LONDON, 7 November 2004 — Dutch winger Arjen Robben scored his second match-winner of the week as Chelsea beat Everton 1-0 to go three points clear at the top of the Premier League yesterday.

Robben, who found the net in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win at CSKA Moscow, scored in the 72nd minute at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea took full advantage of a late kick-off for champions and overnight leaders Arsenal at Crystal Palace.

Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Birmingham City, Aston Villa trounced Portsmouth 3-0 and Norwich City were denied a first win of the season after conceding an 86th-minute equalizer in their 1-1 draw with 10-man Blackburn Rovers. There was more bad news though for Tottenham Hotspur, a day after the abrupt resignation of French coach Jacques Santini, as they lost 3-2 at home to Charlton Athletic. South African striker Shaun Bartlett got two goals and a 67th-minute red card for the visitors.

Chelsea’s victory, which added to a remarkable defensive record with just three goals conceded in their 12 league games, showed the strength in depth of Jose Mourinho’s side despite the absence of injured striker Didier Drogba.

Everton failed to take their few chances and were finally caught out by 20-year-old Robben, whose Chelsea career only really began two weeks ago due to a pre-season foot injury.

Asked how close his side were to being a title-winning team, Mourinho told Sky Sports News: “I think we have everything.

“We defend like no-one else, we have a very dangerous counterattack and we create a lot of chances.” Chelsea are top on 29 points, ahead of Arsenal on 26 points and Everton, who stay third on 23.

Liverpool, who ground out a creditable 1-0 Champions League win at Deportivo Coruna in midweek, were sunk by a 77th-minute winner from Birmingham’s Darren Anderton at Anfield.

Makaay Ends Goal Drought as Bayern Bounce Back

In Berlin, Bayern Munich bounced back from their bitter Champions League loss to Juventus with one of their best performances of the season on Saturday, crushing Hanover 96 3-0 to jump to second in the Bundesliga.

Claudio Pizzaro, Roy Makaay and Paulo Guerrero scored to end Hanover’s five-match winning streak and help Bayern forget Wednesday’s last-minute 1-0 loss against Juventus.

Makaay’s strike, meanwhile, ended a 600-minute goal drought for the Netherlands forward.

Bayern are on 23 points, one behind Wolfsburg who crashed 4-0 at Nuremberg. The leaders were already down a goal when they lost playmaker Andres D’Alessandro to a red card in the eighth minute. Schalke 04, three points off the top in third, visit Hamburg SV today.

Bayern, who also lost 2-0 a week ago against Borussia Moenchengladbach, attracted a home crowd of 62,000 and went in front in the third minute when Pizarro took a fine pass from Makaay to score from the left.

Thompson on Target Again for Celtic

In Glasgow, midfielder Alan Thompson scored his third goal in as many games for Scottish champions Celtic in a 2-1 premier league win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.

Thompson, who netted in last week’s 3-2 league win at Motherwell and a 1-0 Champions League victory against Shakhtar Donetsk, converted in the 64th minute after Henri Camara was felled by Simon Ford.

Aiden McGeady scored the opener with a delightful 44th-minute free kick while Colin Nish drilled home a consolation for Kilmarnock one minute from time.

In the day’s other games, Dundee beat nine-man Dundee United 1-0 courtesy of John Sutton’s 85th-minute goal as defenders Chris Innes and Mark Wilson were sent off early in the second period.

Dundee are now eight games undefeated in derby matches while United remain bottom of the league. Hibernian enjoyed a 1-0 home victory against Motherwell and move up to fourth on 21 points with Aberdeen a point ahead of them before they face Hearts today.

Dunfermline Athletic drew 1-1 with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.