(Update 1: Re-ledes; tops with results of Chelsea, Man United, Leicester matches)

London, Jan 11 (EFE).- Chelsea and Manchester United - two teams in the race for Champions League berths next season - both notched convincing victories in Premier League action on Saturday.

In Matchday 22 action at Stamford Bridge, the fourth-place Blues routed Burnley 3-0 on the strength of first-half goals by Jorginho and Tammy Abraham and a third score early in the second half by Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Chelsea (39 points), who defeated Nottingham Forest in FA Cup action last Sunday, have been inconsistent over the past several weeks but now have strung two wins together for the first time since October.

Jorginho put the home side in front in the 27th minute when he converted a penalty that had been won by Willian, and then Abraham made the score 2-0 11 minutes later when his header somehow entered the goal past goalie Nick Pope and defender Ben Mee.

The 22-year-old English star leads Chelsea with 13 Premier League goals this season.

Burnley also had their chances before the break, but an apparent goal on a header by midfielder Jeff Hendrick was ruled out for offside in minute 18 and a potent header by Mee was blocked off the line by Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley in the 35th minute.

Frank Lampard's men then put the game entirely out of reach in the 49th minute on a goal by Hudson-Odoi that was allowed to stand after a VAR review.

Elsewhere, Manchester United (34 points) moved back into fifth place in the Premier League by clobbering bottom-dwelling Norwich City 4-0 at Old Trafford.

United took a 1-0 lead at the break on Marcus Rashford's 14th Premier League goal of the season (tied for second in the English league), although Norwich were competitive and nearly equalized late in the first half on a shot by midfielder Todd Cantwell that keeper David De Gea did well to save.

But a penalty conversion by Rashford in the 52nd minute gave the Red Devils some breathing room, and the home team tacked on two more goals on a header off a corner kick by Anthony Martial two minutes later and a 76th-minute strike from the edge of the box by Mason Greenwood, who had entered the game as a substitute just minutes earlier.

However, another Premier League team in the hunt for a place in the 2020-2021 Champions League, Leicester City (45 points), slipped up in a potentially costly 2-1 home loss to Southampton on Saturday.

Southampton, who got revenge for a humiliating 9-0 home defeat at the hands of the Foxes earlier this season, rallied from an early deficit thanks to a goal in the 19th minute by Stuart Armstrong and another in the 81st minute by Danny Ings.

Jamie Vardy, who leads all Premier League players with 17 goals in the 2019-2020 campaign, scored a hat-trick in that Oct. 25 contest but was held in check on Saturday at King Power Stadium.

Vardy managed to put a ball in the back of the net at the half-hour mark, but it was ruled out for offside.

Earlier Saturday, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the hero and the villain in Arsenal's 1-1 draw away at Crystal Palace, scoring his side's only goal before being sent off for a careless challenge on Max Meyer.

Aubameyang put Arsenal on the scoreboard in the 13th minute, thanks to a through ball from Alexandre Lacazette that opened up the Palace defense.

The Gabonese forward, who also has 14 goals, three behind Vardy, will now have to wait and see how long his suspension is following the red he saw in the second half.

Palace's Jordan Ayew equalized in the 54th minute after his shot from inside the area took a deflection off Arsenal's David Luiz 13 minutes before the Gunners went down to 10 men.

Mikel Arteta's side has yet to reach comfortable ground in the Premier League this season. Arsenal are currently in 10th place with 28 points, one behind ninth-place Palace.

The Gunners had come into the game off the back of a Premier League victory against Manchester United and an FA Cup win against Leeds United, but they failed to get the three points against a theoretically inferior team on Saturday.

With the European spots slipping away, Arteta's side will now look ahead to tough games.

Next weekend, the London side host an in-form Sheffield United before traveling away to Chelsea on Jan. 21 for the London derby.

In Saturday's late game, first-place Liverpool (61 points), who have a whopping 16-point lead over Leicester with a game in hand, are taking on eighth-place Tottenham in north London. EFE

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