Chelsea thrashes Sunderland 7-2 to keep Premier League lead; Man United beats Burnley 3-0

Chelsea romps to 7-2 win over Sunderland

LONDON — First-place Chelsea routed Sunderland 7-2 in the Premier League on Saturday, while second-place Manchester United downed Burnley 3-0 and Manchester City lost 2-0 to Everton for its first defeat under Roberto Mancini.

Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka scored two goals each for Chelsea, which dismantled an injury-hit Sunderland squad and remained a point ahead of United with a game in hand.

“We have just given maybe our best performance of the season,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “This is how we should continue to play from now until the end of the campaign.”

Defending champion United took until the second half to get going against Burnley, with Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Mame Biram Diouf scoring.

Man City had won its last four league matches — three since Mancini took charge — before losing at Everton. American midfielder Landon Donovan — on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy — made his home debut for Everton. Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha scored in the first half.

Tottenham took fourth place from City despite drawing 0-0 with Hull. Liverpool yielded a 90th-minute goal in a 1-1 draw at Stoke to remain seventh. Wigan moved four points clear of the relegation zone, with James McCarthy and Charles N’Zogbia scoring in a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton.

FRANKFURT (AP) — Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s stay at the top of the Bundesliga after less than 24 hours by beating Mainz 4-2.

Bayern beat Hoffenheim Friday night to start the second half of the season and claim first place for the first time in more than a year. Leverkusen, however, rallied against the promoted team to remain unbeaten in 18 games.

Leverkusen fell behind when Tim Hoogland scored for Mainz after eight minutes, but coach Jupp Heynckes’ team then scored three goals and cruised home.

“We reacted well after falling behind, we had problems at the start,” Heynckes said. “We played well after that and we should have scored more goals in the second half.”

Leverkusen has 38 points, two more than Bayern. Hamburg has 34 and leads Schalke on goal difference. Stuttgart beat defending champion Wolfsburg 3-1 to escape the relegation zone.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Rangers moved nine points ahead of Celtic in the Scottish Premier League title race after beating Hamilton 1-0 while its Glasgow rival was held to a 1-1 tie at home by last-place Falkirk.

Nacho Novo scored in the second half for Rangers, who moved closer to a second straight title.

Carl Finnigan gave Falkirk a 19th-minute lead after a slip by Darren O’Dea, and Celtic struggled before Georgios Samaras evened the score five minutes before the break.

Dundee United moved past Hibernian into third place after a 1-0 win in the rain. Motherwell beat Kilmarnock 3-0 and Michael Stewart’s first-half penalty kick gave Hearts a 1-0 victory over St. Mirren.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Substitute Vassilis Koutsianikoulis gave 10-man PAOK a 1-0 win over Asteras in the Greek league.

Koutsianikoulis scored on a counterattack in the 54th minute after receiving a pass from Vladan Ivic. PAOK stayed in third place in the 16-team standings with 37 points, seven fewer than leader Panathinaikos, which hosts Panthrakikos on Sunday.

PAOK’s Vieirinha was sent off in the 20th minute.