LONDON, 21 November 2004 — Chelsea and Arsenal were denied victories by Bolton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion, the away sides scoring late equalizers against them in the English Premier League yesterday.
Chelsea allowed a 2-0 lead to slip against Bolton who came back to draw 2-2 at Stamford Bridge, while champions Arsenal dropped two points in a 1-1 home draw with lowly West Bromwich Albion who equalized 11 minutes from time.
Everton closed the gap on the leading pair with a 1-0 home win over Fulham, while Middlesbrough also stayed in the hunt with a 2-0 win over Liverpool.
Manchester United climbed up to fifth with a 2-0 home win over Charlton Athletic in Alex Ferguson’s 999th match in charge at Old Trafford. With 14 matches played, Chelsea stay top with 33 points, followed by Arsenal on 31, Everton 29 and Middlesbrough 25. Manchester United moved on to 24 points and Bolton 23.
At the other end of the table, Norwich City won for the first time in the league this season at the 14th attempt, beating Southampton 2-1 at Carrow Road with Damien Francis scoring twice. That lifted them off the bottom, replaced by Blackburn Rovers who play Birmingham City at home on Sunday.
At Stamford Bridge, the kickoff was delayed for 30 minutes because of traffic congestion, but nothing stopped Chelsea hitting top gear from the off, scoring through Damien Duff after just 37 seconds.
Tiago doubled their lead when he scored for the second successive week, forcing the ball home from close range after 48 minutes.
Kevin Davies pulled one back for Bolton after 52 minutes, and Chelsea appeared to be heading for their ninth successive match in all competitions until the dying minutes when Radhi Jaidi scored with a half-volley from close range to give Bolton an unlikely draw.
Across London, Arsenal were just as dominant against West Brom, but Arsene Wenger’s men also stumbled and failed to take all three points from a game they should have won easily. Robert Pires, who scored in Arsenal’s 5-4 win over Spurs last week, scored again when Russell Hoult failed to stop his curling shot after 54 minutes, but the visitors equalized when substitute Robert Earnshaw stole in at the far post to score his fourth goal in three games 11 minutes from time.
Arsenal have now won just one of their last five league matches. Third placed Everton won for the ninth time this season — as many as they managed all last season — after dominating for long periods against Fulham at Goodison Park where substitute Duncan Ferguson, who had replaced Leon Osman just three minutes earlier, stooped to head home the only goal after 67 minutes.
Di Michele Goals and Save Give Udinese 5-4 Win at Lecce
In Milan, Udinese striker David Di Michele scored twice and then, as stand-in goalkeeper, saved an injury-time penalty as his team came from 3-0 down to beat Lecce 5-4 in a remarkable Italian Cup match yesterday.
Lecce looked to have the last 16, first-leg Cup tie all wrapped up after just over half an hour thanks to a penalty from Argentine midfielder Cristian Ledesma, a fine solo strike from Samuele Dalla Bona and then a header from Bulgarian teenager Valeri Bojinov.
But Brazilian Felipe began the fightback for Luciano Spalletti’s side with a 34th minute header before a sweet left-foot shot from the edge of the area by Di Michele brought Udinese within a goal of Lecce at half-time.
Antonio Di Natale equalized for Udinese in the 57th minute after a swift break down the left only for Bojinov to strike again to restore Lecce’s lead.
Guerrero Scores Again as Bayern Munich Return to Top
In Frankfurt, Paolo Guerrero was on target again as Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Kaiserslautern 3-1 yesterday and reclaim the Bundesliga leadership for the first time since their title triumph in 2002-03.
Kaiserslautern took a surprise seventh-minute lead at the Olympic Stadium when Thomas Riedl tapped in on the rebound but Claudio Pizarro leveled and Torsten Frings put the home side in front midway through the first half.
Guerrero, the 20-year-old Peruvian international who has made a sensational breakthrough into the Bayern first team, scored the clinching third a minute after coming on as a substitute.
Nine-Man Celtic Lose Bitter Battle Against Rangers
In Glasgow, Celtic lost two men, gave away two poor goals and allowed their discipline to crumble in a chaotic 2-0 Scottish Premier League defeat at Glasgow rivals Rangers yesterday. Rangers are now a single point behind Celtic, who lead the standings on 37 points from 15 games.
Nacho Novo’s 15th minute penalty and a Dado Prso header on 36 minutes gave Rangers their first Old Firm league win since December 2002 but they were helped by a visiting side lucky to escape with only two red cards in a bad-tempered affair. Alan Thompson was sent off a minute after Prso’s goal for pushing his head into Peter Lovenkrands’ face. Chris Sutton followed him up the tunnel for handling early in the second half after he had been booked earlier for persistent fouling.
