LONDON, 28 March 2004 — Substitute Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored a stunning hat trick in the last 11 minutes as Chelsea came from behind to beat bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-2 at Stamford Bridge yesterday, keeping alive their outside hopes of winning the title.
Jody Craddock’s 57th-minute goal gave Wolves a shock 2-1 lead, but Frank Lampard levelled with 20 minutes to go and Hasselbaink then finished the job in style to lift Chelsea to within six points of leaders Arsenal, who meet third-placed Manchester United at Highbury today.
The result leaves Wolves rooted to the foot of the table, while Yakubu’s late winner for Portsmouth gave them a 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers and lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa dented Charlton Athletic’s Champions League hopes with a 2-1 win at the Valley.
Southampton beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0, Everton drew 1-1 with Middlesbrough and Manchester City drew 0-0 with Fulham in the day’s other matches.
Leicester City, who are now in the bottom three, play Liverpool today while Bolton Wanderers meet Newcastle United.
Leeds United are just a point better off than Wolves in 19th place after they were hammered 4-1 at Birmingham City in the day’s early game.
Australian international striker Mark Viduka gave Leeds the perfect start after only three minutes when he latched onto a Jermaine Pennant through ball, sidestepped goalkeeper Maik Taylor and calmly rolled the ball in the empty net.
Five-Goal Bayern Keep Hopes Alive
In Berlin, Bayern Munich thrashed Borussia Monchengladbach 5-2 yesterday to keep alive their slim hopes of retaining their Bundesliga title. Goals from Sammy Kuffour, Roque Santa Cruz, Roy Makaay, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Ballack left Bayern eight points behind leaders Werder Bremen who play at VfB Stuttgart today.
Bayer Leverkusen stayed in contention for a Champions League spot when their 4-1 win over relegation-threatened Hertha Berlin left them in fourth spot and two points adrift of Stuttgart.
At the Munich Olympic Stadium, Kuffour opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a header from Bastian Schweinsteiger’s cross, Paraguayan international Santa Cruz added the second six minutes before the break and Makaay made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after a foul on Ze Roberto.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld criticized his team for letting Borussia back into the game.
“That was a crazy game. We concentrated hard and got the 3-0 lead but then we made a lot of individual errors and began to wobble again. Borussia made a belated comeback with two goals from Vaclav Sverkos before England international midfielder Hargreaves made the match safe for Bayern and Ballack contributed the fifth goal just before the whistle. Two goals from each Brazilian striker Franca and Dimitar Berbatov carried Leverkusen to an easy home victory over increasingly desperate Berlin, for whom Marcelinho scored the sole goal. Berlin are second from bottom, two points behind Hannover who pulled off a valuable 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Dortmund. Torsten Frings’ opener for Dortmund was equalized by first-half substitute Thomas Christensen.
