Chelsea close in on leading pair
LONDON, England — Chelsea moved to within three points of the top two sides in the English Premier League by winning 2-0 at Wigan.
While leaders Arsenal and close rivals Manchester United drew 2-2 Chelsea extended their successive run of victories under Avram Grant to seven and their goal tally to 12 in their last three outings
It was their third straight away win in the league without conceding and Frank Lampard followed his midweek hat-trick in the League Cup with an 11th minute opener at Wigan.
Seven minutes later full-back Juliano Belletti scored his first goal since his move from Barcelona.
Liverpool’s erratic form continued in a 0-0 draw at Blackburn.
Rafa Benitez’s side have won only one of their last four league games and have slipped to seventh in the table.
Although Blackburn twice hit the woodwork in the first period they could not stretch their seven-match winning run. In fact only poor finishing by Dirk Kuyt and great goalkeeping by former Liverpool man Brad Friedel denied Liverpool.
New Tottenham manager Juande Ramos saw his side held 1-1 as Middlesbrough fought back at the Riverside Stadium.
Ramos dropped star strikers Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov and the move paid off when Darren Bent gave Spurs a 35th minute lead.
It was Bent’s first league goal since August and only his third since his club record move to White Hart Lane.
Luke Young equalized in the 52nd minute and Spurs remain deep in trouble only one place above the bottom three, level on points with 18th club Wigan.
Portsmouth won 4-1 at Newcastle stunning Sam Allardyce’s side with a three-goal blast in the space of three first-half minutes at St James’ Park.
Noe Pamarot struck in the eighth minute, Zimbabwean striker Benjani Mwaruwari added a second a minute later with his eighth goal of the season and John Utaka was on target after 11 minutes.
Portsmouth’s Sol Campbell put through his own goal five minutes later but Niko Kranjcar’s free-kick, deflected in off Steven Taylor, wrapped up Portsmouth’s fourth consecutive away league win and only their first victory at Newcastle for 58 years..
Everton scored twice in stoppage time to beat Birmingham 3-1.
Yakubu’s 10th minute strike put Everton ahead and Birmingham leveled through Olivier Kapo in the 80th minute goal. Birmingham’s hopes of an away point were dashed when Lee Carsley and James Vaughan scored in the dying minutes.
Aston Villa left struggling Derby rooted to the bottom of the table as second half goals from Martin Laursen and Ashley Young clinched a 2-0 victory.
Derby have won only one of their first 12 matches and already look destined for a quick return to the Championship.
Fulham achieved their first league success in 10 matches by beating Reading 3-1.
West Ham host Bolton on Sunday and Manchester City face Sunderland on Monday E-mail to a friend
