Champions League
Chelsea emerged from the Adrian Mutu drugs controversy to virtually assure their place in the next round of the Champions League on Wednesday while London rivals Arsenal saw their calamity-prone goalkeeper Jens Lehmann cost them a point.
PHOTO: AP
Jose Mourinho's Chelsea earned their third win in three Group H games with a 2-0 dismissal of CSKA Moscow at Stamford Bridge.
PHOTO: AP
In Athens, however, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal were twice pegged back and were held to a 2-2 draw by Panathinaikos after Lehmann was twice at fault for the Greek champions' equalisers.
The point also meant that the Gunners lost top spot in Group E to PSV Eindhoven who defeated Rosenborg 2-1.
Elsewhere, Celtic slumped to a 3-0 defeat and headed for the Champions League exit door losing 3-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk while Italy showed off their credentials with Inter Milan crushing Valencia 5-1 and AC Milan edging Barcelona 1-0.
Defending champions Porto went down 2-0 to Paris St Germain to slip to the foot of Group H.
At Stamford Bridge, an early corner allowed John Terry to head home his third goal of the season and Eidur Gudjohnsen repeated the trick from Damien Duff's free-kick right on the stroke of half-time.
It was only the second goal of the season for the Icelandic striker but that will still have come as a relief for Mourinho, who has Didier Drogba out injured, Mutu facing a ban for cocaine use and Mateja Kezman still struggling to adapt to English football.
"It is more important for us than for Eidur because we won the game with that goal," Mourinho said.
"But of course for a striker it is good to score. He had a great chance against Man City [on Saturday] and didn't score, so this will be good for his confidence."
In Athens, Lehmann's Champions League curse returned to haunt Arsenal.
Freddie Ljungberg had put Arsenal ahead in the first half before Lehmann's latest howler handed the Greeks a deserved equaliser.
A goal 16 minutes from time by stand-in skipper Thierry Henry seemed to have given Arsenal the three points, but in the 82nd minute, Polish international Emmanuel Olisadebe, a second-half substitute, rose unopposed to head in a second equaliser with Lehmann again caught napping.
"It's difficult to make judgements just after the game but I will speak to Jens" said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger.
"We will see what happened but if you make mistakes at the back, you will get punished."
Arsenal went in front in the 18th minute. Jose Antonio Reyes threaded a sweet left foot pass through a wall of defenders where Ljungberg was on hand to chip over the onrushing goalkeeper Konstantinos Chalkias.
Then in the 65th minute Lehmann came rushing out of his penalty area to head a long, hopeful ball clear which fell to Gonzalez who scored with a sensational lob from an acute angle from just inside the touchline with the German desperately back-pedalling.
But Lehmann will also have the fingers pointed at him for the second goal when Olisadebe rose unopposed to head in a corner with the German marooned in no-man's land eight minutes from time.
It was the third European match in which Lehmann had blundered.
Last season, he tried to dribble the ball out of his area against Dynamo Kiev, lost possession and handed the Ukrainians a 2-1 win.
Just weeks earlier, the big German blamed himself for two of the goals in a 3-0 defeat by Inter Milan.
While Chelsea and Arsenal can still dream of the knockout stages, Celtic were left pinning their hopes on the consolation prize of a place in the UEFA Cup after a third successive defeat.
Brazilian midfielder Matuzalem hit two with compatriot Brandao adding the third for Shakhtar Donetsk.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said: "We have no points after three games and so the next match is a vitally important one that we must try and get some points on the board.
"The situation is pretty difficult but not irretrievable."
Inter Milan head Group G with a perfect record after cruising to a 5-1 victory over Spanish champions Valencia.
A scintillating second half with goals from Dejan Stankovic, Christian Vieri, Andy Van der Meyde, Adriano and Julio Ricardo Cruz comfortably maintained the Italians' unbeaten streak in all competitions.
Back in Italy, AC Milan also maintained their 100-percent record with a 1-0 win over Barcelona with prolific Ukraine international Andriy Shevchenko burying Marcos Cafu's cross for his 30th goal in 60 Champions League appearances.
AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti reflected: "I am very happy as we controlled the match for an hour and 15 minutes. Barcelona are playing some of the best football in Europe and the fact that we didn't concede a goal is very significant.
In Paris, Paris Saint Germain's misfiring Champions League campaign finally got off the ground with a stunning acrobatic strike from Charles-Edouard Coridon inspiring them to a 2-0 win over titleholders FC Porto.
Pauleta, back from injury, increased PSG's lead seconds later leaving Porto in danger of becoming the first defending champions in the history of the tournament not to make the next stage.
Premier League
Leaders Arsenal return to the scene of last season's most controversial game on Sunday, tackling arch-rivals Manchester United in their search for a 50th successive Premier League match without defeat.
The Londoners were only seven matches into that record-breaking run when they travelled to Old Trafford last September.
An incendiary 90 minutes ended with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira sent off and United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy the focus of a baying mob of Arsenal players. Four were subsequently banned.
Rivalry between England's top two clubs has been intense ever since Arsene Wenger arrived at Highbury in 1996 and began building Arsenal into serious opponents for Alex Ferguson's all-conquering United.
Off the pitch, Ferguson and Wenger are like chalk and cheese, with the fiery Scot from Glasgow cutting a sharp contrast with an urbane, trilingual Frenchman who holds a university degree in economics.
Relations were not helped when Arsenal wrested United's league title from them with a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in May 2002. Ferguson's men responded by snatching it back the following season with a barnstorming finish.
Constant sniping between the sides and their coaches built to a climax last September when the post-match melee led to the four Arsenal players being banned, their club getting fined US$316,600 and their manager facing a wave of criticism for his team's poor disciplinary record.
Ironically, for all the damage done, the 0-0 draw proved to be the turning point in Arsenal's title-winning season.
Van Nistelrooy's missed spot-kick kept Arsenal on a record unbeaten run which will reach 50 if they avoid defeat on Sunday.
The ugly scenes also forced Arsenal into a long-overdue look at their behaviour on the pitch.
Wenger's team have picked up only one red card in the Premier League since - Ashley Cole's dismissal against Leicester City in December being the only blemish.
"I feel it was the turning-point," Wenger told reporters in March as his team cantered towards the title. "With them missing the penalty in the last minute, us not losing and then having to deal with all the incidents.
"We dealt well with the situation. We came out and said we were sorry and it's not how we want to behave. And since that, we've focused purely on football.
"You have to choose -- are you focused on fighting or on football?"
United got their revenge for what smacked of a defeat by knocking holders Arsenal out of the FA Cup semifinals the following April and going on to triumph in Cardiff.
Victory for Ferguson also denied Arsenal a golden opportunity -- against second division Millwall -- to make history by becoming the first club in over a century to lift the trophy three years on the trot.
Ferguson has already begun winding up his men for Sunday's battle with the league leaders, describing it as a "must-win" game within minutes of Saturday's 0-0 draw with Birmingham City.
He was then quoted as telling Sunday's << "The disciplinary treatment was ridiculous when you think that Eric Cantona got nine months for attacking a supporter," he added, referring to the former United forward's assault in 1995.
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