John Terry’s second-half header saw reigning champions Chelsea extend their lead at the top of the Premiership to 12 points as the Blues beat Wigan 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in London on Saturday.
Wigan held out until the 67th minute when Chelsea captain Terry escaped his marker to head in fellow England international Frank Lampard’s corner.
Chelsea’s win was a repeat of the scoreline when the teams met on the opening day of the season, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told Sky Sports: ”It was the same result, but different. In Wigan, we didn’t deserve to win, but today we deserved to win.”
For Wigan manager Paul Jewell, it was his side’s fourth straight Premiership defeat.
”We can’t fault the players’ efforts. We always knew it was going to be hard in this league,” he said.
European kings Liverpool moved up into second place with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, with their seventh straight Premiership victory secured by two late goals from Spanish striker Fernando Morientes.
”We want to win the league and we’re not conceding goals, which is a good base to start from,” said Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
But Arsenal suffered more misery on their travels as they missed the chance to go fourth with a 1-0 defeat away to Newcastle.
An ill-tempered match saw the Gunners play the last 30 minutes with 10 men after Gilberto was sent off for his second yellow card.
Nolberto Solano’s goal eight minutes from time, a low shot from the right-hand side of the box, was the Peru winger’s first for Newcastle since his return from Aston Villa.
The result means Arsenal, 17 points adrift of Chelsea, have now dropped 19 out of a possible 24 points away from Highbury.
Manchester United will have the chance to regain second place when they play Everton on Sunday.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Charlton ended a run of six straight defeats with a 2-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Sunderland, while West Brom, looking for their first win in four games, beat 10-man Manchester City 2-0.
Birmingham won their first home match of the season thanks to Nicky Butt’s goal six minutes from time against Fulham, but remained in the relegation zone.
”It was another typical Birmingham performance,” said manager Steve Bruce. ”But we got that bit of spark into them today. There have been four or five occasions at home when we’ve deserved to get something but haven’t.”
Bolton, looking for a fifth straight home league win, were denied two minutes from time in a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa, while Blackburn Rovers won a see-saw match against West Ham 3-2.
At Ewood Park, Rovers manager Mark Hughes was happy despite an on-field row between Blackburn teammates Brad Friedel and Robbie Savage.
”We expect players to place demands on themselves and their teammates. It’s never a problem; we should have more of that.”
At Anfield, Boro frustrated Liverpool for more than an hour before Morientes scored in the 72nd minute.
Five minutes later, Morientes made the game safe for Liverpool, who travel to Japan for the World Club Championship next week, by lobbing Boro’s Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
Boro then saw defender Chris Riggott sent off for two bookable offences.
Bolton had to wait until eight minutes from time before taking the lead when El-Hadji Diouf, played in by Ricardo Vaz Te, struck from inside the box.
But in the 88th minute Juan Pablo Angel rescued a point for Villa with his first Premiership goal of the season.
West Brom were ahead as early as the fifth minute at the Hawthorns when Diomansy Kamara beat former England goalkeeper David James with a low strike.
Fellow striker Kevin Campbell doubled the Baggies’ lead after the hour mark when he headed in his first goal since March before City saw striker Andy Cole sent off late on as tempers frayed.
At The Valley, Darren Bent put Charlton ahead three minutes before half-time before midfielder Darren Ambrose doubled the Addicks’ lead in the 49th minute.
”It was a vitally important game after the run we’ve had,” said Charlton manager Alan Curbishley. ”There was a lot of anxiety at 2-0 because we’d been there before.”
Blackburn, who hadn’t lost at home to West Ham in 12 years, went behind on the stroke of half-time when striker Bobby Zamora scored for the visitors.
Rovers, though, levelled in the 56th minute when Paul Dickov scored from the penalty spot.
Moments later, Rovers were ahead through Morton Gamst Pedersen.
However, West Ham made it 2-2 thanks to striker Marlon Harewood in the 63rd minute, only for Rovers to regain the lead 13 minutes later through Shefki Kuqi.
Tottenham, who began the weekend in fourth place, are at home to relegation candidates Portsmouth on Monday. — Sapa-AFP