Belgium's Hazard spells World Cup danger for France

Eden Hazard scored twice as Chelsea exploited a slip-up by Manchester City to claim top spot in the Premier League by stylishly crushing Everton 5-0 on Saturday.

Marten de Roon's stoppage-time equaliser earned Middlesbrough a 1-1 draw at City and Antonio Conte's Chelsea took advantage to move a point clear of Pep Guardiola's side at the summit.

"When you win in this way it's fantastic because we played good football with good intensity," Conte told BT Sport.

"All the players played in the right way with and without the ball. We created many chances to score and also it's the fifth clean sheet in a row, which is fantastic.

"It is fantastic to be top of the league."

Arsenal and Liverpool could also surpass City before the weekend is out, the former tackling Tottenham Hotspur in Sunday's North London derby and the latter entertaining Watford.

Elsewhere, bottom club Sunderland ended their wait for a first win of the season at the 11th attempt by coming from behind to win 2-1 at Bournemouth despite having Steven Pienaar sent off.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea produced one of their most scintillating performances in recent memory as the 2014-15 champions made it five straight wins without conceding a goal.

Hazard opened the scoring in the 19th minute, drifting in from the left to drill a shot into the bottom-right corner, and a minute later Pedro Rodriguez teed up Marcos Alonso for the hosts' second.

Diego Costa made it 3-0 three minutes before half-time, slamming home at the back post after Nemanja Matic flicked on Hazard's corner to bring up his ninth goal of the campaign.

Chelsea's fourth goal was a jewel, Pedro returning Hazard's pass with a sweet back-heel and the Belgian dancing into the box from the right before lashing home with his left foot.

Pedro volleyed in the fifth, in the 65th minute, after Everton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg parried a shot from Hazard.

City went into their game on the back of a stirring 3-1 Champions League win over Barcelona and Boro's former Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes looked determined to restore Catalan pride at the Etihad Stadium.

He saved brilliantly from Sergio Aguero and David Silva, only for Aguero to put the hosts ahead in the 43rd minute by converting Kevin De Bruyne's sumptuous cross for his 150th goal in 223 City appearances.

Barnes late show

Boro showed more attacking intent in the second half, former City striker Alvaro Negredo almost catching out Claudio Bravo with an audacious lob from his own half before Bravo saved smartly from Adam Forshaw.

After Aguero had squandered a late chance, Dutch midfielder De Roon met George Friend's deep cross with a thumping header to earn Boro a dramatic point.

"We did absolutely everything to win the game. It is a pity," said Guardiola, whose side have drawn their last three home league games 1-1 following previous stalemates against Everton and Southampton.

"It is a miss because we have dropped six points in the last three home games, but we are still there. We have to move forward."

Sunderland remain bottom, below Swansea City on goal difference, but manager David Moyes belatedly has a victory to his name following a hard-fought success at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium.

After Adam Smith had teed up Dan Gosling to bundle in an 11th-minute opener for Bournemouth, Victor Anichebe equalised with his first Sunderland goal.

Pienaar was sent off just before the hour after receiving a second yellow card for a lunge on Junior Stanislas, but Jermain Defoe netted a 74th-minute winner from the spot after Smith felled Anichebe.

"It is a big relief," Moyes told Sky Sports. "We owed the supporters the victory. They have kept with us.

"We needed a win, but it is only one. We need a few more."

There was late drama at Turf Moor as Burnley withstood a Crystal Palace fightback to prevail 3-2 courtesy of Ashley Barnes's 94th-minute strike.

Sam Vokes and Johann Berg Gundmundsson put Burnley 2-0 up, only for Palace to hit back through second-half goals by substitute Connor Wickham and Christian Benteke.

But in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Gudmundsson crossed for Barnes to fire home and condemn Palace -- who later hit the post through Andros Townsend -- to a fourth straight defeat.

Stoke City drew 1-1 at West Ham United, Bojan Krkic exploiting an error by home goalkeeper Adrian to equalise in the 75th minute after a Glenn Whelan own goal had put the hosts ahead.

Eden Hazard says Chelsea will carry the momentum from their superb Champions League win over Atletico Madrid into Saturday's Stamford Bridge showdown with free-scoring Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Having fallen behind to Atletico in Madrid on Wednesday, Chelsea levelled when Hazard teed up Alvaro Morata and snatched a 2-1 victory with the last kick of the game when substitute Michy Batshuayi stabbed home.

City have been in stunning form since the start of the season, but Hazard believes beating Atletico -- Champions League finalists in two of the past four seasons -- shows Chelsea can compete with anyone.

"Since I came here, it's the first time we've beaten a really good, really strong team in the Champions League," Hazard told the Chelsea website.

"We did well, from the first (whistle) to the end of the game. That means we are a good team, we have good players.

"We are very confident, trust me, but Man City are also playing well so it should be a good game. Two great teams, two great managers. We will see."

Hazard, 26, has been eased back into the team by manager Antonio Conte after undergoing ankle surgery and following three substitute appearances in the league, he is expected to return to the starting line-up against City.

The Belgian's return to fitness, and form, is a boon for Conte, whose only gripe after Wednesday's game was that his team have been left with such a relatively short space of time to prepare for Saturday's match.

Whereas the west London club did not return home until the early hours of Thursday morning, City's players have had time to rest up since their 2-0 home win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday.

Even before their win over Atletico, Chelsea had shown signs of returning to last season's title-winning form.

- Test of character -

Their 0-0 draw with Arsenal two weeks ago represented the only points they have dropped since their shock 3-2 defeat at home to Burnley on the season's opening weekend.

Morata netted a hat-trick in last weekend's 4-0 success at Stoke City and his goal against Atletico means he has now found the net seven times in eight games since his close-season switch from Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola's City know a thing or two about scoring goals themselves, of course, having wracked up no fewer than 16 on their last three league outings against Liverpool (5-0), Watford (0-6) and Crystal Palace (5-0).

Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane have amassed 23 goals between them in all competitions and midfielder Fernandinho has revealed City's attackers are engaged in a private goal-scoring competition.

But City lost home and away to Chelsea last season and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan knows the trip to Stamford Bridge will be a test of his side's standing as early title favourites.

"It's a huge game and it's away, so it's even more difficult, but we feel ready," said the Germany international, whose side lead Manchester United on goal difference.

"If you ask the manager there is always something to improve, but we know that we are a great team, we have great players and it's just up to us to prove that every fourth day.

"It's also about character, going to Stamford Bridge against the champions to play our game.

"We're going to prove that we are ready for that and hopefully it will be a great game for us."

With Benjamin Mendy facing a long period on the sidelines, Fabian Delph could again fill in at left-back for City, his recent displays in the position having helped him to earn an England recall on Thursday.

Manchester City's defensive resilience in the absence of the injured Benjamin Mendy faces its first and arguably toughest test when the Premier League leaders travel to champions Chelsea.

The 23-year-old France full-back has been in fine form for City since his £50 million ($67 million, 57 million euros) pre-season move from Monaco.

But Thursday saw City announce Mendy will undergo surgery in Barcelona on Friday after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during last weekend's victory over Crystal Palace.

"Bad news guys -- I'll be joining Injury FC on loan for a couple months with ruptured ACL... but will be back soon & stronger hopefully," tweeted Mendy.

City manager Pep Guardiola is under pressure to make good on a huge amount of pre-season spending that saw him splash out more than £130 million on three full-backs alone by bringing major silverware back to the Etihad Stadium.

The Spanish manager, speaking before the full extent of Mendy's injury was confirmed Thursday, said: "We have Danilo, (Fabian) Delph and (Oleks) Zinchenko who can play there so we will see as we go along."

Both City and Chelsea, three points behind both Guardiola's men and second-placed Manchester United, go into Saturday's game on the back of midweek Champions League victories over Shakhtar Donetsk and Atletico Madrid respectively.

- 'Penalised' -

But Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is unhappy that, while City played at home on Tuesday, his side have a short turnaround after arriving back in London in the early ours of Thursday morning following their success in the Spanish capital.

"I think we are a bit penalised," said Conte. "Man City is a really strong team. They are scoring a lot of goals (21 in six Premier League games alone), they are in a good moment of form and we have to prepare well (for) this game because it is very important.

"There is the international break (after this weekend)," the Italian added. "My surprise is for this because there is the time (to play the game later)."

United will be huge favourites to beat basement club Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Far from soaring, the Eagles have lost all six of their league matches so far this season and have still to score their first top-flight goal of a campaign where they have already sacked Frank de Boer and brought in former England boss Roy Hodgson -- a boyhood Palace fan -- in a bid to arrest their slump.

Tottenham Hotspur, fresh from seeing England striker Harry Kane score a hat-trick in a 3-0 Champions League win away to APOEL Nicosia, are at surprise high-flyers Huddersfield while Watford will look to consolidate their position in the top half at West Bromwich Albion.

Elsewhere West Ham, with just Bournemouth and Palace below them in the table, will hope to ease the pressure on manager Slaven Bilic when they welcome Swansea to the London Stadium, while Southampton are away to Stoke.

The pick of Sunday's three Premier League matches sees Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez up against former club Liverpool, who this week drew 1-1 away to Spartak Moscow in the Champions League, at St James' Park in a fixture long known for producing high-scoring encounters.

Arsenal and Everton, fresh from Europa League duty, are at home to Brighton and Burnley respectively.

Fixtures (1400 GMT unless stated)

Saturday

Bournemouth v Leicester, Chelsea v Manchester City (1630 GMT), Huddersfield v Tottenham (1130 GMT), Manchester United v Crystal Palace, Stoke v Southampton, West Brom v Watford, West Ham v Swansea

Sunday

Arsenal v Brighton (1100 GMT), Everton v Burnley (1315 GMT), Newcastle v Liverpool (1430 GMT)

Didier Deschamps proclaimed France’s second World Cup triumph was “just as beautiful” as their first after leading them to glory again 20 years on, but Croatia defender Dejan Lovren said that Deschamps' team "did not play football."

"I'm disappointed because we lost the game, we played much, much better football than them, but on the other hand I'm proud of this team and what we have achieved," Lovren said.

"We played beautiful football again. France were one of the favourites to win the World Cup and they did it. I think we were better. They did it another way. They didn't play football, they waited for their chances and they scored. They had their own tactic and you need to respect that. They played the tournament like that, every game, but when you look at all the countries behind us, we're second.” he added.

"There's nothing to talk about now. It's difficult to describe. Maybe after a week or two, a couple of months... right now, it's difficult. Some moments I feel sad, some moments I'm happy. Overall, I'm proud."

Ivan Perisic conceded the first-half penalty after referee Nestor Pitana penalised him for handball following a VAR review.

"I was sure he would not give the pen," said the Liverpool centre-back. "From my point of view, he [Perisic] could not react.

"It was a critical moment, we came back at 1-1, and then this penalty and then 3-1, 4-1, but even then we didn't stop playing football, we still believed, we gave everything, and this is why people are proud now in Croatia."

Didier Deschamps' side had claimed a 1-0 over Belgium in the semifinals with a defensive masterclass which left Belgium star Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois deeply unimpressed with what he felt were overly cagey tactics by France in the semi-final, and now Lovren also felt the frustration of coming up against Deschamps's style. Not always the most entertaining, however, in the end, French squad just had too much talent at its disposal to get the job done.

Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard believes the club are inching ever closer towards the Premier League title but remains wary of getting too carried away as there are still plenty of points up for grabs.

Chelsea, who lost to Crystal Palace last weekend, made a swift return to winning ways with a 2-1 home win over fourth-placed Manchester City on Wednesday, with Hazard scoring both goals for the hosts.

The win helped the league leaders retain a seven-point cushion over second-placed Tottenham Hotspur with eight games remaining.

"We are nearly there but there is a long way to go," Hazard told BT Sport. "We have some difficult games but we are ready for everything. We have eight games to play. We want to finish top. That's the target."

Following an entertaining first half at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea opted to sit back on a one-goal lead in the second half and Hazard said the result was more important than the display.

"I don't know if the way we played was beautiful but the most important thing is to win games," the Belgian added.

"I think the way we played we can do better but after a defeat it's good to come back here and win three points."

Chelsea travel to 13th-placed Bournemouth on Saturday.

Premier League-leading Chelsea's success on the pitch has been recognised by the Professional Footballer's Association (PFA) with Eden Hazard and N'Golo Kante making the shortlist for the organisation's Players' Player of the Year award.

The six-player list named on Thursday also includes Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane, Manchester United's leading scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Everton striker Romelu Lukaku and Arsenal talisman Alexis Sanchez.

Chelsea's title charge has been led by Belgian winger Hazard, who has scored 14 goals, and defensive midfielder Kante, who is named for the second year in a row, the Frenchman having helped Leicester City win the Premier League last season.

With Arsenal looking unlikely to end their 13-year wait for the title, Sanchez has single-handedly kept the North London club in the hunt for a top-four finish with 18 goals this campaign.

Everton's Lukaku leads the race for the golden boot with 23 goals, followed by Kane on 19 goals.

Ibrahimovic, 35, has bagged 17 league goals in his first season in England, having joined United from Paris St Germain at the start of the campaign.

Spurs midfielder Dele Alli is in contention to retain his Young Player of the Year award, joined on that list by team mate Kane, Lukaku, Manchester City winger Leroy Sane, Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Burnley defender Michael Keane.

Alli, 21, joined from second-tier side Milton Keynes Dons in 2015 and his 16 goals and five assists have been crucial to second-placed Spurs' title hopes this season.

The award winner will be announced on April 23.