London: Willian scored from outside the penalty area following a punchout by American goalkeeper Tim Howard of a cross in the 89th minute, giving Chelsea a 1-0 win over Everton on Wednesday night that maintained a seven-point in the English Premier League.
Howard played for the first time since injuring a calf muscle in a Dec. 26 match against Stoke.
Willian scored one minute after Gareth Barry was given his second yellow card, for tripping Willian.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez was unhappy that in the melee that led to Barry's dismissal, Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic was not ejected for an apparent attempted head butt on James McCarthy.
Chelsea (18-2-5) kept their margin over second-place Manchester City (15-3-7), which won 4-1 at Stoke and ended a four-game winless streak.
Sergio Aguero scored in the 33rd and converted a penalty kick in the 70th, and the visitors also got goals from James Milner in the 55th and Samir Nasri in the 76th. Peter Crouch scored in the 38th for the hosts.
Manchester United (15-3-7) remained five points back of City and moved up to third place following a 3-1 win at home over Burnley.
Chris Smalling scored in the sixth and 45th minutes, getting his first goal just 22 seconds after replaced injured defender Phil Jones.
Robin Van Persie made a penalty kick in the 82nd after Angel di Maria was fouled.
Southampton (14-7-4) were held to a 0-0 tie by West Ham and fell into fourth, one point behind United.
Crystal Palace tied 1-1 against Newcastle, manager Alan Pardew's former club. West Bromwich Albion climbed four points above the relegation zone by beating Swansea 2-0.
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