Related items

• Superb Cole Palmer scores four as Chelsea hit Everton for six

  Cole Palmer became the Premier League’s joint-leading scorer this season as his four goals helped Chelsea crush hapless Everton 6-0 at Stamford Bridge.

  The former Manchester City player now has 20 for the campaign and dismantled Sean Dyche’s side almost single-handedly, netting a hat-trick inside the first 29 minutes to breathe genuine momentum into his team’s bid to qualify for Europe.

  This was as complete a first half as Chelsea have managed under Mauricio Pochettino, displaying a clinical edge in front of goal that made the insipid attacking displays of earlier in the season feel like a distant memory.

  It was also a night for individuals. Moises Caicedo at the base of midfield gave a performance full of guile and maturity; rarely had he looked so in command in Chelsea colours.

  Nicolas Jackson, who scored the fourth goal, and Mykhailo Mudryk were superb, further turning the tide of opinion in their favour after slow starts to their careers in blue.

  Then there was Palmer, Chelsea’s talisman, who is surely now a contender to challenge his former Manchester City team-mate Erling Haaland for the Golden Boot.

  This was not a perfect 90 minutes and there are still issues for Pochettino to address. When his team were given a penalty at 4-0 up in the second half, there was the unsavoury spectacle of a physical altercation as Jackson and Noni Madueke each tried to take the ball from the appointed taker Palmer. It pointed to a failure of discipline and leadership that the manager must surely address.

  But it could not sour a fine night for home fans in west London, capped off fittingly when academy graduate Alfie Gilchrist fired in his first goal for the club in stoppage time.

  Chelsea had started the game sluggishly, narrowly avoiding going behind after nine minutes when Beto missed the target from four yards.

  As so often this season it required intervention from Palmer to shake them to life. Receiving the ball deep from Malo Gusto, he impudently nutmegged Jarrad Branthwaite, played a one-two with Jackson, then curled his finish wide of the dive of Jordan Pickford for his first goal of a remarkable first half.

  Soon the floodgates were open. After 17 minutes, Mudryk was played in down the left by Jackson who, receiving it back from the Ukrainian, shot first time. Pickford beat the ball out, but only to the feet of the arriving Palmer who grabbed his second.

  His finish for 3-0 was exquisite, but the opportunity came gift-wrapped from Pickford. The England goalkeeper tried to pick out Amadou Onana but came up short with his pass. In nipped Palmer and, undaunted by the 45-yard distance to goal, lobbed it into the net for his hat-trick.

  Jackson made it four before the break, showing exquisite touch to drag Marc Cucurella’s cross out of the air before turning and guiding the ball beyond the goalkeeper’s grasp into the corner.

  The 22-year-old has shown significant improvement in recent weeks, and his 13th goal of the season was surely his best so far for Chelsea.

  Palmer argued away Jackson and Madueke to make it five from the penalty spot just past the hour mark, then Gilchrist drilled into the bottom corner from Pickford’s parry at the death, as Chelsea moved to within three points of the top six.

• Xavi urges Barcelona fans to create red-hot atmosphere for PSG clash

  Barcelona boss Xavi wants the atmosphere to reach “boiling point” in the return leg of his side’s Champions League tie against Paris St Germain.

  Barca hold a slender 3-2 advantage after the first leg in Paris last week as they bid to reach the semi-finals for just the second time in eight seasons since lifting the trophy in 2015.

  Building work at the Nou Camp is ongoing as part of a £1.25billion refurbishment and Xavi has called on the club’s fans to turn their temporary home at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys into a cauldron.

  He told a press conference: “We are playing at home and Montjuic (the stadium) has to be a big-night venue. It will have to be a boiling point atmosphere.

  “We need the fans because there will be tricky moments and PSG will make us work hard and so at this time we have to be united.

  “We will have to control ourselves and take the initiative, but it will be tough. PSG will come out attacking because (head coach) Luis Enrique will not sit back. I know him well and I know they will put us under a lot of pressure.

  “We are up against one of best teams in the world, one of the most intense and they won’t gift us anything, and he is one of the best coaches in the world.”

  Barca will be without captain Sergi Roberto and Andreas Christensen, who are both suspended after receiving yellow cards in Paris.

  Xavi added: “The players banned, Sergi Roberto and Christensen, hurts us, it’s true, but the key against PSG will be to play as a team.

  “If we can do it, regardless of names, we will have a great chance. We have to give it all to get to the semi-finals.”

  PSG are bidding to progress to the last four for just the fourth time in their history and Enrique backed his side to come out on top.

  The former Spain and Barcelona boss, who is boosted by the return of Morocco international Achraf Hakimi from suspension, told a press conference: “We are absolutely convinced that we will reverse the situation.

  “Having assessed the (first leg) closely, we didn’t deserve to lose. A draw would have been a fair result, or we should have been the winner, but we accept it. We congratulate our opponents.

  “But tomorrow our goal is to turn in a great performance, be brave and go for it from the first minute to make our fans happy, because that is what we all deserve.”

• Championship run-in: Southampton join top three in race for automatic promotion

  The battle for automatic promotion to the Premier League took a series of fresh twists over the weekend as the contenders endured differing fortunes.

  Leaders Ipswich, second-placed Leicester and Leeds in third are separated by just two points with the Foxes having played a game fewer, while Southampton, who have two matches in hand on both the Tractor Boys and United, lie six points further back.

  Here, the PA news agency takes a look at the remaining weeks of an increasingly tense Championship run-in.

  Ipswich (1st, played 43, 89 points, +32 goal difference)

  Run-in: Hull (a), Coventry (a), Huddersfield (h).

  Ipswich’s unlikely tilt at back-to-back promotions has hit the buffers in recent weeks after a remarkable run of nine wins in 10 Championship outings was brought to an end by derby rivals Norwich.

  A 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road on April 6 has been followed by home draws with Watford and Middlesbrough and Town must rediscover the form which earned manager Kieran McKenna the accolade of Championship Manager of the Season on Sunday evening if they are to reach the top flight.

  However, all three of their remaining opponents still have something to play for with Hull and Coventry on the fringes of the play-off race and Huddersfield battling desperately to avoid the drop.

  Leicester (2nd, played 42, 88 points, +41 goal difference)

  Run-in: West Brom (h), Southampton (h), Preston (a), Blackburn (h).

  Once seemingly certain to return to the top flight after a single season in the wilderness – Enzo Maresca’s side were 17 points clear of Leeds – Leicester have suffered a crisis of confidence just at the wrong time.

  A 2-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough on February 17 launched a run of 10 league games culminating in Friday night’s 1-0 reverse at Plymouth which has seen them lose six times and collect just 10 of the 30 points available.

  Their fate, however, remains in their own hands and with three of their last four fixtures taking place at the King Power Stadium – perhaps the most significant of them Saints’ visit next week – they will hope they can make home advantage count.

  Leeds (3rd, played 43, 87 points, +42 goal difference)

  Run-in: Middlesbrough (a), QPR (a), Southampton (h).

  Like the two clubs immediately above them in the table, Leeds have suffered a wobble at the most inopportune moment.

  The 2-1 defeat at Coventry on April 6 was their first in the league since the turn of the year and having seen Sunderland leave Elland Road with a point three days later, Daniel Farke’s men lost on home soil for the first time this season on Saturday when Sammie Szmodics fired Blackburn to victory in West Yorkshire.

  Monday’s trip to Middlesbrough is followed by another away fixture at QPR before Southampton head north for a final-day clash which could have a major say in the promotion race.

  Southampton (played 41, 81 points, +27 goal difference)

  Run-in: Preston (h), Cardiff (a), Leicester (a), Stoke (h), Leeds (a).

  Southampton’s bad patch arrived in February, when they lost to Bristol City, Hull and Millwall either side of a 2-0 success at West Brom in the space of 12 days.

  A run of four wins and only one defeat in their last seven games, including Saturday’s last-gasp 3-2 victory over Watford, has edged them back into the hunt, but points on the board in the latter stages of a season are precious and Saints are playing catch-up.

  Russell Martin’s men face difficult trips to Leicester and Leeds, but their cause will be forlorn if they slip up in theoretically less taxing encounters with Preston, Cardiff and Stoke.