Arsenal went top of the Premier League when they beat West Ham United 2-0 with goals from Denilson and Cesc Fabregas on Saturday despite playing for more than half the match at the Emirates with 10 men.
Arsenal moved on to 67 points with seven matches to play to lead the standings for the first time since January and keep the pressure on Manchester United and Chelsea, who played their weekend matches yesterday.
Tottenham Hotspur maintained their push for fourth place and a possible Champions League berth when they won their fourth successive league match with a 2-1 success at Stoke City.
Arsenal, who last lost in the league to Chelsea on Feb. 7, went ahead against West Ham through Brazilian Denilson after only five minutes. They sealed the victory when Cesc Fabregas, returning from injury, scored with an 82nd minute penalty for his 15th league goal of the season after Matthew Upson handled.
However, the hosts had to play the whole of the second half with 10 men following the 44th minute dismissal Thomas Vermaelen.
But the decision was a harsh one after West Ham’s striker Guillermo Franco went down somewhat easily under the Belgian international’s challenge in the box.
Alessandro Diamanti then saw Manuel Almunia save his penalty, although the goalkeeper escaped censure from officials after clearly moving off his line before the kick was taken.
Earlier, Arsenal’s north London rivals Spurs edged closer to a possible Champions League place after their victory at Stoke.
Goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen and Niko Kranjcar earned the win against a home side reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Dean Whitehead was dismissed.
Gudjohnsen scored his first goal for Tottenham after 46 minutes when he lashed the ball into the roof of the net.
Although Whitehead became Stoke’s fourth player sent off in their last six league games, they equalized when Matthew Etherington scored against his former club with a 64th minute penalty before Kranjcar got the winner 13 minutes from time.
Aston Villa lost ground on Tottenham in the race for fourth place after they were held 2-2 at home by Wolves.
John Carew put Villa ahead after 16 minutes at Villa Park. Jody Craddock equalized and an own goal by James Milner gave Wolves a 2-1 lead which they held until the 82nd minute, when Carew scored his second.
Almost certain to be relegated, last-place Portsmouth scored two goals in the last three minutes to beat next-to-last Hull 3-2.
In Iain Dowie’s first game in charge of Hull, who fired Phil Brown on Monday, his players led 2-1 at Fratton Park until late strikes by Jamie O’Hara and Nwankwo Kanu denied them three points.
Burnley stayed 18th after losing 1-0 at Wigan thanks to a last-minute winner by Hugo Rodallega.
Everton beat Bolton 2-0 with goals by Mikel Arteta and Steven Pienaar to make it seven Premier League home wins in a row, and Sunderland edged Birmingham 3-1.
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