Veteran striker Dennis Bergkamp fired Arsenal to a 1-0 victory over Newcastle on Sunday as the defending champion jumped back into second place, 10 points behind runaway leader Chelsea.
The Gunners had slipped down to third after Manchester United's 3-1 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday when Chelsea went 11 points clear by beating Portsmouth 3-0.
PHOTO: AFP
But Bergkamp's 19th minute strike maintained Arsenal's slim hope of holding on to its title although the Gunners should have scored at least three more and were kept at bay by Magpies' goalkeeper Shay Given.
Chelsea has 61 points from 24 games, Arsenal has 51 and Manchester United 50.
"If Shay Given had not been there it would have been more," said striker Thierry Henry who missed a hat-trick of chances. "But we won and that's the most important thing."
The Gunners almost went ahead in the opening minute, Mathieu Flamini's close range shot being cleared off the line. But the Arsenal fans didn't have to wait long for the lead.
Bergkamp collected a cross from Flamini, expertly controlled the ball and fended off a defender before pushing the ball past Shay Given for his first goal since August.
Two minutes later Given pushed a shot from Henry round the post as Arsene Wenger's men dictated the game.
Sixteen minutes into the second half, Henry ran clear to take a pass from Vieira and beat Given with his shot only for the ball to hit the post and bounce back into the keeper's arms. Two minutes later, Pires should have added the second but Given dived to block his close range shot.
Henry and Ashley Cole both missed easy chances before Given made another reflex-action save to deny the Frenchman. Newcastle created few chances although Lee Bowyer shot straight at goalkeeper Manuel Almunia near the end.
Manchester United scored a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa at Old Trafford with strikes by Cristiano Ronaldo, Louis Saha and Paul Scholes to stay 11 points behind the Blues.
Everton stayed fourth despite a 1-0 loss at home to Charlton and fifth place Liverpool went down 2-0 at next-to-last Southampton in one of four big performances by the struggling teams.
Last place West Bromwich Albion won for only the second time this season in the league, 2-0 against Manchester City, and Crystal Palace stayed third from last by outplaying Tottenham 3-0.
Thanks to Saints' victory over Liverpool, Norwich dropped to next-to-last place but still scored three goals in the last 10 minutes at home to Middlesbrough to salvage a thrilling 4-4 tie at Carrow Road.
Glasgow Rangers struck twice in the first 16 minutes for a 2-1 victory at Aberdeen to trim Celtic's lead to three points in the Scottish title race.
Croatian striker Dado Prso fired the 'Gers ahead in the ninth minute from a pass by Bojan Djordjic at Pittodrie before Alex McLeish's team doubled its lead with an own goal in the 16th.
Aberdeen goalkeeper Ryan Esson struggled to reach a corner by Fernando Ricksen and could only deflect the ball towards his own goal and it went into the net off defender Kevin McNaughton.
Darren Mackie replied three minutes later for Aberdeen's first league goal in five games but Rangers held on for three more points. Celtic leads with 59 from 23, Rangers have 56 and third place Hibernian is well out of title contention with 43. Aberdeen remained fourth with 36.
Bayer Leverkusen spoiled the inauguration of Hannover's new stadium by beating the hosts 3-0, while struggling Bochum came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with visiting Hertha Berlin.
Berlin and Leverkusen both moved past Bremen, and Berlin missed an opportunity to move up to fourth place when it conceded an equalizer 10 minutes from time.
In Hannover, fireworks marked the inauguration of the AWD arena, one of the venues for next year's World Cup finals.
But the only fireworks on the field came form the visitors, who stunned the home side with textbook counterattacks.
Andrei Voronin used a perfect cross to the far post from Paul Freier to knock the ball in after 18 minutes, and Dimitar Berbatov made it 2-0 in the 36th after Hannover lost possession in midfield.
Freier got the third in the 58th when his long-range shot was deflected into the net.
Argentina's Juan Roman Riquelme scored three goals, two on penalties, to lead Villarreal over Valencia 3-1, ending the defending Spanish league champion's 10-game unbeaten streak.
The loss left Valencia in third place and dropped it 12 points behind league-leading FC Barcelona, which beat Racing Santander 3-0 on Saturday.
Sevilla downed Albacete 2-0 to move up to fourth place and overtake Espanyol, which lost 4-1 at Deportivo La Coruna.
Livorno upset 17-time Italian league champion AC Milan 1-0, dropping the defending champion five points behind front-running Juventus.
Juventus won 2-0 victory against visiting Brescia.
In Livorno, forward Corrado Colombo kicked in a rebound in the 28th to hand Milan its second loss of the season.
With his club playing its first season in the top division in 55 years, captain and Livorno native Cristiano Lucarelli embarked on a victory lap around Armando Picchi stadium after the final whistle.
Livorno is a port city known for its left-leaning political views and beating Milan, owned by Italy's right-leaning Premier Silvio Berlusconi, was cause for celebration.
"For Livorno it's a historic day," club president Aldo Spinelli said. "This city will remember a day like this forever.
"To beat the champions of Italy after 55 years, and by playing a great game, was very beautiful. I had asked the team for four points in the last two games and they've gotten six."
FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon both won on the road and took command of the first division while Benfica slipped off the pace with an embarrassing home loss to Beira Mar.
Defending champion Porto kept its unbeaten away record in tact thanks to a 17th-minute strike from Ricardo Costa but scrambled to hold back Leiria in a second half controlled by the home team and scraped a 1-0 victory.
Ricardo Sa Pinto, who missed most of last season through injury, scored in each half and Liedson got his 15th goal of the season to give Sporting a 3-0 win at Gil Vicente.
The two clubs each have 34 points, one point ahead of second-place Braga and Boavista, which both won over the weekend. Braga beat Academica 2-0 and Boavista triumphed by the same margin at Nacional.
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