LONDON, 21 December 2003 — Chelsea joined Arsenal at the top of the Premier League after Hernan Crespo earned them a 1-0 victory at west London rivals Fulham yesterday.

The Argentine struck with a powerful second- half header to lift Chelsea to 39 points, level with Arsenal who could only draw at Bolton Wanderers for the second successive season.

Bolton, who scored twice in the final 16 minutes of the corresponding fixture last season for a draw that derailed Arsenal’s title charge, left it late again as Henrik Pedersen lashed in a left-footed equalizer seven minutes from time.

Arsenal squandered several chances to take the lead before Frenchman Robert Pires finally broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, scoring from close range after Freddie Ljungberg’s shot had been blocked.

Pedersen was instrumental in Bolton’s shock win at Chelsea last week, his cross being turned into his own net by John Terry, but Claudio Ranieri’s side bounced back at Fulham.

Chelsea have not lost away to Fulham since the 1976-77 season, and they rarely looked like squandering that record against the league’s surprise package.

Fulham hang on to fourth place although they are joined on 25 points by Newcastle United who drew 0-0 at Charlton Athletic.

With none of the bottom three clubs in action, some of the other relegation-threatened clubs had the chance to give themselves some breathing space.

Everton moved four points above the drop zone after coming from behind to beat Leicester City 3-2 at Goodison Park — Tomasz Radzinski scoring the winner after Wayne Rooney had equalized.

Aston Villa, who reached the semifinal of the League Cup by beating Chelsea on Wednesday, completed a good week with a 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers — their first away win since January.

Bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers had their home game against Liverpool postponed because of a waterlogged pitch, while Birmingham City’s match against Middlesbrough was also the victim of torrential rain that swept the country.

Rangers Battle Back to Close the Gap

In Glasgow, Rangers closed the gap on bitter rivals Celtic to five points at the top of the Scottish Premier League after they came from behind to beat Hearts 2-1 at home yesterday.

Andy Kirk stunned a 49,592 crowd by scoring on 11 minutes but the champions recovered well to claim the three points with goals from Shota Arveladze (22) and Chris Burke (52).

Celtic, who aim to protect their unbeaten league record at Motherwell yesterday, lead the standings with 46 points from 16 games while Rangers move on to 41 from 17. Hearts remain third on 29. In the day’s other games, Livingston won 3-0 at Kilmarnock with three second-half goals to move into fifth place on 21 points, one ahead of the home side who share sixth place with Motherwell on 20. Aberdeen drew 2-2 with Dundee at their snow-lashed Pittodrie home.

Parma Sink to Second Straight Defeat

In Rome, a last-minute goal by midfielder Francesco Cozza condemned Parma to their second consecutive Serie A defeat yesterday, when they lost 2-1 to lowly Reggina.

Unlike last weekend’s 4-0 rout by Juventus, Parma dominated the match but failed to break down the southerners, who had not won a league match for more than two months.

Striker David Di Michele put the visitors ahead in the 27th minute, when he broke the offside trap, hoisted the ball over advancing keeper Sebastian Frey and finished into an empty net.