Chelsea took advantage of a rare Arsenal stumble to join the Gunners at the top of the Premier League on Saturday with a 4-1 win over West Bromwich Albion.
But Arsenal still stays top on goal difference after salvaging a last-minute 2-2 draw with Southampton at Highbury. The team didn't play with its usual attacking flair -- a hangover from losing its first league match in 17 months last Sunday.
PHOTO: AP
Thierry Henry missed a first half penalty but scored in the 67th minute. Rory Delap leveled in the 80th minute and put Saints ahead five minutes later. Robin van Persie saved a point for Arsenal in the 90th minute.
PHOTO: EPA
"When you play 49 games unbeaten and you lose a game, it is a mental shock and it takes some time to digest that," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
"We did not find our fluency. I would say that had we lost today it would have put us in a confidence crisis.
PHOTO: EPA
"Southampton were well disciplined in defense but what I was worried about before the game was a hangover from last week.
"The defeat was a big shock to us and you could see it wasn't out of their system today. Therefore our passing was more labored, it was not sharp and didn't have the same quick vision. It was less spontaneous."
The team that ended Arsenal's streak, Manchester United, couldn't maintain that form. It lost 2-0 at Portsmouth to a David Unsworth penalty and a Aiyegbeni Yakubu strike.
"We have to reflect on our own missed chances, because you can't afford to do that," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. "It's a kick in the teeth after last Sunday's performance."
Portsmouth also won the last time the two met at Fratton Park in April.
In the late match, Blackburn Rovers drew 2-2 with Liverpool to rise off the bottom of the standings. Liverpool's Djibril Cisse sustained a suspected broken leg.
Blackburn's Jay Bothroyd had already leveled John Arne Riise's early opener when Cisse suffered his injury, after a tangle with Nils-Eric Johansson. Brett Emerton put Blackburn ahead only for Milan Baros to level for Liverpool.
Chelsea woke from a first half slumber at the Hawthorns to go ahead just before the interval. Gallas volleyed Chelsea ahead in first half injury time before Gudjohnsen added a second six minutes into the second half from a Duff cross.
Although Hungarian midfielder Zoltan Gera replied for the Baggies, an unmarked Duff scored the third and Frank Lampard's 81st minute strike comfortably beat 'keeper Russell Hoult.
West Brom went into the game managerless after Gary Megson was sacked on Tuesday after 4 1/2 years at the club.
In the Football League Championship, Wigan stayed top despite not playing. It has a three point lead over Ipswich, which won 3-0 over Preston, and Reading, which lost 3-2 at Coventry. Queens Park Rangers moved to within four points of the lead with a 3-0 win over Burnley.
Craig Beattie scored the winner as Celtic beat Motherwell 3-2 in the Scottish Premier League Saturday after throwing away a 2-0 lead.
Celtic was leading with goals from Aidan McGeady and Alan Thompson but Martyn Corrigan and a Richie Foran penalty leveled the match for Motherwell. They were the ninth and tenth goals conceded by Celtic in four games.
Beattie came off the bench to score the 77th minute winner.
"The way we play at the minute we need to score four to get a result which all leads to exciting stuff. We're flying forward at this minute and trying to score goals," said Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, whose side suffered a shock 3-2 midweek defeat to Aberdeen.
"That has been the case in the last few weeks and the goals we are giving away at the minute is a natural cause for concern. Fortunately we are scoring at the other end so they're keeping us in it."
Celtic has 31 points from 11 matches, seven points ahead of Rangers, who play Aberdeen today.
Darren Young scored an injury-time winner as Dunfermline beat Dundee United 2-1. Hearts beat Dundee 3-0 off goals from Kevin McKenna, Paul Hartley and substitute Dennis Wyness. Hearts played without a manager after Craig Levein joined Leicester on Friday.
Graham Bayne and Barry Wilson scored as Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Livingston 2-0 while Colin Nish scored two as Kilmarnock beat Hibernian 3-1.
Bulgarian striker Martin Petrov scored all four goals and Wolfsburg rallied from a two-goal deficit to extend its lead in the Bundesliga with a 4-3 victory over newcomer Mainz, while Stuttgart and Bayern both lost Saturday.
Schalke jumped to second with its fifth win in a row, beating Stuttgart 3-2 after scoring twice inside the first two minutes.
Bayern lost to Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, finishing one man down and dropping two places to fifth.
Defending champion Werder Bremen came from behind to draw 1-1 with archrival Hamburger SV, while Hannover moved up from seventh to fifth with its fifth straight victory, a 3-0 rout of hapless Bochum.
In other action, Borussia Dortmund beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 and Hertha Berlin came away with a 3-1 victory in Freiburg.
After 11 rounds, surprising Wolfsburg has 24 points and a three-point lead over Schalke. Stuttgart, Hannover and Bayern all have 20, while Bremen is right behind at 19.
Mainz went ahead in the 15th minute in Wolfsburg through Mathias Abel after Conor Casey collided with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Simon Jentzsch, who fumbled the ball.
Casey, a US international, then gave Mainz a two-goal cushion by driving in a right-foot shot form the edge of the area that bounced off the post into the net for his first Bundesliga goal.
With first-half regulation time about to run out, Petrov converted a penalty given after Mainz goalkeeper Dimo Wache was judged to have brought down Juan Menseguez.
Petrov equalized two minutes into first-half injury time, connecting to a pass from Thomas Brdaric at the far post.
Just before the hour, Juergen Kramny handled the ball on the line, drawing a red card and conceding a penalty. Petrov converted it and then notched his fourth minutes later with a left-foot volley.
But 10-men Mainz didn't surrender and substitute Christoph Babatz drove the ball past the Wolfsburg wall from a free kick in the 75th.
"It was sensational for the fans but I was really worried in the last 15 minutes that we would concede another goal," said Wolfsburg coach Eric Gerets.
"A spectacular game," Mainz coach Juergen Klopp said.
Schalke extended its winning streak under new coach Ralf Rangnick by stunning Stuttgart with two goals inside the opening two minutes.
Ailton scored just 40 seconds into the game off a through pass from Lincoln and one minute later Levan Kobiashvili added the second after a poor Stuttgart clearance.
The game appeared decided when Lincoln made it 3-0 in the 25th.
But then Stuttgart struck with two goals in two minutes. Zvonimir Soldo found the net in a goalmouth melee after a corner and Imre Szabics further closed the gap in the 32nd.
Bayern Munich again produced a pale performance, while Moenchengladbach gave new coach Horst Koeppel a winning debut. Koeppel, previously coach of the youth team, was promoted with the firing of Holger Fach three days ago.
In Bremen, Hamburg went ahead after 22 minutes with a curious goal. Johan Micoud tried to head back to his defense but instead opened the path for Emile Mpenza, who rounded goalkeeper Andreas Reinke, far off his line. Mpenza then crossed for David Jarolim to head into the empty net.
Ivan Klasnic struck Hamburg's post in the 40th as Bremen pressed ahead in search of an equalizer. But it didn't come until the 75th, when tall defender Christian Schulz won a ball at the far post and hit it into net with the top of his boot.
Bremen dominated the second half and wasted two late chances.
Borussia Dortmund, trying to salvage a season sourced by financial problems and poor results, beat Hannover for its second straight win.
Ewerthon scored his sixth goal of the season to put Dortmund ahead in the 41st, picking up a defense-splitting pass from Jan Koller.
Samuel Eto'o took his goalscoring total to eight in the season as FC Barcelona drew 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league on Saturday.
The Cameroon international, the league's leading scorer, pounced on a defensive error by Ander Murillo to score in the 11th minute.
Three minutes later, Fran Yeste hit a powerful left-foot shot to equalize for Athletic.
In a game that saw plenty of attacking action, both teams had chances to improve on their scores, Athletic through Yeste in the 67th minute and Barcelona when Xavier "Xavi" Hernandez, who came on at half-time for Brazilian midfielder Deco, hit the woodwork.
Barcelona leads the standings with 23 points, six more than second-placed Sevilla.
Andriy Shevchenko came off the bench in the second half and scored AC Milan's winner against Sampdoria for a 1-0 win in Serie A play Saturday that lifted the Milan powerhouse two points short of league leader Juventus.
Brazilian striker Adriano gave Inter Milan an early second-half lead and Lazio's Argentine defender Jose Antonio Talamonti headed in a late equalizer for a 1-1 draw at San Siro in the only other match of the day.
Pierre-Alain Frau scored the winner as defending champion Lyon beat Strasbourg 1-0 on Saturday to stay top of the French first division.
Lyon, seeking a record-equaling fourth straight title, missed numerous chances before striker Frau tapped home a Sylvain Wiltord cross. Lyon is undefeated after 12 rounds of matches.
Lille stayed in second as Stephane Dumont notched a ninth-minute goal in a 1-0 home win over lowly Saint-Etienne.
Jon Inge Hoiland scored to give Malmo their 15th Swedish first division title on Saturday and a place in the qualifying round of next season's Champions League.
The 1-0 win over Elfsborg was enough to snatch away the title from Halmstad, who had led Malmo on goal difference going into the final round of matches, after they were held to a 1-1 draw by IFK Gothenburg.
Malmo ended the season on 52 points, Halmstad on 50 and Gothenburg on 47.
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