Arsenal lost 1-0 at Blackburn on Saturday to slip to sixth in the English Premier League and dent their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Arsenal lost away from home for the eighth time in 14 domestic games, four days after winning 1-0 at Real Madrid 1-0 in the Champions League — their fourth European away win this season.
”I’m very sad because I don’t think we deserved to lose this game,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. ”For maybe five or six minutes in the first half we suffered a little bit, but overall we were always on top of the game but we couldn’t score.
”We lacked a little bit mental sharpness maybe because of Tuesday night, but overall we gave absolutely everything physically until the last second of the game.”
Blackburn swapped places with Arsenal in the standings, jumping a place to fifth. They need to finish fourth or higher to qualify for the Champions League next season — unless they win this season’s edition.
Blackburn moved to 43 points in the standings — three fewer than fourth-place Tottenham and two more than Arsenal — through Morten Gamst Pedersen’s 18th-minute goal. He sidefooted a cross from Craig Bellamy but was substituted soon after with an injury sustained when he fell after scoring.
Also on Saturday, Chelsea beat Portsmouth 2-0 on Saturday to extend their lead at the top of the English Premier League to 15 points.
The Blues recovered from Wednesday’s 2-1 Champions League loss to FC Barcelona with goals at Stamford Bridge through Frank Lampard and Arjen Robben.
In other matches on Saturday, Birmingham beat relegation rivals Sunderland 1-0, while Aston Villa drew 0-0 at Charlton. Newcastle hosted Everton later.
Lampard gave Chelsea the lead after 65 minutes with a low shot from just inside the area, and Robben scored 13 minutes later from Eidur Gudjohsen’s pass.
Birmingham took the lead in the 39th when Emile Heskey headed in a free kick by Jermaine Pennant. Birmingham stayed 18th, above Portsmouth and last-place Sunderland, but they are now just three points behind West Bromwich Albion and a place out of the relegation zone.
On Sunday, Liverpool host Manchester City, Fulham are at Bolton, and West Bromwich Albion play Middlesbrough. Manchester United play Wigan in the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff — the first title to be decided this season. — Sapa-AP