Thierry Henry scored twice in Arsenal's 3-1 victory over last-place Sunderland on Saturday, while Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso struck in the last five minutes in Liverpool's 2-0 win at Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
With runaway leader Chelsea at Manchester United today, the two powerhouses' victories may mean the title race is not over yet. But Wigan remains the leading chaser after a 2-0 win at Portsmouth -- its sixth league triumph in a row -- cut Chelsea's lead to six points.
Defender Pascal Chimbonda scored the first and set up a breakaway second for Jason Roberts as Wigan, playing top-flight soccer for the first time in its history, remained second and moved five points ahead of four clubs tied on 20.
PHOTO: AP
The Gunners moved up to third place on goal difference.
Liverpool, which has a game in hand on most of its rivals, moved up one place to 12th, but still has 15 points to make up on Chelsea.
In other results on Saturday, Blackburn outplayed Charlton 4-1; Steed Malbranque scored both goals as Fulham edged Manchester City 2-1; Newcastle won 1-0 over next-to-last Birmingham after Emre Belozoglu's deflected shot; and 39-year-old striker Teddy Sheringham scored in West Ham's 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
After Robin van Persie had given Arsenal a 12th-minute lead at Highbury, Henry put the Gunners 2-0 ahead before halftime against Mick McCarthy's Sunderland. Alan Stubbs netted his first goal for the Black Cats, before Henry added another to take his tally to 15 goals from his last 10 games.
European champion Liverpool had to wait until the 85th to break the deadlock at Villa Park, when Gerrard scored his 10th goal of the season.
Substitute Peter Crouch, playing against his former club, was felled by Villa defender Liam Ridgewell six yards out and Gerrard scored from the spot.
Four minutes later, it was 2-0 when Alonso netted through a crowded Villa area from the edge of the box to confirm Liverpool's third straight win from as many matches, two of them in the league.
Brett Emerton, Paul Dickov, Morten Pedersen and Craig Bellamy scored Blackburn's goals at Ewood Park, with Bryan Hughes netting for Charlton to make it 2-1.
Sheffield United remained three points clear at the top of the League Championship after goals by Phil Jagielka, Paul Ifill and Neil Shipperley gave the Blades a 3-2 victory at Crystal Palace.
The top three teams all won on the road with Reading gaining a 2-1 victory at Queens Park Rangers and Watford winning 2-1 at Hull. Fourth-place Luton lost 3-2 at home to Burnley and is 16 points behind the leader.
In the first round of the FA Cup, Paul Gascoigne's Kettering was beaten 3-1 at home by another non-league club, Stevenage.
But Tamworth won 2-1 at Bournemouth and Burscough, playing in the first round for the first time in 25 years, scored two late goals to oust another League One club, Gillingham, 3-2.
Non-league club Weymouth rallied for a 1-1 draw and a replay with Nottingham Forest.
Hearts went back atop the Scottish Premier League with a 3-0 win over Dundee United as its Lithuanian owner Vladimir Romanov prepared to increase his stake. Paul Hartley, Rudi Skacel and Michal Pospisil scored at Tynecastle, while Hearts shareholders Leslie Deans and Robert McGrail agreed to sell to Romanov, who already has the biggest individual stake.
Defending champion Rangers fell further behind in the title race after being held 0-0 at home by Aberdeen. Alex McLeish's team is now 12 points behind Hearts and eight behind third-place Hibernian.
Hibs scored two goals in the last seven minutes to win 2-1 at last-place Livingston.
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