LONDON, 27 December 2004 — Leaders Chelsea got off to a victorious start in the Premier League’s busy holiday program with a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa yesterday, while champions Arsenal, Everton and Manchester United also claimed home wins.

Chelsea were below their sparkling best but maintained their five-point lead. In-form Damien Duff’s goal after 30 minutes was enough to beat injury-weakened Villa, their first Boxing Day win for five seasons.

Across London at Highbury, Thierry Henry’s 20th club goal of the season after 12 minutes and one for fellow Frenchman Robert Pires after 71 were fair reward for Arsenal’s dominance in a 2-0 win over Fulham.

Manchester United kept up the chase when they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 for their sixth win in seven games. Everton maintained their remarkable season with a 2-1 home win over Manchester City.

Chelsea top the standings on 46 points with Arsenal on 41. Everton are third on 40 with Manchester United fourth on 37.

Tottenham Hotspur chalked up their fifth win a row. Robbie Keane and Michael Brown scored to beat Norwich City 2-0 away, Portsmouth won 1-0 at Crystal Palace, while Graeme Souness’ return to Ewood Park ended with his Newcastle United side drawing 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers.

Liverpool were playing at West Bromwich Albion later.

Chelsea, bidding for their first league title for 50 years, struck after 30 minutes when Arjen Robben attacked a retreating Villa defense and fed Duff, who cut in from the right to fire in a low left-footed shot from 12 meter. It was the sixth time in Chelsea’s last nine games that the Irish winger had opened the scoring but, unlike in recent weeks, they failed to build on the start.

The slick passing that has led to so many emphatic victories was absent and the second half was something of a battle.

However, Jose Mourinho’s team did enough to make it eight wins and two draws from their 10 home games, in which they have scored 20 goals and conceded just three.

At Highbury, Henry showed neat control to make space on the edge of the box before stepping inside to score a typical opportunist goal and get Arsenal going.

The champions looked sharp and inventive from then on but had to wait until the last 20 minutes to make the game safe when Pires scored after a neat passing move.

Manchester United were far to strong for Bolton, who have lost five in a row to hurtle down the league.

Ryan Giggs hooked in the opener after 10 minutes and set up the second for Paul Scholes a minute from time — with only a superb display by Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen in between preventing a rout.

Headed goals by Tim Cahill (22 minutes) and Marcus Bent (63) either side of a Robbie Fowler equalizer (42) gave Everton their 12th win of the season. It took them to the 40-point mark after 19 games — their survival target when they started the season among the relegation favorites and one point more than they gained all last season.

The Premier League swings back into action in two days with a full program of matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, including Chelsea at Portsmouth and Arsenal at Newcastle United.

Celtic Move Four Points

Clear of Rangers

In Glasgow, Celtic moved four points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League with a 2-0 win at Hearts yesterday in their final match of 2004.

A goal in each half took them to 50 points from 20 matches. Rangers play their game in hand at home to Motherwell today.

Bulgarian Stilian Petrov set up Celtic’s opener after nine minutes for Aiden McGeady to fire in at the back post and scored the second himself after 69 minutes.

The fixture was marred by fighting between rival fans before the kick-off, causing the stadium to be half empty at the start.

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill said: “We needed that second goal just to ward off any danger that might appear late on in the game.

“It will be a hectic January, but we are delighted to go into the New Year on top of the table.”