Ba's strike against 10-man Swansea keeps Chelsea in title hunt

Second-placed Chelsea won 1-0 at Swansea City on Sunday, taking advantage of playing against 10 men for most of the match to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Liverpool.

That left Chelsea two points behind Liverpool after 34 games each with Jose Mourinho’s team due to travel to Anfield for a potential title decider in two weeks time.

Earlier, the Merseysiders improved their prospects of a first English title for 24 years with a thrilling 3-2 win over third-placed Manchester City who are now seven points behind the leaders but have two games in hand.

Chelsea were well on top after Swansea’s Spanish defender Chico Flores was sent off in the first quarter of an hour for two yellow cards.

But they could not make a breakthrough until the 67th minute when Demba Ba, the goalscoring hero in the Champions League quarter-final win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, did the trick again.

Swansea, who have dropped into the bottom six since sacking Michael Laudrup as manager in February, are only three points above the relegation places with four matches left.

Reuters