LONDON — Arsenal's improbable late run at the Premier League title gained further momentum with a 1-0 win over strugglers Burnley Saturday, an eighth straight success that moved it four points behind leader Chelsea. Arsene Wenger's side did not have to be at its best to overcome an organized Burnley, which stays second from bottom in the table, but scored early through Aaron Ramsey and then eased through largely unthreatened. While Chelsea, which plays Queens Park Rangers Sunday, has two games in hand, Wenger's side hosts the leader in two weeks. At the other end of the table, Aston Villa took another step toward safety after Christian Benteke's goal secured a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur as manager Tim Sherwood enjoyed a winning return to his former club. Villa, which moved up to 15th on 32 points, is six clear of the relegation zone. It is a place and three points above Sunderland, whose own battle to avoid the drop suffered in a stinging 4-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace with Yannick Bolasie completing a 12-minute hat trick for the visitors. The relegation battle remains a congested dogfight with bottom club Leicester City continuing its escape bid with a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion as Hull City missed the chance to put clear water between itself and danger. Hull lost 2-0 to Southampton to stay 17th, while Ronald Koeman's side moved up to fifth on 56 points, above Liverpool and five behind fourth-placed Manchester City which takes on local rival Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Stoke City's Marko Arnautovic scored in the 90th minute to snatch a 1-1 draw with West Ham United and Swansea City equaled their highest ever points tally (47) in a Premier League season following a 1-1 draw with Everton. Ronaldo strikes again Cristiano Ronaldo scored his Spanish league-leading 38th goal of the season to help Real Madrid ease to a 3-0 win over Eibar Saturday and keep the pressure on Barcelona. Madrid pulled to within one point of leader Barcelona which later visits a Sevilla side that hasn't lost at home in over a year. Ronaldo sent a bouncing free kick over the wall and beyond goalkeeper Xabi Irureta in the 21st minute at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Little-used striker Javier Hernandez doubled the lead in the 31st, and youngster Jese Rodriguez capped the one-sided match in the 83rd. Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti rested several first-choice players with his team playing at crosstown rival Atletico Madrid Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. Parma stuns Juventus Parma pulled off the biggest surprise of the season Saturday as the crisis-hit club beat runaway leader Juventus 1-0 in Serie A. Jose Mauri scored the only goal of the game on the hour mark, while a string of fine saves from Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante also helped Roberto Donadoni's side to a memorable win. Parma was declared bankrupt last month and its players have not been paid all season, but it has now strung a series of positive results together, with a 1-0 victory over Udinese midweek and last weekend's 1-1 draw at Inter Milan. It is still in last place, 10 points from safety, with nine matches remaining. Juventus, which hosts Monaco in the Champions League Tuesday, has a 14-point lead over Roma, which visits Torino Sunday. Bayern stays on course Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern Munich moved a step closer to the Bundesliga title while his former club Borussia Dortmund slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach Saturday. Lewandowski scored in either half — the first a wonderful volley — and Thomas Mueller added another from a difficult angle in the 82nd minute to give injury-hit Bayern a 3-0 win at home over similarly depleted Eintracht Frankfurt. Poor defending cost Dortmund dearly in Moenchengladbach, where Oscar Wendt scored in the first minute before Raffael and Havard Nordtveit made it 3-0. Ilkay Gundogan scored Dortmund's consolation in the 77th. Bayer Leverkusen stayed two points behind third place ‘Gladbach with a 3-2 win at Mainz, Paderborn defeated Augsburg 2-1, and Schalke was held to a 0-0 draw by Freiburg. Monaco grabs 3rd position Monaco collected its fourth consecutive away win to leapfrog Marseille into third place in the French Ligue 1 on Friday with a 3-0 success at Caen. Anthony Martial and Bernado Silva scored the goals that put Monaco a point ahead of Marseille, before it travels to Turin Tuesday to take on Juventus in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg. — Agencies
