Ten-man Newcastle and Aston Villa played to a 0-0 draw on Sunday, failing to pick up important points as they both shoot for fourth place and a spot in Champions League qualifying.
Newcastle played with 10 men after Andy O’Brien was sent off in the ninth minute for a clumsy challenge on striker Darius Vassell.
Despite the advantage, Villa were unable to mount a first-half scoring threat, leaving Newcastle ‘keeper Shay Given without a serious save to make.
Newcastle had much of the possession for parts of the second half at Villa Park with England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson watching from the stands.
Newcastle manager Bobby Robson was delighted with the point, which came just four days after the Magpies secured a place in the semifinals of the Uefa Cup.
”We’ve had a tough old do here today,” Robson said. ”Then to travel here and to lose Andy O’Brien after 10 minutes. It’s been a victory for our courage, our guts, our team morale. We had 10 heroes on the pitch today.”
Villa manager David O’Leary wasn’t as upbeat.
”The onus was on us to break them down but we just weren’t good enough to break them down,” O’Leary said.
””It was a poor game in the end. We played our best stuff when they had 11 men.”
The draw gave Newcastle 50 points and Villa 49. Liverpool also have 50 points, but Newcastle have played one fewer match than the other two.
On Saturday, the two clubs chasing league-leading Arsenal both dropped more points, leaving the Gunners all but certain of winning their third league title for manager Arsene Wenger.
Steve Stone scored for Portsmouth to upset Manchester United 1-0. In another surprise, Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea was held 0-0 at home by struggling Everton.
That leaves Arsenal nine points ahead with five games to play.
Arsenal play next weekend at north London neighbour Tottenham.
In other Saturday results: Blackburn 1, Leicester 0; Bolton 2, Tottenham 0; Charlton 1, Birmingham 1; Liverpool 0, Fulham 0; Manchester City 1, Southampton 3; Wolves 2, Middlesbrough 0. On Sunday it’s Aston Villa vs Newcastle.
On Tuesday, Manchester United are home against Charlton.
Arsenal lead with 81 points from 33 games, Chelsea have 72 from 34 and Manchester United 68 from 33.
At the bottom, Wolves and Leicester have 28 from 34, Leeds have 32 and Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City have slipped into relegation trouble with 34. Blackburn’s victory over Leicester enabled Graeme Souness’s team to climb five points clear of the relegation zone and level with Portsmouth.
In the first division on Sunday, Jason Koumas scored from 12m in second-half injury time to give West Brom a 1-0 victory at Sunderland.
Demoted last season from the Premier League, the victory gave West Brom 83 points, just behind division-one leader Norwich with 85. The top two teams in the first-division get automatic promotion to the Premier League.
Sunderland remained in third with 71 points followed by Ipswich (71), Wigan (69) and West Ham (67). Teams that finish in third, fourth, fifith and sixth place play off for promotion to the Premier League. — Sapa-AP