Teenage sensation James Milner scored his second goal in successive matches to hand a resurgent Leeds United a 2-0 win over Chelsea Saturday, ending the visitors' 11-match Premiership unbeaten run.
The 16-year-old's sweetly-hit shot in first-half injury time added to Jonathan Woodgate's 30th minute header -- which took a wicked deflection off William Gallas -- gave Leeds 10 points from their last 12 and seriously dented Chelsea's pretensions to be title contenders.
Should Arsenal beat Liverpool Sunday (yesterday) it will leave Chelsea seven points adrift after this reverse.
Leeds boss Terry Venables, who began his playing career at Chelsea, was delighted to have secured a rare home win but urged caution.
"No this run hasn't turned our season around or made it a success story but it is I hope the start of us believing in ourselves.
"To have beaten a side like Chelsea, whose manager Claudio Ranieri is a man I respect and is a gentleman, is terrific for the team and the supporters."
Chelsea had had the better of the first-half, though only Gianfranco Zola's curling free kick from 25m had troubled keeper Paul Robinson before Leeds struck.
Woodgate ran in unhindered by Chelsea defenders to head Jason Wilcox's cross although his header took a fortunate deflection off William Gallas to beat Ed de Goey in the visitors' goal.
However as Woodgate celebrated in bizarre fashion cupping his hands under his chest to somebody in the crowd, Australian star Harry Kewell had to go off injured -- to be replaced by Milner.
Milner's introduction paid off when in stoppage time of the first-half he seized on Eirik Bakke's beautifully weighted pass inside the Chelsea defense and the teenager escaped Marcel Desailly and struck a beautiful curling effort past de Goey.
Chelsea came out firing in the second half and looked set to reduce the margin in the 56th minute when Enrique de Lucas was set free but Woodgate raced back to put in a tackle that distracted the Spaniard enough to just shoot wide.
Leeds eased the barrage on them when Woodgate once again got to a Wilcox free kick but his backheader went narrowly wide in the 64th minute.
Aston villa 1, Middlesbrough 0
Middlesbrough's indifferent away form has cost them a place among the title contenders and they were behind after only 11 minutes at Villa Park when Dion Dublin struck with a deflected volley for Graham Taylor's strugglers.
Blackburn 2, West ham united 2
West Ham again earned credit for their performance but failed to gain the win they craved. England goalkeeper David James allowed a Damien Duff shot to slip through his arms to gift Blackburn the lead.
A Steve Lomas shot that deflected in off Rovers defender Martin Taylor after 20 minutes put West Ham level but they looked finished 12 minutes from time when Andy Cole rounded James to bag his second.
Jermain Defoe had other ideas, though, popping up to steal an 86th-minute point that may yet prove priceless for Glenn Roeder's table-proppers.
Charlton 1, West brom 0
West Brom left The Valley feeling aggrieved after striker Jason Gardner was denied what manager Gary Megson felt was a clear penalty.
Everton 0, Bolton wanderers 0
Sent off on Thursday, 17-year-old Everton striker Wayne Rooney was handed a start by manager David Moyes and he set about terrorising the Bolton defence. But when he did finally beat Bolton's outstanding Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jaas-kelainen midway through the second half, the teenage phenomenon was thwarted by the goal frame.
Fulham 0, Manchester city 1
City's 39-year-old goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel made some fine stops early on and the visitors took advantage, eventually.
Six minutes remained when French striker Nicolas Anelka, who had earlier missed a sitter, lashed in the winner to lift Kevin Keegan's side into the top half. Fulham are only two places above the drop zone.
Man united, 2 Birmingham city 0
A fierce Diego Forlan finish after 37 minutes and David Beckham's delightful chip from 25 metres on the break with 17 minutes left sealed three important points for Alex Ferguson's rejigged team.
Southampton 2, Sunderland 1
Sunderland suffered stoppage time heartache when Jo Tessem's scrambled header clinched another home win for Southampton, who are now only six points off second place.
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