MILAN, 16 February 2004 — Serie A leaders AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at lowly Lecce yesterday but rivals AS Roma failed to take advantage, managing only a goalless draw at bottom club Ancona.

The results hand third-placed Juventus a chance to close the gap on the top two when they face Reggina at the Delle Alpi stadium later.

European champions Milan, who had won their previous seven league games, lead on 52 points with Roma still five points behind and Juve on 43.

In a bad day for the big clubs, fifth-placed Inter Milan lost 2-1 at home to Udinese. Parma moved level on points with Inter after Australian Mark Bresciano give them a 2-1 win at Siena.

Lazio hold fourth place, the final qualifying spot for the Champions League, after their 3-0 win over Empoli on Saturday.

Arsenal Ignited by Golden Reyes

In London, striker Jose Antonio Reyes scored twice to help Arsenal end Chelsea’s FA Cup hopes for the fourth successive year with a 2-1 victory in a feisty fifth-round tie yesterday.

Adrian Mutu put Chelsea ahead before halftime but Spaniard Reyes smashed in a spectacular equalizer, his first goal for the club, and grabbed the winner five minutes later to keep the premier league leaders on course to win the Cup for the third year in a row.

First division Sheffield United beat Colchester of division two 1-0, striker Paul Peschisolido heading the winner for last season’s semifinalists after 61 minutes.

Romanian striker Mutu gave Chelsea a deserved lead after 40 minutes, taking advantage of a poor clearance by Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to drill in a crisp left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Pressley Penalty Earns Hearts a Point

Defender Steven Pressley scored a second-half penalty to keep Hearts on course for a UEFA Cup place with a 1-1 draw against Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League’s Edinburgh derby yesterday.

Derek Riordan put Hibernian ahead with a curling 24th-minute strike but Pressley held his nerve after Mark de Vries was fouled in the penalty area two minutes after the break.

Bremen Get Late Win Against Kaiserslautern; Dortmund Win

In Hamburg, Werder Bremen got a stoppage time 1-0 victory from a penalty against lowly Kaiserslautern to stretch their Bundesliga lead to nine points last night.

Bundesliga top scorer Ailton converted the spot kick after being felled by Alexander Knavs for his 19th goal. It was Bremen’s third last-gasp win in a row, following a cup win in Fuerth and last Saturday’s league match in Moenchengladbach. Bremen have 48 points for a nine-point lead over champions Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart, who have 39 each.

In yesterday’s other game , sixth-placed Borussia Dortmund got their second away win in eight days, 2-0 at 1860 Munich from Ewerthon’s double.

Deportivo Keep the Pressure on Top Two With 2-0 Win

In Madrid, a first-half double from midfielder Victor helped third-placed Deportivo Coruna keep the pressure on the leading duo in the Primera Liga with an efficient 2-0 win at home to Osasuna yesterday.

The right winger opened his account when he drilled in from 20 meters out, after striker Diego Tristan had supplied him with a neat headed pass on 23 minutes.There were goals galore in the rest of Sunday’s early games, with Villarreal recording their highest ever score in the top flight with a thrilling 6-3 win over Racing Santander and Malaga ending their six-match losing run with a 5-2 thrashing of lowly Espanyol.