LONDON -- This season at Chelsea, the Special One might well be Eden Hazard. The Belgium international produced another superb display on Saturday, scoring a hat trick as Jose Mourinhos team moved top of the Premier League with a 3-0 win over Newcastle while its main rivals in the race for the title struggled on the road. Liverpool exposed previous leader Arsenals frailties in a 5-1 drubbing of the Gunners at Anfield and third-placed Manchester City was held to a goalless draw at Norwich. Hazard, coming off an excellent performance in Chelseas surprise win at City on Monday, scored twice within seven minutes in the first half and added another goal from the penalty spot after the interval as the Blues leapfrogged bitter rival Arsenal. Liverpool went on a scoring rampage at lunchtime, netting four times in the first 20 minutes to end Arsenals eight-match unbeaten sequence with a bang. "It was a very poor day. We were poor defensively, offensively," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said after the hammering. "Liverpool played very well, so congratulations to them. But it was a poor performance on a day when we couldnt afford it." The loss will again raise questions about Arsenals abilities to win its first title since 2004 with the Gunners having already lost 6-3 to Manchester City earlier this season. "Defensively we need to be more stable," Wenger said. "Today we were too open. From the front to the back we were not at the level we are used to." Citys current goal drought continued as Manuel Pellegrinis team missed the chance to move top of the standings. Saturdays draw left City third with 54 points, two behind Chelsea. Hazards first goal came in the 27th minute, with the Belgium playmaker slotting home from Branislav Ivanovics pass from the right. Chelsea scored again on the counter-attack as Hazard played a beautiful one-two with Samuel Etoo. "I know today we are top of the league but I look to fifth place," Mourinho said, playing down the importance of his teams result. "I look to Tottenham vs Everton and Manchester United vs Fulham tomorrow and I want to be far from fifth. When we are far from fifth and have a Champions League position under control, then it will be time to look at Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool and see where they are and see the distances." City had scored 68 goals from 23 league matches before losing 1-0 to Chelsea and again struggled at Carrow Road against lowly Norwich, which earned a crucial point in the relegation fight. City hit the crossbar in the first half through a header from Alvaro Negredo but Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy otherwise spent a quiet afternoon as the Canaries missed a chance to snatch victory in stoppage time when Nathan Redmonds cross flew through the six-yard box just ahead of Ricky van Wolfswinkel. At Anfield, the Reds reignited their title challenge with a victory that boosted their hopes of finishing in the Top 4 as they look to secure Champions League football next season. Liverpool was irresistible in the early stages and all over Arsenal defenders, with every attack tearing apart the Gunners. Martin Skrtel scored in the first minute and doubled his teams lead nine minutes later. Raheem Sterling then made it 3-0 before Daniel Sturridge beat Wojciech Szczesny with a left-footed shot in the bottom corner. Sterling then completed a brace after half-time. Mikel Arteta pulled one back for Arsenal from the penalty spot. "We went out there and did what the manager told us. The first 20 minutes were unbelievable and its about the team. We worked as a team and we are getting results. It starts form the back and the boys have been excellent," said Sturridge in his post-match interview. Arsenal, which was handed its first defeat at Liverpool since 2007, will be looking for revenge when the two sides meet a week on Sunday in the FA Cup fifth round at the Emirates. In the bottom half, Crystal Palace leapfrogged West Brom and sent their opponents into the relegation zone with a 3-1 victory at Selhurst Park. Tom Ince and Joe Ledley scored on their debut for Palace, which has taken 16 points from a maximum 21 at home under manager Tony Pulis, who took over after Ian Holloway resigned last October with the Premier League club five points adrift of safety. Thievy Bifouma pulled one back for West Brom after the interval before Marouane Chamakh sealed the game from the penalty spot. Swansea manager Garry Monk enjoyed a perfect start as his team won the south Wales derby 3-0 against Cardiff to move away from the relegation zone and Hull moved a point above Palace after winning 2-0 at 10-man Sunderland. West Ham moved two points clear of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win at Aston Villa and Southampton drew 2-2 with Stoke in a mid-table encounter. Jesse Barfield Blue Jays Jersey .C. -- Jackson Whistle made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Kelowna Rockets blanked the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-0 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Jack Morris Jersey . Johansen scored twice and Derek MacKenzie, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson also had goals to lead the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, ending a three-game losing skid. http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-teoscar-hernandez-jersey/ .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. Eric Sogard Blue Jays Jersey . Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. Roger Clemens Jersey . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win.WASHINGTON -- In the first major league matchup featuring twentysomething stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, it was a guy born two decades earlier, Raul Ibanez, who came through with the biggest hit. And after delivering a tiebreaking three-run double as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning to help Trouts Los Angeles Angels beat Harpers Washington Nationals 4-2 Friday, the 41-year-old Ibanez was showered with a particular nickname when he returned to the dugout. "After he got that hit, we were calling him Viejo, -- Old in Spanish," Trout said with a smile. Ibanez might be, um, much more experienced than many of his teammates, but he happens to be leading the Angels this season with 15 RBIs. "These guys make me feel young," he said about his teammates with the Angels, his fifth club in a 19-year career. "And I have five kids at home. Theyre 12 and under, and Im the biggest kid in the house, really. I feel right at home around these guys who are 22, 24, 25 years old. They definitely keep you young." He came through on a night that Trout and Harper went a combined 2 for 8 with zero runs or RBIs, and Albert Pujols went 0 for 5, staying on 498 homers. The 22-year-old Trout, the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year and a two-time MVP runner-up, was 2 for 5 with a pair of singles. The 21-year-old Harper, the 2012 NL rookie honoree, was 0 for 3 with a walk. The two outfielders became pals while teammates in the Arizona Fall League in 2011 and chatted with each other before the game. Neither recent first-round pick in the amateur draft -- Trout was No. 25 overall in 2009, Harper was No. 1 a year later -- was much of a factor once play began, though. Instead, all eyes were on Ibanez, taken in the 36th round in 1992. "Hes been around the block," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. Fernando Salas (1-0) won with a hitless seventh. Joe Smith worked the eighthh and Ernesto Frieri pitched the ninth to earn his second save, despite allowing Desmonds leadoff homer.dddddddddddd Frieri struck out Denard Span with a man on second to end it. The Nationals led 1-0 entering the eighth, when they brought in reliever Tyler Clippard (1-2). Pujols led off and reached on the first of shortstop Ian Desmonds two errors in the inning. Later, Erick Aybars third hit of the night scored Pujols to even it. After Clippard walked Chris Iannetta to load the bases -- "The biggest thing that hurt me," the reliever said -- the lefty-hitting Ibanez came up. "Everybody likes being up in that spot," said Ibanez, the second-oldest player in the majors, behind Clevelands Jason Giambi, 43. "Thats what you play for, thats what you compete for -- to try to be up in that spot -- since you were a kid in the backyard playing." Nationals manager Matt Williams did not have a lefty reliever ready to go, in anticipation of Ibanez being used there, because he wanted Clippard to get through that inning. "Clips been the eighth-inning guy here for a long time," Williams said. "Certainly (his) track record indicates that hes good against lefties. Hes just as effective against left-handers as he is right-handers. So I want to stay with him there." Ibanez, without a hit in his previous 11 at-bats, connected on a changeup, Clippards specialty. "It is a pitch Im getting hurt on," Clippard said, and wondered aloud about whether hes tipping his pitches to opponents. NOTES: Angels 3B David Freese, who is hitting .143 with a .197 on-base percentage, was out of the starting lineup and struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh. ... The Angels recalled LHP Nick Maronde from Triple-A Salt Lake. He fills the roster spot opened up when the Angels optioned RHP Josh Wall to Salt Lake on Sunday. ' ' '