LONDON, 6 February 2005 — Roy Keane reached a personal milestone at Old Trafford yesterday as Manchester United cut Chelsea’s Premier League lead to eight points with a 2-0 defeat of Birmingham City.
Cristiano Ronaldo set up United’s inspirational skipper for his 50th goal for the club early in the second half and Wayne Rooney’s late lob sealed an eighth win in nine league games.
Champions Arsenal remain third, 10 points off the pace, after they responded to their demoralizing 4-2 defeat by United on Tuesday with an impressive 3-1 victory at Aston Villa, scoring three times in the first half hour. Chelsea can restore their 11-point advantage at home to Manchester City today.
United struggled to break down a stubborn Birmingham side and were fortunate not to fall behind before the interval when on-loan Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani smashed a volley against the underside of the United crossbar.
Ronaldo’s perfect lay-off handed Keane the chance to put Alex Ferguson’s side in front after 55 minutes and the Irishman drilled in his first goal since November 2003.
Rooney then took his United goal tally to 12 to complete a great week for the club.
Liverpool kept up the pressure on fourth-placed neighbors Everton as Spanish striker Fernando Morientes scored his second goal of the week in a 3-1 victory over Fulham.
The Anfield club, chasing the fourth Champions League spot, are four points behind Everton who are in action on Sunday against Southampton.
Middlesbrough are also handily placed for a shot at Europe after a 1-0 home win against Blackburn Rovers, a game they ended with 10 men after Ray Parlour was sent off.
Egyptian striker Mido scored twice on his debut to help Tottenham Hotspur come from behind and beat Portsmouth 3-1. Robbie Keane was also on the scoresheet as Spurs ended a run of three consecutive defeats.
Bottom club West Bromwich Albion twice led in the day’s big relegation battle against Norwich City at Carrow Road before goals from Craig Fleming, Gary Doherty and a late effort by Damien Francis sealed a dramatic 3-2 victory for the home side.
West Brom have 17 points and Southampton, who play Everton today, have 18. Norwich move to 20, two points behind Crystal Palace who were beaten 1-0 at home by in-form Bolton Wanderers, their seventh straight win. Newcastle United’s season of discontent continued with mediocre 1-1 draw at home to Charlton Athletic. They are now 12th on 31 points.
Livingston Save Scottish Cup Blushes
In Glasgow, Premier League club Livingston escaped a Scottish Cup fourth round embarrassment with a last-minute goal in a 1-0 victory at second division Alloa yesterday.
Today, Dunfermline Athletic host holders Celtic who disposed of Rangers earlier in the tournament.
Colin McMenamin stabbed home the winner for Livingston from a Burton O’Brien cross to earn manager Richard Gough a place in the quarterfinals draw on Monday.
Aberdeen dismissed Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2-1 thanks to goals from Darren Mackie to take his tally to 10 this season. Thistle pulled a goal back from player-manager Craig Brewster.
Dundee United eased into the last eight despite huge pressure on manager Ian McCall following their 7-1 thrashing in the League Cup semifinal on Wednesday by Rangers.First division sides Ross County and Clyde must battle it out again on February 15 in a replay after 0-0 draw. Premier League Hearts and Kilmarnock play again on Feb. 16 after an enthralling 2-2 draw at Tynecastle.
In other games Hibernian beat second division Brechin 4-0 while first division St. Mirren won 2-0 at second division Ayr.
Bayern Surge Three Clear as Guerrero Shines
In Berlin, Bayern Munich opened up a three point lead at the top of the Bundesliga courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen at the Olympic Stadium yesterday.
Bayern tasted a 4-1 defeat at Leverkusen earlier in the campaign but Peruvian sensation Paolo Guerrero turned in a fantastic display on his full Bundesliga debut to ensure sweet revenge for Bayern.
Guerrero, 20, won a penalty kick which Dutch international Roy Makaay converted on the chime of half-time and then netted himself after 68 minutes as Bayern surged clear at the summit.
Second-placed Schalke 04 needed a last minute equalizer from Brazilian Ailton to net a 2-2 draw at bottom side Hansa Rostock.
Ailton struck three minutes into stoppage time to snatch a point for Schalke but the 1997 UEFA Cup victors lose further ground on Bayern in the title race.
VfB Stuttgart also slipped further behind Bayern following a 1-1 draw with ten-man Kaiserslautern leaving them six points adrift of the tabletoppers.
Referees have been the talk of German football since official Robert Hoyzer admitting to match-fixing and referee Michael Weiner was the centre of attention in Munich when he awarded Bayern a very generous penalty kick.
Seconds before the half-time interval Guerrero controlled the ball in the box before collapsing into man marker Jens Nowotny. Stuttgart are also struggling to click into gear after the winter break failing to break down ten-man Kaiserslautern in a 1-1 draw at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium.
German international Kevin Kuranyi shot Stuttgart into a 14th minute lead and everything looked rosy when Cameroon Lucien Mettomo was sent off for a foul on Alexander Hleb after an hour.
Elsewhere SV Hamburg kept up their hopes of European football with a 3-1 win at FC Nuremberg.
