LONDON — David Silva sparkled for Manchester City with two goals in a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace that wiped out Chelsea's lead at the top of the table and added festive spice to the Premier League title race Saturday. Manchester United's pursuit of the table-topper stalled with a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, its first dropped points in seven games, as local rival City came through an encounter with Palace that threatened to turn into a frustrating occasion. Silva eased an increasingly tense atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium when he broke the deadlock shortly after halftime and then put an efficient victory to bed with his second goal soon after. Yaya Toure emphatically smashed home a late third. The victory for City, which is having to cope without all its main strikers through injury, moved it level on 39 points with Chelsea, which visits Stoke City Monday, and ignited a title battle that had looked to be a one-horse parade. Champion City trailed Chelsea by eight points in November, but has cranked into gear heading into the busy festive period, taking 22 points from a possible 24 in its last eight games. United is seven points adrift and one in front of a West Ham United side which will occupy a coveted top four spot at Christmas after a 2-0 home win over bottom club Leicester City. Southampton's woes were forgotten as it beat Everton 3-0 after four straight league defeats, while Tottenham Hotspur kept up its pursuit of a top-four spot with a 2-1 home win against Burnley to move above Arsenal, which visit Liverpool Sunday. Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin scored a superb hat trick as they fought back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at home to West Bromwich Albion, but seecond-bottom Hull City's troubles continued with a 1-0 home defeat by Swansea City. Suarez finally scores Luis Suarez's long wait for a goal in the Spanish league finally ended when he added to Lionel Messi's brace to give Barcelona a 5-0 win over Cordoba Saturday. After putting Barcelona ahead two minutes in at Camp Nou, Pedro Rodriguez passed in the 53rd for Suarez to net his first goal in eight league matches following his four-month biting ban. Suarez had scored twice in the Champions League. Gerard Pique headed in Barcelona's third in the 80th before Messi struck his team-leading 14th and 15th league goals of the season. Barcelona pulled to within one point of Real Madrid, which won't play its game against Sevilla from this round until Feb. 4 because it was playing the final of the Club World Cup in Morocco late Saturday. Messi's two goals were 22nd and 23rd through 22 games in all competitions. A first-half goal by Tomer Hemed gave Almeria a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo Friday for its third win this season. Dortmund slumps to 10th defeat of Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund's miserable Bundesliga season was extended by a 2-1 loss at last-place Werder Bremen Saturday, the 2011 and 2012 champion's 10th defeat. Davie Selke scored one goal and set up another for Bremen to climb off the bottom and leave Dortmund provisionally second-to-last after 17 games. The 19-year-old Selke opened the scoring with a fine finish in the third minute and easily eluded Mats Hummels before crossing for Fin Bartels to make it 2-0 in the 62nd. Hummels atoned, somewhat, with a flying header to Ilkay Gundogan's corner in the 69th. Elsewhere, Augsburg surprised Borussia Moenchengladbach with a 2-1 win, Bayer Leverkusen drew 1-1 with Eintracht Frankfurt, while Schalke vs. Hamburger SV and Stuttgart vs. Paderborn finished scoreless. Arjen Robben's last-minute strike gave Bayern Munich a 2-1 win at Mainz to set a Bundesliga record for points at the halfway stage of the season Friday. Robben was free to convert Juan Bernat's cross from close range after Mainz lost the ball in midfield, giving Bayern 45 points from 17 games, bettering the club's own mark of 44 set midway through the 2005-06 season. “I have to be honest, I'm very happy with the win but I'm sorry for Mainz. They gave it everything, left everything on the pitch, and were really well supported by their fans,” Robben said. — Agencies
