Blackburn moved seven points clear of the relegation zone on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Everton off a Jonathan Stead goal.
Blackburn moved up two places in the Premier League standings to 14th with the win. Everton stays in fourth place -- the final Champions League spot.
"There was plenty missing. We can't argue, we didn't perform very well. We just didn't get up to scratch," Everton manager David Moyes said. "But we are in good league position and a lot of clubs would like to be here -- we know we are not going to get relegated."
PHOTO: AP
Stead's goal -- a drive from just inside the box that Everton goalkeeper Nigel Martyn got a hand on but couldn't stop -- came in the 71st minute.
Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel made several saves. He caught an early Tim Cahill attempt, stopped Marcus Bent just before halftime and blocked a Leon Osman strike with two minutes left.
"There are still nine games to go and it is going to be tough, but it has taken a lot of pressure off us," Rovers midfielder David Thompson said.
West Bromwich Albion boosted its chances of staying in next season's Premier League with a 2-0 win over Birmingham.
Neil Clement and Kevin Campbell scored to help West Brom off the bottom of the standings for the first time since the end of November.
West Brom moved up to 19th, but is only five points from safety. Norwich, with 20 points, goes bottom, with West Brom on 21 and Southampton on 24.
Crystal Palace, out of the relegation zone, has 26 points.
Clement headed West Brom ahead after 53 minutes and Campbell volleyed the second after 64 minutes.
"It's a nice boost to be off the bottom of the table," West Brom manager Bryan Robson said. "We are pleased about that. We know there is still a hard fight ahead of us but this one gives us a little bit of encouragement."
On Saturday, Chelsea opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the standings after beating struggling Norwich 3-1.
Celtic beat Hibernian 3-1 to take advantage of Rangers' stutter in the Scottish Premier League.
Celtic reduced Rangers' lead in the standings to four points with goals from Stilian Petrov, John Hartson and Craig Bellamy. Guillaume Beuzelin scored Hibernian's late consolation.
Celtic can regain first place in the standings if it wins its next two games in hand.
Argentine striker Maxi Rodriguez scored his 11th goal of the season midway through the second half to earn Espanyol a 2-1 win over Levante and continue its climb in the Spanish first division for a possible place in next season's Champions League.
Jose Emilio Amavisca also scored to rally Espanyol from an early deficit, moving it into third place with 11 rounds remaining. After sitting seventh three weeks ago, the victory gave Espanyol its highest standing in the table since mid-December, when it last sat in second.
"We didn't play very well but the league is now at the stage when everyone is where they deserve to be," Espanyol coach Miguel Angel Lotina was quoted as saying by news agency Efe. ``If we win four more games we'll be very close to the UEFA Cup and if we win six more, very close to the Champions League.''
In other games involving top-10 teams, Villarreal drew 1-1 with last-placed Numancia, while Real Betis drew 2-2 with Getafe.
Alexander Madlung's late goal saved Champions League hopeful Hertha Berlin on Sunday, lifting the capital club to a 1-1 draw against FC Kaiserslautern.
The tall German defender headed in an 85th-minute free kick for Berlin -- the fifth time in his career that the 22-year-old has turned around a match with a timely goal.
Borussia Dortmund and FC Nuremberg drew 2-2 in Sunday's second game, a match in which both squads were awarded penalties in the final six minutes.
Berlin, which has moved up to fifth place after a slow start, lost a chance to move to fourth and close within one point of Werder Bremen in the fight for the Bundesliga's third and last Champions League berth.
"Our goal is the Champions League, but you can see how close things are at the top," Berlin coach Falko Goetz said. "But with a little more cleverness, a little more push, we could have won this match."
Inter Milan beat Lecce 2-1 on a late penalty kick by Brazilian Adriano, and Sampdoria downed Chievo 1-0 on a lucky deflection by Andrea Gasbarroni to stay near the top of the Serie A standings.
Sampdoria held onto third place with 47 points, one more than fourth-place Inter.
Neither team is likely to win the league title, but both are trying to secure one of the top four spots and a berth in next season's Champions League.
Co-leaders AC Milan and Juventus won hard-fought away matches Saturday to stay atop the standings with 60 points each.
The match between Ajax and AZ Alkmaar was one of three games postponed because of snow.
The Amsterdam fire brigade said the snow and ice on the roof of the Amsterdam Arena could endanger players and fans.
The two teams are battling for the country's second Champions League berth, and second-place AZ leads Ajax by four points. PSV Eindhoven leads the league with 58 points.
NAC Breda beat relegation candidate De Graafschap Doetinchem 2-0 on a pair of goals from Anouar Diba, and FC Twente Enschede striker Blaise N'Kufo hit the winner in a 2-1 victory over Roda JC Kerkrade.
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