Sport - Football

Arsenal gives Chelsea the patience pill

LONDON: Defending champion Arsenal slowed Chelsea's charge to its first league title for 50 years with a 0-0 tie at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Eleven points ahead with games running out, the Blues had hoped to capture the championship with four games to spare by beating the Gunners at Stamford Bridge and then beating Fulham at home on Saturday.

The tie means that Jose Mourinho's men have to wait for a few more days.

The Blues will now win the title if they beat Fulham on Saturday and Arsenal loses to north London neighbour Tottenham the following Monday.

In a stormy game at Goodison Park, Manchester United lost 1-0 at Everton and finished with nine men after the ejections of Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

The result meant United fell further behind second-place Arsenal and Everton cemented fourth spot.

In other results, Liverpool won 2-1 at Portsmouth; last-place Norwich scored a last-minute winner to beat Newcastle 2-1; Aston Villa and Charlton tied 0-0; Blackburn edged next-to-last Crystal Palace 1-0; Manchester City outplayed Birmingham 3-0 and West Bromwich Albion climbed back out of the relegation zone by gaining a 1-1 tie at Tottenham.

Despite the absence of the injured Thierry Henry and Fredrik Ljungberg, Arsenal almost took the lead in the second minute when Robert Pires hit the bar with a first-time volley. Jens Lehmann blocked a shot from Didier Drogba with his leg, and Joe Cole, Drogba and Frank Lampard all narrowly missed the target for the Blues.

"Chelsea had a few good chances, they didn't want to lose and in the second half they were more cautious," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has now virtually written off any chance of catching the Blues.

"You always congratulate the winners, on the pitch they have done a fantastic job and deserve to be congratulated."

At Goodison Park, veteran Scottish forward Duncan Ferguson headed the winner as Everton beat Manchester United at home for the first time in 10 years. Ferguson was given too much room in front of goal and he headed home a Mikel Arteta free kick in the 54th minute.

United manager Alex Ferguson described referee Phil Dowd as `weak' for not punishing Everton challenges, and said the Toffees took advantage."I think Everton knew they had a weak referee and they exploited that to the full," he said.

But Ferguson, who had an angry finger-pointing exchange with Everton manager David Moyes, said Neville had no excuse for his red card.

Neville was sent off with 18 minutes to go for kicking the ball into the crowd after having an angry verbal exchange with Everton fans, while Scholes went in injury-time for his second yellow card.

Fernando Morientes gave Liverpool a fourth-minute lead at Portsmouth with his third goal in club colours. Diomansy Kamara replied but Luis Garcia headed what proved to be the winner in the final minute of the first half.

The results: Aston Villa 0 drew with Charlton 0; Blackburn 1 (Gamst Pedersen 45) bt Crystal Palace 0; Chelsea 0 drew with Arsenal 0; Everton 1 (Ferguson 55) bt Manchester United 0; Manchester City 3 (Taylor 55 — own goal, Dunne 80, Sibierski 86 — penalty) bt Birmingham 0; Norwich 2 (Safri 68, Ashton 90) bt Newcastle 1 (Kluivert 90); Portsmouth 1 (Kamara 34) lost to Liverpool 2 (Morientes 4, Garcia 45); Tottenham 1 (Keane 52) drew with West Brom 1 (Gera 24). — Agencies

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu