Story highlights
Chelsea beat Norwich 4-1 at Stamford Bridge
Win leaves Chelsea four points clear at top of EPL
John Terry and Ashley Cole both play
Manchester City beat Sunderland 3-0 to go second
Chelsea continued to set the pace in the English Premier League with a comfortable 4-1 win over Norwich City at Stamford Bridge Saturday.
Norwich took an unlikely 11th minute lead through their star striker Grant Holt, but it was to prove short lived once the west London side got into their stride.
Goals from Fernando Torres, his 99th in English football, Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard put them 3-1 ahead by half time.
Branislav Ivanovic rounded off the scoring with an emphatic fourth in the 78th minute.
Both John Terry and Ashley Cole played and were given a warm reception by the home crowd.
Cole was forced to apologize Friday for a controversial Twitter comment as he reacted to the findings of an FA commission into the racial slur case brought against Terry.
The commission found Terry’s evidence at the hearing “improbable, implausible and contrived” as they gave the reasons for his four-match ban and large fine for remarks aimed at QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in an EPL game last season.
He has until October 18 to appeal the decision or accept a ban which would rule him out of crucial games.
Manager Roberto Di Matteo confirmed after the game that Cole was likely to face action from the club over his tweet.
“We’ve got a social media policy at the club and there’s going to be a disciplinary process against the tweet and that’s how I’ll leave it,” Di Matteo said.
Chelsea have opened up a four-point lead over defendiing champions Manchester City, while Norwich are winless in the league this season.
Earlier Saturday, City accounted for Sunderland 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium, set on their way by a first half strike from Aleksandar Kolarov.
But with the visitors showing signs of getting back into the match, manager Roberto Mancini substituted Mario Balotelli, who looked disgruntled, with Sergio Aguero.
The hero of City’s last-gasp title success did not take long to make his mark, connecting with a cross to make it 2-0.
James Milner added a late goal for City, who were held 1-1 in midweek in the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund and were winning for just the second time in seven games in all competitions.
In the late kickoff, Arsenal stepped up their challenge with a 3-1 win at West Ham.
Mohamed Diame gave West Ham the first half lead but French striker Olivier Giroud scored to level just before halftime for the Gunners.
Theo Walcott came on to put Arsenal ahead in the second half before Santi Cazorla completed the win late on to lift his side into fifth place.