David Bentley scored three goals and Blackburn edged Manchester United 4-3 on Wednesday, a night when runaway English league leader Chelsea was held 1-1 by Aston Villa.
Among other unexpected results, Arsenal lost 3-2 at home to West Ham and Liverpool was held to a 1-1 draw at home by next-to-last Birmingham, which played most of the game with 10 men.
The results increased Chelsea's lead to 15 points as the two leading pursuers failed to capitalize on the Blues' second straight draw in league play and only the fourth time this season they've been denied a victory.
Arjen Robben gave Chelsea the ideal start with a goal after 14 minutes as the Blues dominated the first half.
Luke Moore equalized for Villa with 13 minutes remaining, handing Chelsea its third consecutive draw following a Jan. 22 tie at home against Charlton and tomorrow's FA Cup deadlock against Everton.
"I am not happy with the referee," said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who accused official Rob Styles of missing two penalties.
"I know there was a penalty against us but I would have preferred that one to have been given and also our penalty at the end of the game. Someone has to teach the ref that, in football, there is not the law of compensation. If you make a mistake, you try not to make another mistake," he said.
Bentley, a former Arsenal winger who turned his loan move into a permanent deal on Tuesday, scored three times and Lucas Neill converted a penalty as Blackburn raced into a 4-1 lead over United at Ewood Park before Ruud van Nistelrooy came off the bench to rally the Reds with two of his own.
In other games, Robbie Fowler -- acquired last week from Manchester City, returned to Anfield as a second-half substitute immediately after Steven Gerrard had given Liverpool a 62nd-minute lead over Birmingham. Birmingham, which was reduced to 10 men in the 27th minute with the ejection of Damien Johnson, rallied with two minutes remaining when Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso deflected a header by Emile Heskey toward his own net. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina, trying to clear, couldn't stop it going over the line.
West Ham posted its first victory at Arsenal in 11 years with strikes by Nigel Reo-Coker, Bobby Zamora and Matthew Etherington. The Hammers led by two goals before Thierry Henry replied for the Gunners to eclipse Cliff Bastin's record of 150 league goals, and were ahead 3-1 before Robert Pires scored a late second.
An eighth loss of the season dropped sixth-place Arsenal 26 points behind Chelsea.
In Wednesday's other games, Manchester City outplayed Newcastle 3-0 and Portsmouth drew 1-1 with Bolton.
Shaun Maloney punished Martyn Corrigan's back pass blunder in injury time and Celtic beat Motherwell 2-1 to reach the final of the Scottish League Cup on Wednesday.
The semifinal was four minutes into injury time when Corrigan's pass to goalkeeper Graeme Smith was way off target and the 'keeper had to race back to grab the ball before it crossed the line.
The referee awarded an indirect free kick inside the Motherwell area and Maloney collected John Hartson's tapped pass and fired it home.
Celtic will face Dunfermline in next month's final at Hampden Park as Gordon Strachan's team bids to win the trophy for the first time since 2001.
RSS