR FULL MATCH REPORT
| TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2014 | |||||
| Status | Home | Score | Away | Venue | |
| FT | Cardiff City | 0-0 | Aston Villa | Cardiff City Stadium (27,597) | |
| FT | Hull City | 0-1 | Southampton | The Kingston Communications Stadium (23,670) | |
| FT | West Ham United | 2-0 | Norwich City | Upton Park (35,153) | |
| FT | West Bromwich Albion | 1-1 | Chelsea | The Hawthorns (24,327) | |
Anichebe strike rocks Blues
PA Sport
The Premier League title race has taken another twist as Chelsea missed their chance to cement their place at the top of the table after Victor Anichebe’s late leveller earned West Brom a 1-1 draw at the Hawthorns.
The Blues remain at the top-flight summit despite the draw, though the result means they could potentially slip to third if rivals Man City and Arsenal win on Wednesday night.
Branislav Ivanovic had given the visitors a 1-0 lead just before the break, but Jose Mourinho’s side paid the price for not taking their chances as Anichebe glanced home after 87 minutes.
It wasn’t a vintage performance from the table toppers and, in truth, Ben Foster’s goalkeeping was one of the main reasons behind their inability to score a second.
Chelsea now need results to go in their favour for them to remain at the top of the division heading into the weekend, while a share of the spoils sees West Brom edge out of the relegation zone, above Sunderland.
Southampton moved up to eighth as they defeated Hull City 1-0 on Humberside.
Tigers goalkeeper Steven Harper did well to deny Rickie Lambert early on, as the Saints took the game to their hosts, but team-mate Paul McShane was forced from the field on a stretcher after clattering into the veteran shot-stopper.
Striker Shane Long hit the post soon after for the Tigers, but the Saints also struck the woodwork as Jay Rodriguez fired a shot onto the crossbar.
In the end it was Southampton who snatched all three points. After an almighty scramble ensued in the penalty area, Lambert hammered the ball into the back of the net to make sure, but it was Jose Fonte’s shot which crossed the goal-line first.
Elsewhere, West Ham move up to tenth in the division after claiming a 2-0 victory over Norwich City on home soil.
Hammers goalkeeper Adrian did well to paw away Gary Hooper’s ninth minute header and the Spaniard later produced a smart stop when Robert Snodgrass was sent through one-on-one.
A summer signing from Real Betis, Adrian certainly earned his corn as he then saved well from Alex Tettey before half-time.
Lennox Lewis was watching from the stands at Upton Park but Norwich City just couldn’t land a knockout blow, with Hooper squandering another opportunity.
And after all the Canaries’ dominance, James Collins out-jumped their defence six minutes from time and hit them with a sucker punch before Mohamed Diame’s deflected effort in added time made sure they took the spoils.
Meanwhile, in Wales, Cardiff City and Aston Villa played out a goalless draw.
After 34 minutes Wilfried Zaha thought he’d opened the scoring for the hosts, but he was correctly denied his first goal for the Bluebirds by the linesman.
And Gabriel Agbonlahor could have won the game for Paul Lambert’s side but he dallied and allowed Kevin Theophile-Catherine to get back and thwart him.
Talksport
