The Hindu : Sport / Football : Duff keeps Chelsea on top

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Sport

Sport - Football

Duff keeps Chelsea on top

LONDON, DEC. 27. Damien Duff kept Chelsea five points clear at the top of the Premier League with a goal against Aston Villa on Sunday only for the three chasing teams to also win.

Second-place defending champion Arsenal scored a routine 2-0 victory over Fulham, Everton edged Manchester City 2-1 and Manchester United beat neighbour Bolton 2-0 to make sure that Chelsea didn't go further ahead.

Even Liverpool stayed just behind the chasing pack with a 5-0 victory at last place West Bromwich Albion.

Jose Mourinho' Blues did enough to beat defense-minded Villa at Stamford Bridge to post their 14th victory in 19 games and 12th winning shutout.

Duff scored the only goal of the game in the 30th minute when he cut inside a defender on the right and fired past Villa 'keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Manchester United wins

Manchester United downed Bolton at Old Trafford. It was Scholes' seventh goal in seven games as the Reds won at home for the seventh time in a row.

``Our performances have certainly been very good and the players in the past few weeks have been coming to the form that we expect of them,'' said United manager Alex Ferguson. ``What we need is consistent results and today goes a long way towards that.''

Premier League results: Arsenal bt Fulham 2-0, Birmingham bt Middlesbrough 2- 0, Blackburn drew with Newcastle 2-2, Chelsea bt Aston Villa 1-0, Crystal Palace lost to Portsmouth 0-1, Everton bt Manchester City 2-1, Manchester United bt Bolton 2-0, Norwich lost to Tottenham 0-2, Southampton drew with Charlton 0-0, West Bromwich Albion lost to Liverpool 0-5.

League Championship: Brighton bt Gillingham 2-1, Cardiff drew with Wolves 1-1, Coventry lost to Sheffield United 1-2, Leicester lost to Rotherham 0-1, Millwall bt Ipswich 3-1, Plymouth bt Queens Park Rangers 2-1, Reading bt Watford 3-0, Stoke lost to Preston 0-0, Sunderland lost to Leeds 2-3,

Wigan lost to Derby 1-2. — AP

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