Chelsea and Arsenal stumbled to 1-1 draws in the Premier League Saturday, while Manchester United strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Diego Forlan scored two goals each in a 4-0 rout of Aston Villa.
Chelsea remains top of the Premier League after the 1-1 draw at Elland Road, which lifted debt-ridden Leeds off the bottom of the table.
PHOTO: EPA
Chelsea has 36 points, Arsenal 35, Manchester United 34, Fulham 25 and Liverpool 22.
"It was a difficult match, but then we knew that was going to be the case," Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri said. "Leeds are desperate. We came here top of the league and, of course, it is enjoyable to see that we are still there after the game."
Jermaine Pennant opened the scoring for Leeds in the 18th minute with an impressive solo strike, but Damien Duff leveled in the 70th. Big-spending Chelsea hadn't conceded a goal in its previous seven matches.
"I'm pleased for them tonight, because the players have taken a bit of stick, the position the club is in is not a healthy one," Leeds caretaker manager Eddie Gray said. "It's our lack of confidence that's put us in the position we're currently in."
Leicester's last minute equalizer from Craig Hignett held Arsenal to a 1-1 tie at Walkers Stadium. Gilberto Silva had put Arsenal ahead in the 60th minute, but the Gunners were hit when Ashley Cole was sent off in the 73rd minute for a two-footed tackle on Ben Thatcher. Cole, who apologized after the match, was the fourth Arsenal player to be sent off this season.
"We lost two points today, yes," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "Looking again at the positions at the back, we deserved to be punished. I'm very disappointed as we conceded a goal in the last second of the game and I'm especially disappointed with the way that we gave it away."
Despite the Gunners' second consecutive 1-1 league draw, Arsenal has extended its unbeaten streak to 15 games, a Premier League record. The Gunners were without Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira through injury.
At Old Trafford, van Nistelrooy scored in the 16th and 45th minutes. Forlan, brought on for the Dutchman, added the second two in injury time.
United manager Alex Ferguson, who had hospital treatment this week to correct a heart irregularity, was happy with the score, but not the quality.
"I'm not so sure about the second-half performance," he said. "I think we went into another gear, took it too easy. I was looking for something better in the second half."
Robbie Keane scored three as Tottenham beat Wolves 5-2 for its 100th Premier League win. Earlier Saturday, Alan Shearer converted a second-half penalty to give Newcastle a 1-1 draw against Liverpool.
Liverpool had taken the lead against the run of play at St. James' Park after just six minutes when Danny Murphy took advantage of poor communication between Newcastle defenders Jonathan Woodgate and Titus Bramble to score. Newcastle leveled with a Shearer penalty in the 63rd minute. Shearer earned the penalty when he was brought down by Liverpool goalkeeper Chris Kirkland.
At White Hart Lane, Keane scored in the 29th, 75th and 83rd minutes. Fredi Kanoute scored in his first game in two months and Stephan Dalmat also added a goal for Spurs.
Wolves had goals from Alex Rae and Paul Ince. The club had lost 5-1 at Arsenal on Tuesday in the League Cup.
Fulham rallied from a goal down to beat Bolton with goals from Sean Davis and Facundo Sava. Bolton had scored through Kevin Davies.
Scottish Premier League
Celtic stayed top of the Scottish Premier League with a 2-0 win over Livingston Saturday, but had two players injured ahead of tomorrow's crucial Champions League match.
Celtic won with goals from Englishmen Chris Sutton and Alan Thompson to keep a five-point lead over Rangers in the standings. Celtic has 43 points, Rangers 38, Hearts 26 and Dunfermline 23.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said Jackie McNamara had been taken to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder after a clash with Fernando Pasquinelli. Defender Bobo Balde injured his back.
Celtic is at Lyon tomorrow, aiming to qualify for the second stage of the Champions League.
Rangers beat Dundee United 2-1 with goals from Nuno Capucho and Peter Lovenkrands and could have been 3-0 up had Emerson not seen a penalty saved.
Kilmarnock beat Dundee 2-1 with goals from Colin Nish and Kris Boyd. Dundee scored through a Nacho Novo penalty. Dunfermline beat Hearts 2-1 with goals from Derek Young and Scott Wilson. Hearts scored through Alan Maybury.
Spanish league
Brazilian stars Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo scored a goal each Saturday as Spanish league leader Real Madrid edged archrival FC Barcelona 2-1 to win its first league match at the Camp Nou stadium in 20 years.
Roberto Carlos struck the first in the 37th minute, while the league's top scorer Ronaldo added the second in the 73rd to take his season's goal tally to 12. Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert scored Barcelona's consolation goal in the 82nd.
"It was a very important win. We hadn't won here for a long time and it means we're further ahead in the league," Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez said.
Madrid's victory marked a happy return to the Camp Nou for David Beckham, who gained a Champions League winners medal there for Manchester United against Bayern Munich in 1999.
"The memories came flooding back," Beckham said. "But I'm with a different team now. Coming here as a Madrid player and beating Barcelona was just as sweet."
The Catalan club's defeat leaves it without a victory in its last four matches and seals a dismal week, following its 5-1 loss at Malaga on Wednesday.
In other 15th-round games, defender Joan Capdevila scored the lone goal as Deportivo de La Coruna edged Malaga 1-0 to move into second place in the Spanish league. Madrid leads the standings with 33 points, three ahead of Deportivo.
Bundesliga
Claudio Pizarro's 79th minute goal saved Bayern Munich Saturday in the Bundesliga, gaining it a 1-1 draw in a crucial showdown with second-placed Werder Bremen.
Bayern, still fourth, really needed a victory to push itself back in the title race after weeks of stumbling performances.
But after Ailton's 58th minute penalty goal for Bremen threatened defeat for Bayern, gaining the late draw in one of the best Bundesliga matches this year was a moral victory for Munich.
"If you go to Bremen, when they are in form and we are not, has to be satisfied with one point," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said. "But we were the better team, with more chances, so we should have won."
Bayern also dodged another blow to its title hopes because Bundesliga frontrunner Stuttgart was held 0-0 by Hamburg. The two teams tangle next Saturday in a decisive week for the Bundesliga, with Bremen and third-placed Leverkusen also facing off.
Italian League
Bernardo Corradi and Stefano Fiore fired first-half goals Saturday as Lazio stunned defending champion Juventus 2-0 in the featured match of the Italian league, reviving the title hopes of the Roman team while pushing La Juve on the brink of a crisis.
The Turin side, showing unexpected defensive weakness, suffered its third loss in eight days and slipped four points behind AC Milan, which struggled to beat lowly Empoli 1-0 in the only other match of the day.
Brazilian star Kaka rose from the substitutes bench to score the winner in the closing minutes and give Milan an undisputed lead in the Serie A standings.
Dutch League
Mateja Kezman scored four goals Saturday, including a three-goal burst in seven minutes, as PSV Eindhoven hammered lowly FC Volendam 7-0 in the Dutch premiership. PSV rose to within a point of leader Ajax, which has a game in hand, and opened up a four-point gap on third-place AZ Alkmaar.
Kezman's four goals were a collection of uncomplicated tap-ins and presents from Volendam's defense, but they lifted him to 15 for the season, five more than his nearest rival in the Dutch league.
The Serb international's insatiable yearning for goals has yielded 89 strikes in 104 league games for PSV.
In 1998, PSV crushed Volendam 10-0 to provide PSV with its highest ever score in topflight Dutch soccer. FC Utrecht climbed above Willem II into fifth place with a 2-0 win over the Tilburg side on goals from Sander Keller and Hans van der Haar, while NEC Nijmegen drew 1-1 with RKC Waalwijk.
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