Chelsea maintained their two-point lead over Arsenal at the top of the Premiership as the two title contenders were held to hard-fought draws by Bolton and West Brom.
The Gunners briefly closed the gap on Jose Mourinho’s side with a 1-1 draw over the Baggies.
Arsenal moved a point nearer to Chelsea as the Blues match against Bolton was delayed by 30 minutes because of traffic congestion in west London.
French midfielder Robert Pires opened the scoring nine minutes into the second half when his swirling shot crept into the net.
West Brom manager Bryan Robson urged his side to score an equaliser and Robert Earnshaw eventually pulled them level in the 79th minute when he drilled the ball past Arsenal ‘keeper Jens Lehmann.
Chelsea made Bolton pay for the delay when Irish winger Damien Duff broke the deadlock in the opening minute of the match.
The pacy Duff raced clear of a stunned Bolton rearguard to slot a close-range effort past Bolton ‘keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Chelsea midfielder Cardoso Tiago then popped up in the 48th minute to double the Blues’ lead.
Bolton striker Kevin Davies narrowed the lead in the 52nd minute when he bustled his way through a crowded penalty area to nudge the ball past Chelsea shot-stopper Petr Cech.
Radhi Jaidi took advantage of a rare lapse by the Chelsea defence to score a last-gasp equaliser in the 87th minute.
Manchester United had earlier closed the gap on the runaway Premiership leaders with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Charlton at Old Trafford.
Ryan Giggs’s shot bounced off Charlton defender Luke Young to wrong-foot goalkeeper Dean Kiely after 41 minutes.
United’s Paul Scholes then struck a spectacular volley five minutes after the interval to complete the scoring.
At the Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough moved to fourth in the Premiership after they overpowered a lacklustre Liverpool.
Excellent work by Stewart Downing resulted in a pinpoint cross that Chris Riggott diverted past Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.
Boudewijn Zenden doubled Boro’s lead in the 62nd minute when he ghosted clear of Liverpool backline before lifting the ball over Kirkland.
An injury-ravaged Liverpool side failed to trouble the Middlesbrough goal and the only consolation for Reds manager Rafael Benitez was the return of talismanic midfielder Steven Gerrard.
Duncan Ferguson made sure Everton stay third in the Premiership as his looping second-half header earned the Toffees a narrow 1-0 victory over Fulham.
Newcastle boss Graham Souness can breath a sigh of relief as his side romped to a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert had deservedly given Newcastle the lead in the 79th minute when he backheeled Craig Bellamy’s low cross past Eagles goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly.
Bellamy then made sure of victory two minutes before the end, as he jinked through the Palace defence before drilling the ball past Kiraly.
Newly promoted Norwich were celebrating as they held on for a nervous 2-1 victory over fellow strugglers Southampton.
The Saints took the lead in the 24th minute through James Beattie’s arrowed shot, but the lead lasted just four minutes as burly midfielder Damien Francis fired the Canaries level.
Francis then made sure Norwich earned their first top-flight victory since 1995 with a close-range effort seven minutes after the interval. — Sapa-AFP