/ 18 December 2006

Chelsea keep pressure on United

Manchester United's lead in the Premier League was cut to two points on Sunday after they lost to West Ham 1-0 and Chelsea came back to beat Everton 3-2. Nigel Reo-Coker scored the winning goal in the 75th minute at Upton Park, giving Alan Curbishley a winning start as West Ham manager.

Manchester United’s lead in the Premier League was cut to two points on Sunday after they lost to West Ham 1-0 and Chelsea came back to beat Everton 3-2.

Nigel Reo-Coker scored the winning goal in the 75th minute at Upton Park, giving Alan Curbishley a winning start as West Ham manager.

Chelsea twice rallied from behind to beat Everton 3-2 — needing an 87th-minute winner from Didier Drogba.

Man United lead the league with 44 points, two more than two-time defending champions Chelsea. Liverpool are third with 31 points and Arsenal are fourth on 30.

”We have got to show our mettle ourselves,” Man United manager Alex Ferguson said. ”That’s the hallmark of champions and we’ve proved that many times it in the past. This team is young enough to be able to do that.”

West Ham are still in 18th place with 17 points, but there is only three points between the Hammers and 13th-place Manchester City, who lost to Tottenham 2-1 by goals from Tom Huddlestone and Calum Davenport.

Reo-Coker scored with a close-range shot after Marlon Harewood had played the ball back to him from the edge of the field.

”We’ve got something to build on now,” Curbishley said. ”With a bit of confidence, anything can happen.”

West Ham had another clear chance in the first half, with Jonathan Spector setting up Bobby Zamora for a shot on goal that United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved.

Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney had first-half shots blocked by West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green, who also dived to his right to palm away an attempt by Cristiano Ronaldo in the 55th minute.

On Wednesday, Curbishley signed a three-and-a-half year contract at the club where he started his playing career, two days after Alan Pardew was fired.

”Curbs has stamped his authority and he wanted us to get back to basics,” Reo-Coker said. ”It’s a tremendous win for us, especially with Manchester United at the top of the table, and we needed that ourselves and we need to push on from there.”

This was the first time Curbishley has beaten Manchester United as a manager. In the 15 years he was manager of Charlton, he drew twice and lost 12 times.

”We’ve come here at a time where there’s a great upsurge in energy and enthusiasm and optimism,” Ferguson said. ”Obviously if they played like that every week, they wouldn’t be in that position.”

Drogba scored with a bending ball that went over the head of Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and came just moments after he had hit the post.

The goal came only six minutes after Frank Lampard had equalised for the two-time defending champions.

”When we were losing 1-0 and 2-1 it was difficult, but we did it,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. ”The players had incredible character and they believed it until the last moment.”

Mikel Arteta gave Everton the lead with a 38th-minute penalty kick — sending goalkeeper Hilario the wrong way — after Chelsea defender Khalid Boulahrouz had brought down Victor Anichebe.

Boulahrouz, playing instead of injured Chelsea captain John Terry, had also been involved in an earlier incident.

Everton striker Andy Johnson claimed Boulahrouz pushed him in the back on the edge of the box in the 16th minute, but his call for a penalty was turned down.

Mourinho said he thought Johnson had dived and angrily waved an imaginary yellow card in the air from the touchline.

”If I want to be polite, I would call him a dangerous kind of opponent,” Mourinho said. ”You cannot trust him and I was not happy.”

Everton manager David Moyes said the incident wasn’t a penalty, ”but it certainly wasn’t a dive either”.

”By acting the way he did, Jose probably did inflame the situation,” Moyes said.

Michael Ballack then scored in the 49th minute with a curling free kick that bounced in off the post.

Joseph Yobo again put Everton in the lead in the 64th, heading in a corner from Arteta that got a slight deflection off Ballack’s head. Lampard scored his long-range goal in the 81st.

Tottenham won their first away game of the season, with Huddlestone setting up one goal and scoring the other.

The defender’s free kick was headed in by Davenport in the 16th minute and Huddlestone volleyed in the second in the 24th.

Man City pulled a goal back in the 64th when Joey Barton scored off a cross from Paul Dickov.

On Saturday, Arsenal rallied from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Portsmouth, allowing Liverpool to move up to third place after beating Charlton 3-0.

Also on Saturday, it was: Newcastle 2, Watford 1; Reading 1, Blackburn 2; Wigan 0, Sheffield United 1; and Aston Villa 0, Bolton 1. — Sapa-AP