Chelsea maintained its stranglehold on the Premier League by beating Sunderland 1-0 Wednesday to register its 10th successive win and move six points clear at the top of the table. Cesc Fabregas's first-half strike ensured the Blues took full advantage of Tuesday's slip-up by second-placed Arsenal to leave Liverpool, 3-0 winner at Middlesbrough, and Manchester City, who beat Watford 2-0, to keep up the chase. Manchester United continued its recent improvement with a 2-1 victory at Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion's Salomon Rondon took the individual honors with a hat trick of headers in a 3-1 win over Swansea City. Chelsea's win was particularly welcome because it came without the injured Eden Hazard. One of the secrets behind its success has been continuity of selection so manager Antonio Conte will be delighted at the way his revamped midfield of Fabregas and Willian combined beautifully just before halftime for the Spaniard to score the goal which confirmed Chelsea's best run since 2005-06. "I prefer my players not to look at the table and to focus on the next game in three days. We must prepare very well to have a good Christmas." That seems guaranteed since Chelsea will definitely top the table on Dec. 25. On each of the previous four occasions it has done that it has gone on to win the title. Liverpool overtook Arsenal in second place after a comfortable 3-0 win at Middlesbrough with Adam Lallana involved in all three goals, scoring twice and laying on another for Divock Origi. Manager Juergen Klopp reacted to dropping five points in the last two games by picking Simon Mignolet in goal ahead of Loris Karius and the Belgian responded with one outstanding save in a clean sheet. Manchester City also put recent stutters behind it as goals from Pablo Zabaleta — his first in two years — and David Silva secured a 2-0 win over Watford, only its fifth victory in 16 games. Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur comfortably overcame Hull City 3-0 while Jose Mourinho's Manchester United is starting to get a return on the huge money it invested in Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. James McArthur looked to have earned Palace a point after cancelling out Pogba's opener but Swede Ibrahimovic struck two minutes from time. West Bromwich Albion moved up to seventh, one place behind United, after Rondon became the first player to score a hat trick of headers in the Premier League since Duncan Ferguson in 1997. West Ham beat Burnley 1-0 with a goal from Mark Noble after his penalty was parried by Tom Heaton. Stoke City striker Marko Arnautovic was sent off in his side's 0-0 draw with Southampton, Stoke boss Mark Hughes's 400th game as a Premier League manager. PSG, Monaco cruise Defending champion Paris Saint-Germain eased into the French League Cup quarterfinals Wednesday with a 3-1 win over Lille while Monaco routed Rennes 7-0. However, Ligue 1 leader Nice was knocked out, going down 3-2 to Bordeaux in their last-16 tie. PSG will face Metz, which won a penalty shootout 11-10 against Toulouse. Title-chasing Monaco saw 17-year-old Kylian Mbappe hit his first professional hat trick as the Principality side also made the quarterfinals. Mbappe, who turns 18 on Dec. 20, now has six goals for the season in all competitions. Rennes will be fed up of the sight of the Stade Louis II where it lost 3-0 in a league game in September. Lyon also exited the tournament, losing 4-3 on penalties at home to Guingamp after a 2-2 draw in normal time where they twice came back from a goal down. On Tuesday, Marseille crashed out after losing 4-3 on penalties to second-tier Sochaux following a 1-1 draw. — Agencies
