Gunners keep title race open
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Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey (left) shoots and scores the game's only goal against Manchester United during their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London yesterday. |
Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 in London to keep the English Premier League title race wide open yesterday with Aaron Ramsey's second-half winner cheered almost as loudly by Chelsea's fans as Arsenal's.
United stayed top of the table with 73 points from 35 matches, but remained only three points clear of champion Chelsea which plays United at Old Trafford this week. Both sides have an identical goal difference.
Arsenal is third on 67 points but, with manager Arsene Wenger conceding its title challenge was over last week, the victory had more relevance in keeping alive the Gunners' hopes of finishing third and securing a place in next season's Champions League group stage.
The only goal of a match Arsenal largely dominated at a sun-drenched Emirates Stadium came after Robin van Persie cut the ball back to Ramsey who found the corner of Edwin van der Sar's net after 56 minutes.
In earlier action, Liverpool beat Newcastle United 3-0 to move into fifth place, maintaining its climb up the table that began when Kenny Dalglish took over as caretaker-manager in January.
A goal from Maxi Rodriguez after 10 minutes, a Dirk Kuyt penalty after 59 minutes and a strike from Luis Suarez six minutes later lifted Liverpool into the Europa League qualifying berth, pushing Tottenham Hotspur, which lost 1-2 at Chelsea on Saturday, down to sixth place. Both teams have 55 points but Liverpool has a better goal difference.
Liverpool, whose 21-year-old record of 18 English league titles could be broken by United this season, has now scored 14 goals in three home matches.
In the other lunchtime kickoff, Birmingham City drew 1-1 with Wolverhampton Wanderers at St Andrews, leaving Wolves deep in relegation trouble.
They remain second bottom on 34 points, a point from safety, while Birmingham is 15th on 39.
Yesterday's fixtures were being completed with fourth-placed Manchester City (59) playing bottom-placed West Ham United (32) at Eastlands later.
On Saturday, Salomon Kalou came off the bench to score in the 89th and give Chelsea the win over Spurs.
Spurs went ahead with a 25-meter drive by Sandro but Chelsea leveled at the end of the first half thanks to a controversial Frank Lampard goal before Kalou stabbed home the winner.
At the other end of the table, Blackburn Rovers edged towards safety by beating Bolton Wanderers 1-0 to end its 11-game winless run and climb to 15th in the 20-team standings on 38 points with three games remaining.
Wigan Athletic, which drew 1-1 at home to Everton, remains third-last, while Blackpool, goalless at home to Stoke City, also has 35 points and is one place higher.
After Brazilian Sandro scored at Stamford Bridge, host Chelsea equalized just before the break when Lampard's speculative shot squeezed through the body of Heurelho Gomes.
The error-prone Brazilian goalkeeper spun round immediately, reached out a hand and appeared to stop the ball before it completely crossed the line but the officials awarded a goal.
Lampard, who had a goal disallowed for England against Germany in last year's World Cup when it had clearly crossed the line, was not about to argue.
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