Carlos Tevez did his old side Manchester United a favor by scoring the winner as Manchester City beat leaders Chelsea 2-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday.
City’s win, which followed a run of seven straight league draws, cut fellow big-spenders Chelsea’s lead over second-placed United, the champions, to just two points.
Chelsea, knocked out of the League Cup in a shoot-out on Wednesday by Blackburn, suffered further penalty misery when, at 2-1 down with eight minutes left, England midfielder Frank Lampard saw his spot-kick saved by Shay Given.
For Given, who recently suffered the agony of the Republic of Ireland’s controversial World Cup playoff loss to France, this was a special win.
“It’s been seven or eight games since a victory in the league,” he told reporters. “It’s especially nice against Chelsea, a top team with great players.”
Chelsea took an eighth-minute lead at a rain-drenched Eastlands when, from a debatable corner, the ball eventually fell to Nicolas Anelka, whose shot was saved by Given only for the rebound to hit Emmanuel Adebayor and go in for an own-goal.
However, Adebayor scored at the right end seven minutes before half-time when he struck from close range, although Chelsea were convinced Micah Richards had handled in the build-up.
“We were unlucky for the first goal, the handball against Micah Richards. It was not a good day for the referee [Howard Webb],” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
But delighted City boss and ex-Chelsea forward Mark Hughes said: “Not many teams can come back against Chelsea. To show the character and quality that we did was a fantastic effort by everybody.”
Argentina striker Tevez then delighted both Manchester clubs by firing in a 56th-minute free-kick that wrongfooted Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.
United had earlier kept the pressure on with a 4-0 victory away to West Ham.
They went ahead on the stroke of half-time at Upton Park when veteran midfielder Paul Scholes unleashed a ferocious 20-yard shot.
Midfielder Darron Gibson, who scored both United’s goals in their mid-week League Cup quarter-final win over Tottenham, added a second with a shot into the top corner. Antonio Valencia put the result beyond doubt in the 71st minute with United’s third before England striker Wayne Rooney added a fourth goal.
“It’s always a difficult game and we had six defenders missing before the game,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told reporters. “Then Gary Neville and Wes Brown had to come off.”
Basement club Portsmouth won in the league for only the third time this season with a 2-0 victory at home to Burnley.
Arsenal leapfrogged North London rivals Tottenham, who were to play Everton yesterday, into third place with a 2-0 win over Stoke. Andrey Arshavin gave Arsene Wenger’s side a 26th minute lead but it was not until 11 minutes from time, when substitute Aaron Ramsey scored, that the Gunners could start to relax.
Liverpool were held to a frustrating goalless draw away to Blackburn, while Aston Villa maintained their push for European soccer with a 3-0 victory at home to Hull courtesy of goals from Richard Dunne, James Milner and a late penalty from John Carew.
Birmingham came from behind to beat Wigan 3-2, Sebastian Larsson scoring with two free-kicks for the winners.
Yesterday’s other match was to see Fulham face Sunderland.
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