Liverpool battles to draw at Chelsea
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}London, England (SportsNetwork.com) - John Terry and Steven Gerrard traded first-half goals as Chelsea and Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Terry scored from a corner kick after just five minutes for the Blues, while Gerrard replied shortly before halftime for Liverpool, which sits six points back of Manchester United with two games to play in the race for the final Champions League place.
With Chelsea having clinched the title there was some question as to how strong a side manager Jose Mourinho would select.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And outside of a few changes, Chelsea put forth a good team that showed plenty of attacking intent from the start.
After winning a corner kick in the fifth minute, Cesc Fabregas swung the ball into the middle of the penalty area for Terry, who held off his marker to head the ball between goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and a Liverpool defender on the post.
Fabregas nearly doubled the advantage when he fired a low shot on target from a tight angle in the 28th minute that Mignolet was able to narrowly tip past the far post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jordan Henderson's free kick from near the end line helped the visitors level the match in the 44th when his delivery found Gerrard at the far post for a headed goal from close range.
Philippe Coutinho had the best chance in the second half for either side as Raheem Sterling cut the ball back for the Brazilian inside the area, but his first-time shot managed to sail just past the near post.
Sunday's other fixture saw Manchester City roll to a 6-0 win over QPR as Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick to move City three points clear of third- place Arsenal, which has two games in hand.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Aguero and Aleksandar Kolarov scored in the opening half to put City up 2-0 at the break, while QPR showed little fight and allowed Aguero to score twice more after the interval, while James Milner and David Silva also added goals.
The result also assures QPR of being relegated as the club sits on the bottom of the table and nine points from safety with two games remaining.