Chelsea slumps at West Ham, Man City held

LONDON: Chelsea collapsed to a 3-1 Premier League defeat at West Ham United after leading at halftime yesterday to leave interim manager Rafael Benitez still waiting for his first win.
Juan Mata gave Benitez’s side a well-deserved lead but the home side roared back with former Chelsea striker Carlton Cole levelling just past the hour before substitutes Mohamed Diame and Modibo Maiga struck late on.
Champions Manchester City moved to top of the table, for a couple of hours at least, after Carlos Tevez earned them a 1-1 draw at home to Everton, although Manchester United can open up a three-point lead if they win at Reading in the late game.
European champions Chelsea remain in third spot with 26 points after West Bromwich Albion wasted the chance to move above them when they were beaten 1-0 at home by Stoke City.
Tottenham Hotspur moved above West Brom on goal difference into fourth place following a 3-0 victory at Fulham in which Jermain Defoe scored twice.
Arsenal were booed off the pitch at the Emirates as they slipped to 10th after a 2-0 home defeat by Michael Laudrup’s Swansea City for whom Michu scored two late goals to take his league tally for the season to 11.
Liverpool were 1-0 winners at home to Southampton and bottom club Queens Park Rangers drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa as their search for a first league win of the season continues under new manager Harry Redknapp.
Leverkusen triumphs
In Berlin, second-placed Bayer Leverkusen did just enough to beat Nuremberg 1-0 yesterday and apply pressure on Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich ahead of their showdown against Borussia Dortmund.
Stefan Kiessling scored Leverkusen’s winner in the 37th minute for the team’s fourth straight victory, pushing his side to 30 points — seven behind Bayern, who were playing at home later Saturday.
Schalke continued their struggles with a 1-1 at home against Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Timo Hildebrand replaced Lars Unnerstall as Schalke’s keeper and looked less than impressive on Igor de Camargo’s goal for Gladbach in the 62nd minute. Julian Draxler equalized for Schalke in the 85th minute.
Schalke, however, have not won in four games and improved to just 25 points while Gladbach have 21 points.
“We were relieved to have at least picked up the point. If we had lost things would have been bad here,” said Draxler.
Gladbach coach Lucien Lavre said: “The point was deserved. Schalke played well. But to get a point at Schalke is not too bad.” Adam Szalai’s goal in the 89th minute gave 10-man Mainz a 2-1 victory at home over Hannover in a battle of teams fighting for European spots.
Nicolai Mueller scored on a loose ball after Shawn Parker’s shot hit the left post after 10 minutes for Mainz but was equalized by Christian Schulz for Hannover.
Mainz lost their keeper four minutes after the break as Christian Wetklo was red-carded but Szalai provided the heroics.
Stuttgart picked up their third victory in the last four games by fending off Greuther Fuerth on the road 1-0 on Shinji Okazaki’s goal in the 45th minute.
Stuttgart played the final 37 minutes a man down after Serdar Tasci was shown a red card.
Fuerth dropped to last place with eight points.
Eintracht Frankfurt missed a chance to keep track with the top challengers by losing 4-0 at Fortuna Duesseldorf on Friday.
Promoted side Augsburg picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home over Freiburg with Tobias Werner’s goal for Augsburg being equalized by Jonathan Schmid.
On Sunday, Werder Bremen play at Hoffenheim and VfL Wolfsburg welcome Hamburg.
Getafe beats Malaga
In Barcelona, Getafe beat visiting Malaga 1-0 yesterday with Alberto Lopo’s second-half goal giving the Madrid side its third straight Spanish league win.
Defender Lopo scored in the 56th minute after Pedro Leon swung his corner into the six-yard box.
Getafe goalkeeper Miguel Moya got enough of Javier Saviola’s strike to send it crashing off the crossbar to deny Malaga’s best chance in the 79th.
Getafe is level on 22 points with Malaga and Real Betis, which has a game in hand.
Malaga, which entered the game with the league’s best defense, saw its winless streak away from home grow to five games.