Chelsea ease past Leicester, Arsenal thrash Swansea, Tottenham second on the Table

Chelsea cruised to a comfortable 3-0 victory at struggling Premier League champions Leicester City to stretch their lead at the top of the table to seven points.

The Blues were without Diego Costa amid reports of a row with Antonio Conte and a lucrative transfer offer from the Chinese Super League, although Conte later said the striker had a back injury.

His absence proved no hindrance to Chelsea, who produced a dominant performance and took the lead after only six minutes. The goal came when defender Marcos Alonso found himself unattended inside the area and fired a low shot into the corner after Eden Hazard had slid the ball across to him.

Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes tried to conjure a response, with Ben Chilwell heading a difficult chance wide after Marc Albrighton had produced an excellent cross.

But the Londoners were controlling the bulk of the game, despite a moment of panic in their backline after a dangerous low Jamie Vardy cross, and doubled their advantage five minutes into the second half as Alonso struck again.

A free-kick was cleared to the edge of the Leicester box where Alonso took a touch to control and fire in a low shot that cannoned off Wes Morgan and eluded Kasper Schmeichel.

And the visitors put the icing on the cake when ex-Leicester man N’Golo Kante found Pedro and he flicked the ball to Willian, who turned it back across for Pedro to head home a high-quality goal.

Arsenal moved up to third as a 4-0 win at Swansea City saw them move ahead of Liverpool on goal difference.

They took the lead after 38 minutes as Sanchez turned provider when his cross was headed down by Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud converted for his fifth goal in five games.

Giroud was replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after taking a knock to the foot, but Arsenal soon scored the second goal when an Alex Iwobi cross looped in off the unfortunate Jack Cork.

With 68 minutes gone, any lingering doubts about the result were removed when another Iwobi cross was deflected in by a Swansea player, this time Naughton.

And with a little over a quarter of an hour still to play, Oxlade-Chamberlain crossed and the ball deflected off Wayne Routledge for Sanchez to steer home number four as Arsenal edged ahead of Liverpool prior to their match against Manchester United on Sunday.

Harry Kane hit a hat trick as Tottenham Hotspur brushed aside the challenge of West Bromwich Albion to win 4-0 and move up to second.

Spurs were 2-0 up after a dominant first half in which they comprehensively outplayed the Baggies at White Hart Lane, with Kane and Christian Eriksen’s twice-deflected shot giving them a cushion.

Spurs lost defender Jan Vertonghen when he appeared to twist an ankle after the break, but they put the game beyond doubt when Kyle Walker set Kane up for the third.

The England man then guided Dele Alli’s superb pass home to complete his treble as Spurs moved up to second, a point clear of Liverpool.

Stoke City eased to a 3-1 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light as the hosts’ winless run extended to four games.

Sunderland have not left the relegation zone since August, and their hopes of moving clear on Saturday were soon extinguished.

Hull City recovered to beat Bournemouth 3-1 with a double from Abel Hernandez giving new manager Marco Silva the ideal league debut as they leapt from last place above Swansea and Sunderland, who were beaten 3-1 at home by Stoke City.

Peter Crouch scored his 99th league goal for the Potters – a header, naturally – while Marko Arnautovic netted twice, but the goal of the day came from West Ham’s Andy Carroll who struck an astonishing mid-air volley in a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Joey Barton made a remarkable return for his old club Burnley, coming on as a substitute and scoring with a free-kick in the 1-0 win over Southampton.