Leicester moved up in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Arsenal on Saturday and further dented the Gunners’ hopes of a top-four finish.
Chelsea was also 2-0 victors against Crystal Palace.
But it was another woeful afternoon for north London’s big two as Tottenham were held 1-1 at home by Sheffield United to slip to 12th.
Leicester and Chelsea took advantage of kicking off a day earlier to move a point ahead of City and close to within five of Liverpool.
The Foxes’ superior goal difference momentarily took them into second as second-half strikes from Jamie Vardy and James Maddison piled more pressure on beleaguered Arsenal boss Unai Emery.
“I’m playing probably the best that I ever have,” said Vardy, one of the heroes of Leicester’s remarkable 2015/16 Premier League title win.
“There’s a lot of momentum round the club and everyone’s enjoying themselves. That enjoyment comes with winning.”
Arsenal is now eight points adrift of the top four and will fall even further.
“We are very ambitious in our target, but we know we need time and patience,” said Emery, who faces an anxious wait to see if his wish will be granted by the Arsenal board with a two-week international break coming up.
Chelsea was equally as impressive with a patient performance to break down a defensively dogged Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.
Tammy Abraham opened the scoring as the England striker pounced on a deft flick through by Willian seven minutes into the second half.
Christian Pulisic then secured all three points when the American headed home his fifth goal in his last three Premier League games.
Tottenham were lucky to even escape with a point as Sheffield United impressed once more to move up to fifth.
A rare defensive error from the Blades set up Son Heung-min to open the scoring with his eighth goal of the season just before the hour mark.
David McGoldrick thought he had levelled almost immediately, but after a three-minute delay the goal was ruled out for John Lundstram being millimetres offside in the build-up.
To their credit, Chris Wilder’s men were not downhearted and survived another VAR review when George Baldock’s cross from the right evaded everyone and found the bottom corner.
West Ham’s woes continued as Manuel Pellegrini’s men were beaten 3-0 at Burnley to stretch their winless streak to seven games.
Everton moved six points clear of the relegation zone thanks to a 2-1 win at Southampton to ease the pressure on Marco Silva.
Newcastle are now seven points clear of the drop zone as they came from behind to beat Bournemouth 2-1 at St James’ Park thanks to goals from DeAndre Yedlin and Ciaran Clark. –AFP
