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Blues draw as Gunners win

Middlesbrough's Doriva, left, vies with Arsenal's Theirry Henry at Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough, England on Saturday. The Gunners won the match 1-0. PHOTO: AFP

Chelsea's run toward its first league title in 50 years was slowed by a 1-1 draw against visiting Birmingham City on Saturday, and Arsenal closed to within 11 points by beating Middlesbrough 1-0.

Jose Mourinho rested five of his regular starters and fell behind when Uruguay striker Walter Pandiani scored at Stamford Bridge. Didier Drogba came off the bench to snatch an equalizer with eight minutes to go.

"During the period when we are losing 1-0 you have to think sometimes for a second that you may not get a point," said Mourinho, whose side has lost just one of 32 league games this season.

"They [Birmingham] deserved a point, maybe we deserved more. But it's one game less, still 11 points difference, so it couldn't be better."

Robert Pires scored the Gunners' winner at Middlesbrough as Arsene Wenger's men made it six wins in a row to maintain a slight chance of catching Chelsea. Third-place Manchester United, which is 14 points behind the Blues, hoped to cut that to 11 by winning at last-place Norwich later Saturday.

At the other end, Portsmouth's slide toward the relegation zone was halted with a 4-2 win over Charlton in Alain Perrin's first game in charge. The Frenchman arrived at Portsmouth on Thursday.

Although Charlton's Jonathan Fortune and Danny Murphy canceled out early Portsmouth strikes by Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Steve Stone, Portsmouth netted twice in the last seven minutes through Diomansy Kamara and Lomana LuaLua.

It was Portsmouth's second victory in 13 games and the team moved up a place to 15th, seven points clear of the relegation zone.

"It is four goals for us and that is very important for our fans," said Perrin, whose appointment hadn't excited the Portsmouth supporters. "I knew the players were ready to make a big performance this afternoon. We must continue to work and there are still some points to get [to be safe]."

Fulham slipped to 16th after losing at Bolton 3-1, while Southampton, one place above the three relegation spots, tumbled at Blackburn 3-0 and could drop into the zone today when West Bromwich Albion goes to Aston Villa and next-to-last Crystal Palace visits fourth-place Everton.

Dundee United scored two goals in three minutes for a 2-1 turnaround victory over Hibernian to reach the Scottish Cup final.

At neutral Hampden Park, Hibs appeared to be headed for their first final in four years after Derek Riordan's second-half penalty gave them the lead against the last-place team in the Premier League.

But The Terrors' manager, Gordon Chisholm, responded with three substitutions and, three minutes after Jim McIntyre leveled in the 73rd minute, replacement Jason Scotland scored the winner.

Dundee United is chasing just its second Scottish Cup triumph, its lone success coming in 1994. It has been runner-up six times.

Chisholm's men will meet the winner of Celtic's match against Hearts at Hampden on Sunday in the May 28 final.

In Premier League action, Motherwell won 3-1 at fourth-place Aberdeen, Dundee edged Dunfermline 2-1 and Inverness scored a 1-0 victory at Kilmarnock.

Striker Santi Ezquerro scored his 10th goal of the season in Athletic Bilbao's 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad.

Ezquerro opened the scoring in the 36th minute of the match between the Basque rivals when he converted Ismael Urzaiz's low pass across goal from the right.

Midfielder Fran Yeste doubled Bilbao's lead in the 75th minute with a curling left-footed shot from a free kick on the edge of the penalty area.

Substitute Roberto "Tiko" Martinez sealed the victory in the third minute of injury time by stepping forward and firing a low shot from just inside the area.

The game at Bilbao's San Mames stadium marked the 100th anniversary of the club's first meeting with Sociedad. The teams' first Spanish league match came in the 1928-1929 season when the competition began its existence.

Bilbao, which stays in 10th place, has 44 points and retains a chance of a European place next season. Sociedad is 12th with 39 points.

Earlier Saturday, striker Miguel Lopez scored in the 86th minute to earn last-place Numancia a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.

Barcelona has 69 points, followed by Madrid with 60. Villarreal is next with 50 and a game in hand. Betis, Espanyol and Sevilla have 49 points each, two more than Valencia.

Kevin Kuranyi snapped his scoring drought with a hat trick that stunned Schalke 3-0 and kept Stuttgart's title hopes alive.

The Germany forward ended a well-publicized six-match scoreless streak and charged around the pitch in relief after his first goal.

"I'm so happy -- I thank everyone that believed in me, especially God," the Brazilian-born German said.

The loss knocked Schalke from its share of first in the table with the title race down to six matches. It dropped the club three points behind Bayern Munich, while Stuttgart remained five off the lead.

An 84th-minute header from Michael Ballack allowed Bayern to charge back from a goal down to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1. The front-runners also got a boost from reserve Mehmet Scholl, who leveled in the 66th minute.

Kuranyi sent 48,600 fans at Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimlerstadion into a frenzy after he tapped in from close range in the 15th minute to end 569 minutes of futility.

Kuranyi followed with two more goals in the 47th and 63rd minutes, while teammate Alexander Hleb shone in the midfield, as Stuttgart dominated the match.

"We made some mistakes," Stuttgart coach Matthias Sammer said. "But we had two players up front that were world class today, Kuranyi and Hleb."

Stuttgart won for the fifth straight time.
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