Samuel Eto’o has the last laugh as Chelsea go seven points clear in EPL

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A sharply taken goal was followed by a celebration which showed he also has a sense of humor.

Samuel Eto’o scored the crucial opener in Chelsea’s 4-0 rout of Tottenham Hotspur Saturday to take them seven points clear in the English Premier League – then faked as if he was an old man with a bad back, using the corner flag as a walking stick.

Maybe it was in reaction to his manager Jose Mourinho’s unguarded comments to a French TV channel last month.

The Portuguese apparently questioned the age of the Cameroon star, who is 33 later this week, as well as making unflattering reference to the other strikers at Chelsea.

Perhaps it has acted as unintentional motivation, but Eto’o showed his old qualities as he latched on to Jan Vertonghen’s clumsy back pass and calmly beat Hugo Lloris to put Chelsea ahead just after half time.

Moments later Eto’o raced on to Eden Hazard’s through ball and went quickly to ground under challenge from Younes Kaboul.

Referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot and compounded Tottenham’s anger by sending off Kaboul.

Hazard converted from the spot and Eto’o’s work was essentially done, being replaced by Demba Ba, but earning a pat on the back from Mourinho.

He had only earned his place in the starting line up when Fernando Torres injured himself in the warm-up and Mourinho told Sky Sports, that it was “fate” that he later scored his seventh EPL goal of the season.

“I think he’s amazing. The way he copes with the situation in the last couple of weeks, I think he’s fantastic. And today I told him before the game: ‘You are going to score for sure.’”

Tottenham’s part in their own downfall, looking comfortable until Vertonghen’s disastrous error after a slip, was summed up by Chelsea’s two late goals.

Sandro also slipped to allow Ba to score a rare EPL goal this term and he doubled his tally and made it 4-0 after he intercepted Kyle Walker’s careless header.

Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood was left shaking his head in disbelief, Mourinho had a spring in his step after a victory which left them clear of second-placed Liverpool and nine points ahead of Manchester City, who have three games in hand.

Sherwood launched a post-match tirade against his team, whose chances of Champions League football have all but disappeared.

“You can’t legislate for the capitulation – you can’t have that. Lack of characters, too many of them too nice to each other and you need to show a bit more guts and not want to be someone’s mate all the time,” he said.

“It hurts me and I won’t forget about this when we hit the motorway, but some might,” he added.

Earlier, Manchester United kept their slim hopes of Champions League qualification alive with a 3-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

Read: Greek ‘tragedy’ for Man Utd in Greece

Goals from Phil Jones, Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck gave United a second straight league win, while Pepe Mel’s WBA remained a point above the drop zone after the home defeat.

“I thought our forward play was very good,” under-pressure United manager David Moyes told BT Sport.

Third-placed Arsenal were involved in FA Cup quarterfinal action Saturday and beat Everton 4-1 at the Emirates to book a last four match at Wembley.

The match hinged on the award of a penalty to the home side in the second half with the scores tied at 1-1.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was tripped by Gareth Barry and Mikel Arteta converted from the spot.

Olivier Giroud came off the bench for the home side to add gloss to the scoreline with two late goals as Everton pushed for an equalizer.

Mesut Ozil had put Arsenal ahead before Romelu Lukaku leveled for the visitors.