Chelsea, Man U rampant; Arsenal title bid falters

[Spiral]

LONDON (AP)—Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United maintained their Premier League title hopes with victories Saturday while Arsenal lost at home to Aston Villa for the first time in 15 years.

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy headed a ball into his own net, sending Villa on its way to a 2-0 victory. Gabriel Agbonlahor had the other goal in the 80th minute.

Liverpool eased past Bolton 2-0; Nicolas Anelka’s two goals led Chelsea to a 3-0 victory over last-place West Bromwich Albion. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th goal for Manchester United in the defending champions’ 5-0 rout of Stoke.

Chelsea and Liverpool share first place at 32 points, with the Blues ahead on goal difference. United is eight points back in third. Villa and Arsenal have 23 points, with the Gunners ahead in fourth place on goal difference.


Harry Redknapp was sent to his first defeat since taking charge of Tottenham last month, with Fulham’s 2-1 victory sending the London rival back into the relegation zone.

Titus Bramble salvaged a 2-2 draw for Wigan in the 89th minute at his former club Newcastle; Sunderland won 2-1, avenging its 2-1 midweek loss to Blackburn in the League Cup; and West Ham was held to a 0-0 tie by Portsmouth.

Dirk Kuyt secured Liverpool’s victory with his fifth goal in seven league matches, sending a looping header into the net in the 29th minute from Fabio Aurelio’s cross.

Bolton was denied a tying goal as the half ended when the referee ruled that Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina had been fouled before Gary Cahill headed past the Spaniard.

In the 73rd minute, Steven Gerrard sent a glancing header past Jussi Jaaskelainen as Liverpool kept alive its bid for a first league title since 1990.

MADRID, Spain (AP)—Fabio Canobbio’s second-half goal gave Valladolid a 1-0 win over Real Madrid to end the Spanish league champion’s nine-game unbeaten run and put further pressure on under-fire coach Bernd Schuster.

Madrid, which finished with 10 men after Gabriel Heinze was ejected in the 89th, had not lost a league match since opening day.

“We didn’t deserve to lose,” said an angry Schuster, who refused to address questions about his future. “I’m not going to answer that because I don’t deserve that kind of question. I’m centered on my work, these are difficult moments.”

Madrid’s poor run of results in the Champions League and its exit to a third-division club in the domestic cup competition this week had Spanish media speculating that Schuster needed a victory at Valladolid to save his job.

Barcelona, which hasn’t lost in any competition since August, leads with 25 points. Villarreal has 24, followed by Valencia and Madrid with 23. Barcelona can extend its unbeaten run to 16 games against Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.

Valencia also missed a chance to jump to the top of the Spanish standings for at least one night after a 3-2 defeat to Sporting Gijon.

PALERMO, Sicily (AP)—Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored twice and Inter Milan regained sole possession of the Serie A lead with a 2-0 win at Palermo.

Inter leads with 27 points, three ahead of Juventus, which routed Genoa 4-1 on Thursday to temporarily join Inter atop the standings. Inter and Juve play next weekend.

AC Milan and Napoli are next with 23 points each.

Milan hosts struggling Chievo Verona on Sunday and Napoli visits mid-table Atalanta.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)—American midfielder Michael Bradley scored on a header for his first Bundesliga goal, leading lowly Borussia Moenchengladbach to a 2-2 tie at defending champion Bayern Munich. Bayern fell three points behind Leverkusen and Hoffenheim.

Leverkusen held on with 10 men to edge Schalke 2-1 and Hoffenheim beat Wolfsburg 3-2.

After 13 games, Leverkusen leads on goal difference over Hoffenheim with both teams at 28 points. Bayern has 25. Hertha Berlin came from behind to beat Hamburger SV 2-1 and moved into fourth with 24.

In Moenchengladbach, Bayern appeared to be cruising to its sixth straight win after goals by Luca Toni and Franck Ribery. But Rob Friend put the home team back in the game in the 79th and Bradley struck two minutes later.

PARIS (AP)—Lorient rallied from a two-goal deficit to stun Marseille 3-2 in the French league.

Fabrice Abriel equalized for Lorient in the 84th minute, and three minutes later Kevin Gameiro scored the winner on a counterattack.

Marseille kept second place with 26 points after 14 rounds, but missed an opportunity to pressure league-leading Lyon, which has 30 points and will face Bordeaux on Sunday.

Andre-Pierre Gignac scored twice for Toulouse to beat Grenoble 2-0 and climb into third place with 25 points.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Kris Boyd and Steven Davis scored in the first 10 minutes to give Rangers a 2-1 victory over St. Mirren, cutting Celtic’s lead in the Scottish Premier League to one point.

Celtic plays Hamilton on Sunday.

Dundee United’s 10-match unbeaten run ended with Jamie Hamill and David Fernandez clinching a 2-0 victory for Kilmarnock.

Hearts downed Inverness 1-0 for a third straight win. Steven Fletcher scored in injury time to salvage a 2-2 tie for Hibernian at home to Aberdeen; and Michael Higdon led Falkirk to a 1-0 victory over Motherwell.

ATHENS, Greece (AP)—In a game delayed 10 minutes because of disruptive fans, Brazilian substitute Cleyton came off the bench to score in the second half to give Panathinaikos a 1-1 tie against Larissa in the Greek league. Maciej Zurawski put Larissa ahead in the 52nd minute.

Panathinaikos and Larissa fans tossed flares and other projectiles at each other in the stands, forcing the referee to stop play. No injuries or arrests were reported.

Panathinaikos moved into fourth place with 16 points, four behind league leader Olympiakos, which hosts second-place PAOK on Sunday.

LISBON, Portugal (AP)—Leixoes’ inspired start to the season continued with a 1-0 victory over Sporting that kept the unheralded northern club on top of the Portuguese league. Roberto Sousa’s 66th-minute winner clinched Leixoes’ fourth straight road victory.

Leixoes leads with 19 points through eight rounds. Benfica was second at 15 points with a Sunday match against mid-table Amadora. FC Porto recovered from a two-game losing skid with a 2-0 victory over Guimaraes.