William Gallas scored in the last minute on Saturday to give league-leading Chelsea a 2-1 win over Tottenham, which moved the Blues 18 points clear atop the English Premier League.
The France defender cut in from the left and beat goalkeeper Paul Robinson with a rising 25-yard shot. Michael Essien scored his first goal for Chelsea before Jermaine Jenas made it 1-1 a minute before half-time.
In other results on Saturday, it was: Birmingham 1, West Brom 1; Bolton 4, West Ham 1; Everton 3, Fulham 1; Portsmouth 2, Manchester City 1; Sunderland 0, Wigan 1; and Blackburn 2, Aston Villa 0.
On Sunday, Arsenal host Liverpool, Manchester United host Newcastle, and Charlton host Middlesbrough.
Chelsea’s late victory should have been expected. The Blues are unbeaten in their past 32 league games against Tottenham. Spurs’ last league win over Chelsea was in 1990.
The victory helped erase the memory of Wednesday’s ouster from the Champions League by Barcelona.
”It was important to win that game,” Gallas said. ”At Barcelona we were very sad and now we think only about the Premiership.”
Captain John Terry agreed. ”From a bad week we are now buzzing; the double is still on and we’ve got a great chance,” he said.
Chelsea have 75 points. Manchester United, who have played two games fewer, have 57. Next are Liverpool with 55, followed by Tottenham with 49, Blackburn 46, Bolton 45 and Arsenal with 44.
At the bottom, four clubs look vulnerable to relegation. Sunderland are last with 10 points, topped by Portsmouth (21), Birmingham (24) and West Brom (27).
Birmingham went ahead against Birmingham in the 49th when Curtis Davies pulled down Mikael Forssell inside the area, and the Finland striker converted the penalty.
Albion manager Bryan Robson sent on strikers Nwankwo Kanu and Nathan Ellington and the switch brought an equaliser in the 70th minute. Kanu switched the ball back to his strike partner, who scored with a low shot.
West Brom almost grabbed all three points when Ellington charged clear in injury time, but his shot struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced clear.
Blackburn moved into fifth place with their 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Andy Todd scored in the 49th with Craig Bellamy getting the second in the 71st.
Bolton mauled West Ham 4-1 with two goals for Stelios Giannakopoulos and the others from Gary Speed and Henrik Pedersen.
Teddy Sheringham scored the Hammers’ only goal.
The victory moved Bolton into sixth place — one point ahead of Arsenal and one behind Blackburn — as the modest club aim for a place in Europe.
”The first 45 minutes were the best level we have reached this season,” Bolton manager Sam Allardyce said.
Everton are another club on a roll, overwhelming Fulham 3-1 with two goals from James Beattie and the other from James McFadden.
Collins John scored a late penalty for Fulham.
Portsmouth beat Manchester City 2-1, getting the clincher when Pedro Mendes scored in second-half injury time. Mendes scored on a thundering right-footed shot from just outside the area.
Sunderland has a new manager, but it made no difference. The Black Cats lost 1-0 to Wigan with Henri Camara scoring the winner early in the game. Kevin Ball was in charge for his first game at Sunderland after replacing Mick McCarthy, who was fired on Monday. — Sapa-AP