LONDON, 20 March 2005 — Chelsea took another stride toward the Premier League title yesterday as they preserved their 11-point lead with a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
In what their managers now admit is a battle for runners-up spot, second-placed Manchester United and Arsenal in third secured 1-0 wins over Fulham and Blackburn Rovers respectively. Everton, who occupy the fourth Champions League spot, play sixth-placed Liverpool in the Merseyside derby today.
Chelsea conceded their first league goal at Stamford Bridge since November 20 as relegation-threatened Crystal Palace briefly threatened a surprise. Aki Riihilahti punished a mistake by Frank Lampard to equalize for Palace shortly before halftime after the England midfielder had thumped home his 11th goal of the season. Joe Cole restored Chelsea’s lead after 54 minutes and substitute Mateja Kezman wrapped up the 24th league victory of the season for Jose Mourinho’s side with a late double.
West Bromwich Albion dented Charlton Athletic’s European ambitions and increased their own survival chances with a 4-1 away win — their first in the league this season.
Robert Earnshaw got a second-half hat-trick against a Charlton side reduced to 10 men after Talal El Karkouri was sent off for a two-footed lunge in the first half. West Brom remain second from bottom with 24 points but are now only two behind Crystal Palace who are in the safety zone.
Bottom club Norwich City look doomed, however, after going down 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers in a late kickoff. Stelios Giannakopoulos scored just before halftime to move Wanderers above Liverpool into fifth place.
Former England fullback Stuart Pearce’s first match as caretaker manager of Manchester City, following the resignation of Kevin Keegan, ended in a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur for whom Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane were on target. Portsmouth and Newcastle shared the points, and nine yellow cards, in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park.
Bellamy Treble Sends Celtic Top
In Glasgow, a Craig Bellamy hat-trick sent Celtic to the top of the Scottish Premier League with a 3-2 win at basement side Dundee United yesterday.
Celtic leapfrog Rangers at the summit with their city rivals not playing in the league this weekend as they face Motherwell at Hampden Park today in the League Cup final. The champions have 77 points while Rangers are two behind from the same number of games.
Elsewhere, Hibernian recovered from a goal down to claim third place with an emphatic 4-1 win at Dunfermline, who had taken the lead after 42 minutes through Barry Nicholson.
But Hibs hit back to win comfortably with two goals apiece for Steve Fletcher and Derek Riordan. Hearts beat Livingston 3-1 with goals from Lee Miller, Mark Burchill and Robbie Neilson. Aberdeen slipped to fourth following a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee with Noel Whelan breaking the deadlock in the second half before Tam McManus leveled for the visitors.
Tudor Gives Siena Precious Win Over Lazio
In Milan, Croatian Igor Tudor’s header on the hour gave struggling Siena a vital 1-0 win over Lazio in Serie A yesterday. After a poor first-half Tudor rose well to head home a corner from former Lazio striker Enrico Chiesa to put Siena in front against a Lazio side coached by former Siena boss Giuseppe Papadopulo.
Lazio responded well with the impressive Fabio Liverani twice going close but they were unable to find a way through and the defeat leaves them uncomfortably close to the relegation zone in 14th place in the 20-team Serie A. Siena are 16th.
Unimpressive Bayern Back on Top of Bundesliga
In Frankfurt, Bayern Munich earned a flattering 3-1 home win over Hansa Rostock yesterday to move back into provisional top spot in the Bundesliga, keeping the pressure on title rivals Schalke 04.
Bayern fell behind to an early goal from Uwe Moehrle, hit back through Lucio just before halftime and finally moved ahead with a deflected Claudio Pizarro strike in the 65th minute. Werder Bremen moved back up to third place on 47 points with a 2-1 win at FC Nuremberg, although VfB Stuttgart, in fourth on 45 points, will leapfrog them into the third Champions League qualification spot if they win at home to SC Freiburg today.
Hertha Berlin and Bayer Leverkusen also stayed in the hunt for third spot with routine home wins yesterday, Hertha beating Arminia Bielefeld 3-0 and Leverkusen coming through 2-0 against Kaiserslautern.
Hamburg SV, the other team chasing third place, lost ground with a surprise 3-2 home defeat by Borussia Dortmund.
