Fernando Torres finally found form in front of goal with a hat-trick against QPR on Sunday. His Chelsea side cruised past local rivals Rangers 6-1, with Daniel Sturridge, John Terry and Florent Malouda scoring the other goals before Djibril Cisse pulled one back for the visitors.
Blackburn gave a poor account of themselves against Tottenham, failing to register a single shot over the 90 minutes in a 2-0 defeat which sees them with three points to make up to avoid relegation with two games remaining.
Wigan’s survival hopes continued to improve with a remarkable 4-0 victory at home to Champions League-chasing Newcastle. Four first half games gave Wigan some breathing space and would have been enough even if Papiss Cisse had scored in a seventh-straight game rather than hit the woodword twice.
Bolton gained a well-deserved point away at Sunderland thanks to a brace from club captain Kevin Davies who showed his worth after being recalled to the starting line-up.
The shackles were off Wolves whose relegation was confirmed last week as they battled back from a three-goal deficit to draw 4-4 with Swansea.
Southampton confirmed their place in next season’s Premier League with a 2-0 win over already-relegated Coventry. West Ham beat Hull but needed Saints to slip up stand any chance of reclaiming the automatic promotion place which they occupied for so much of the season.
They will now face Cardiff in the playoffs semi-final while Birmingham play Blackpool in the other tie.
Celtic beat Rangers 3-0 in what could be the last ever Old Firm derby. They made light work of their rivals and after the match Rangers manager Ally McCoist suggested liquidation was a real possibility, saying after the match that it “looks more of a possibility now than ever”.
Leinster have made it to the final of the Heineken Cup with a 19-15 victory over Clermont Auvergne. The French side led at half-time but a Cian Healy try helped Leinster take the lead before Welsey Fofana was thought to have gone over for the home side only for the try to be ruled out by TMO Geoff Warren.
Ulster will be Leinster’s opponents in the final at Twickenham after an equally close win 22-19 over Edinburgh. A Pedrie Wannenburg try and more points from the boot of Ruan Pienaar put Ulster in control and Jim Thomspson’s try came too late for Edinburgh to mount a serious comeback.
Leeds Rhinos progressed to the quarter finals of Rugby League’s Challenge Cup but didn’t have things all their own way against Salford. They eventually won the match 16-10, but only gained the lead with eight minutes remaining.
Cup holders Wigan will face sterner challenges in their defence than that which was provided by Featherstone Rovers. Wigan ran in six tries to book their place in the next round, winning 32-16.
Leigh scored a vital golden point to beat Halifax 19-18 after they had mounted a second-half comeback and will be the only Championship side in the quarter-final draw.
Reigning champion John Higgins conceded the worst World Championship defeat of his career, losing 13-4 against seven-time winner Stephen Hendry. He will face fellow Scot Stephen Maguire who beat Joe Perry 13-7.
Ryan Day completed a 13-7 victory over Cao Yupeng while 2010 champion Neil Robertson progressed, winning 13-9 against David Gilbert. Ronnie O’ Sullivan has an 11-5 lead over Mark Williams while Matthew Stevens and Barry Hawkins are level at 8-8.
Rafael Nadal’s imperious form on clay continues as the Spaniard beat compatriot David Ferrer to win his seventh title Barcelona Open title 7-6 (7-1) 7-5.
