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Chelsea held to draw by Burnley, Manchester United lose in Premier League

Associated Press Saturday, 21 February 2015, 18:51 Last update: about 10 years ago

Chelsea gave renewed hope to Manchester City in the English Premier League title race on Saturday by drawing 1-1 at home to relegation-threatened Burnley, while Manchester United's top-four hopes were damaged with a loss at Swansea.

Ben Mee headed in from a corner in the 81st minute to cancel out Branislav Ivanovic's first-half opener for Chelsea, which had key midfielder Nemanja Matic sent off before Burnley's equalizer.

Second-place City will trim the gap to Chelsea to five points by beating Newcastle in the late game.

United lost for only the second time since November — and could find itself out of the Champions League qualification places by the end of the weekend — as Swansea came from behind to win 2-1.

Arsenal jumped ahead of United into third place with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace thanks to goals by Santi Cazorla, from the penalty spot, and Olivier Giroud. Fifth-place Southampton hosts Liverpool on Sunday.

Tim Sherwood made a disappointing start to his managerial career at Aston Villa, with the team losing 2-1 at home to Stoke to stay in the relegation zone and drop below Burnley on goal difference.

Queens Park Rangers is only out of the bottom three because of goal difference after losing 2-1 at Hull, where it had midfielder Joey Barton sent off in the 32nd minute for hitting out at two opponents. Hull scored an 89th-minute winner through Dame N'Doye.

In the other game, Sunderland was held 0-0 by West Bromwich Albion.

Matic, who has been one of Chelsea's most important players this season, will miss the next weekend's League Cup final as well as league games against West Ham and Southampton, adding to coach Jose Mourinho's sense of injustice at the end of an action-packed game at Stamford Bridge.

Ashley Barnes escaped punishment in the 70th minute for a high challenge on Matic, who then angrily pushed the Burnley striker and received a straight red card. Chelsea also had two strong penalty claims dismissed.

It is only the second time Chelsea has dropped points at home in the league.

United went ahead in the 28th minute through Ander Herrera but South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-yueng equalized two minutes later and Jonjo Shelvey grabbed the winner with a 25-meter shot.

Since losing at Manchester City on Nov. 2, United's only defeat in 20 matches had come at home to Southampton.

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