Wayne Rooney scored to help Manchester United to a 2-1 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday — their second win over the Magpies in as many weeks.
The win kept United in touch with Arsenal in the race for second. United are one point behind second-place Arsenal, who host Tottenham on Monday.
If Arsenal lose, it will hand Chelsea their first title in 50 years. If not, Chelsea can clinch by winning at Bolton next Saturday.
In Sunday’s other match, Lomano LuaLua scored twice in five minutes as Portsmouth beat Southampton 4-1 to keep their local rival bottom of the standings.
United dominated in beating Newcastle 4-1 in the FA Cup semifinals last week.
On Sunday, they gifted Newcastle the lead.
A weak goal kick by United goalkeeper Tim Howard was intercepted by Darren Ambrose, who ran forward to score past the diving United States international in the 27th minute.
”I think they did get affected by the Newcastle goal because it came out of the blue,” Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. ”It was a bad kick out from Tim. There was a bit of slackness there and jolted us a bit. Until that point, it was as if we were running away with it.”
United then lost defender Gabriel Heinze to injury in the 37th minute, when he landed awkwardly on his ankle after challenging Shola Ameobi for a header. He was replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Rooney leveled in the 57th with a powerful, swerving, dipping volley from just outside the box, a goal Ferguson described as ”phenomenal”.
”I was ready to take him off because he was injured in the first half,” Ferguson said. ”He just hobbled on the remainder of the game. But while he’s on the pitch, he’s such a threat and that’s why we kept him on.”
Rooney was treated for a bruised leg after the match.
Defender Wes Brown added United’s winner in the 74th, leaping to head his first league goal for United.
United was without Ruud van Nistelrooy, who didn’t even make the bench after sustaining an ankle injury in training.
It was Newcastle’s fifth successive loss, including the FA Cup defeat to United and a 4-1 defeat at Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup quarterfinal second leg.
”It’s been a tough 10 days, a tough season,” Newcastle manager Graeme Souness said.
At Fratton Park, Portsmouth went ahead after four minutes, earning a penalty when LuaLua was tripped in the area by Southampton goalkeeper Antti Niemi. Niemi escaped without punishment and Aiyegbeni Yakubu converted.
Arjan de Zeeuw made it 2-0 in the 17th minute with a header, but Southampton pulled a goal back through Henri Camara three minutes later.
LuaLua took advantage of Niemi failing to claim a loose ball to make it 3-1 to Portsmouth in the 22nd minute. LuaLua’s second was a drive from outside the area that went in off the post.
It was the first trip to Fratton Park by Southampton manager Harry Redknapp since he left Portsmouth in December saying he wanted a break from the game. Two weeks later, he joined Southampton.
”It just made it more of a big game for us,” De Zeeuw said. ”The players still have a lot of respect for him. But going to Southampton just put a little bit more coal on the fire, and I think we’ve shown today we’re all capable of staying in the Premier League.”
Also on Saturday, it was Everton 1, Birmingham 1; Aston Villa 1, Bolton 1; Blackburn 0, Manchester City 0; Crystal Palace 1, Liverpool 0; Middlesbrough 4, West Brom 0; Norwich 1, Charlton 0.
Chelsea have 85 points, followed by Arsenal on 71 and Manchester United on 70. Everton are fourth with 58 points, four ahead of cross-town rival Liverpool.
At the bottom, Southampton have 28 points, West Brom have 29, with Norwich and Crystal Palace on 30 points.
Also on Saturday, Sunderland clinched promotion to the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Leicester.
On Sunday, Preston missed the chance to secure a spot in the play-offs with a 2-1 loss at Millwall.
Millwall goalkeeper Andy Marshall lost consciousness following a first-half collision with Richard Cresswell and was taken to hospital for an X-ray.
”He regained consciousness before he got in the ambulance, and hopefully he’ll be OK,” Millwall assistant manager Ray Wilkins said. ”It was very brave goalkeeping, and was a ball Cresswell had to go for, so we have no qualms about that.” — Sapa-AP