The Hindu : Sport / Football : Chelsea beats Tottenham; Arsenal, Man. United lose

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Sunday, Apr 08, 2007
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Chelsea beats Tottenham; Arsenal, Man. United lose

GOAL! Chelsea's Ricardo Carvalho celebrates his goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premiership on Saturday.

LONDON: The race to win the English Premiership title was blown wide open on Saturday as leader Manchester United was beaten 2-1 at Portsmouth while champion Chelsea closed to within three points with a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal lost its first league game at Emirates Stadium, falling 1-0 to West Ham.

But the real drama came late in the day as United's lead at the top was halved. Matt Taylor put Portsmouth ahead on the half-hour mark and the lead doubled when confusion in the defence saw Rio Ferdinand slot the ball past his goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. John O'Shea gave United hope with a goal on 90 minutes after a mistake by David James, but the Portsmouth goalkeeper made amends in injury time to deny substitute Alan Smith.

Ricardo Carvalho scored from a 25-metre shot in the 52nd minute after a pass from John Obi Mikel

in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Tottenham.

United leads the league with 78 points, and Chelsea now has 75.

Liverpool beat Reading 2-1 to further secure third place.

Liverpool has 60 points, followed by Arsenal with 55, Bolton with 53 and Everton, which beat Fulham 4-1 on Friday, with 50.

Stubborn defence

Chelsea had been frustrated by a stubborn Tottenham defence during the first half. Midfielder Frank Lampard had a shot blocked by Michael Dawson in the 39th and Carvalho forced Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson to save his header in the 22nd.

Earlier, Salomon Kalou, who scored Chelsea's last-minute goal against Watford last Saturday, had a shot that went over the bar.

Tottenham failed to test Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech in the first half. But Spurs improved its attacking play in the second half, and Cech pushed a shot from Mido over the crossbar in the 50th.

Robinson stopped a shot from Kalou with his feet and a drive from Didier Drogba as Chelsea sought to double its lead.

The results: Chelsea 1 bt Tottenham 0; Arsenal 0 lost to West Ham 1; Blackburn 1 lost to Aston Villa 2; Middlesbrough 4 bt Watford 1; Reading 1 lost to Liverpool 2; Sheffield United 1 lost to Newcastle 2; Wigan 1 lost to Bolton 3; Portsmouth 2 bt Manchester United 1. On Friday: Manchester City 0 drew with Charlton 0; Everton 4 bt Fulham 1.

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