A week after forcing a last minute winner against Chelsea, Bolton's Henrik Pedersen fired a late equalizer against Arsenal yesterday to stop the Gunners moving clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Dane's 83rd minute strike in a 1-1 tie enabled Chelsea to draw level with Arsenal on points and goal difference after a 1-0 victory at neighbor Fulham.
Manchester United can go top and a point clear today by winning at Tottenham.
PHOTO: AFP
Arsenal appeared on the way to a two-point lead at the top when Robert Pires fired the Gunners in the 57th minute.
But the Arsene Wenger's team had some close shaves before Pedersen collected a poor header clearance by Pascal Cygan and fired the equalizer from the edge of the area.
Last week, it was Pedersen's shot that took a deflection off Chelsea's John Terry to give Wanderers a surprise 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Four days later the Dane fired the injury time winner as Bolton edged Southampton to reach the semifinal of the League Cup.
Crespo's 62nd minute winner at Fulham means that both Arsenal and Chelsea have 39 points from 17 games with an identical goal difference of plus 19.
Manchester United is third with 37 from 16 and a victory over Spurs at White Hart Lane will take away some of the hurt of Rio Ferdinand's eight-month ban imposed on Friday for failing to take a drug test.
By coincidence, that hearing took place at Bolton's Reebok Stadium where rival Arsenal dropped two points on Saturday.
For the second week in a row, Wayne Rooney came off the bench to score as Everton edged Leicester 3-2 at Goodison Park.
In a seesawing game, an own goal by Leicester defender Steve Howey gave the Toffees the lead only for 37-year-old former England striker Les Ferdinand to level. James Scowcroft put the Foxes ahead but Rooney came off the bench to make it 2-2 and Canadian striker Tomasz Radzinski hit the winner 11 minutes from the end.
Aston Villa's revival continued with a 2-0 victory at Blackburn which was a third win in a row for David O'Leary's team and first away from home in 15 games.
Stefan Moore and Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel netted the goals which keep Blackburn, which finished sixth last season, just above the relegation zone.
In the only other Premier League game to escape the weather, Charlton and Newcastle played to a disappointing 0-0 tie at The Valley.
The Birmingham-Middlesbrough and Wolves-Liverpool games were called off because the pitches were waterlogged.
At St. Andrews, Blues manager Steve Bruce was upset that the referee decided not to start the game and illustrated his protest by letting his players train on the surface.
Spanish league
Miguel Angel "Mista" Ferrer netted his ninth goal of the season Saturday as Valencia downed Sevilla 1-0 and moved to the top of the Spanish league.
Valencia, which extended its unbeaten run to six matches in its final game of 2003, will only stay leader for 24 hours if Real Madrid beats Mallorca on Sunday.
In Saturday's other games, Valladolid came from behind to defeat struggling Real Sociedad 3-1, while Atletico de Madrid drew 2-2 with Racing de Santander.
Valencia has 37 points from 17 games, while Madrid has 36 points from 16. Deportivo de La Coruna is third with 30 points, followed by Osasuna and Atletico with 27 each.
The rest of today's 17th-round games are: Deportivo vs. Espanyol; FC Barcelona vs. Celta de Vigo; Albacete vs. Athletic de Bilbao; Osasuna vs. Zaragoza; Murcia vs. Malaga; and Real Betis vs. Villarreal.
Valencia's narrow win maintained its hopes of receiving the unofficial title of "winter champion," afforded the team that lies first going into the two-week Christmas break.
After a lackluster first half, Mista broke the deadlock in the 61st minute when he powered home a header from a corner by Spanish international midfielder Vicente Rodriguez.
The Valencia striker rises to second place in the scoring charts, level with Malaga's Salva Ballesta and Atletico's Fernando Torres, and four goals behind Madrid's Brazilian ace Ronaldo.
Sevilla stays 13th with 21 points.
italian league
Captain-playmaker Francesco Totti converted a penalty kick and scored another goal with a delightful lob as AS Roma rolled past lowly Empoli 2-0 on Saturday to consolidate its lead in the Italian league ahead of the Christmas break.
Roma's 11th win of the season stretched its unbeaten streak of 14 matches and lifted the club to 36 points, six clear of AC Milan and seven more than defending champion Juventus, which play their 14th round matches on Sunday.
While taking on Udinese at San Siro on Sunday, European champion AC Milan must also make up a match with Siena it could not play last Sunday when it was in Japan for the Intercontinental Cup final with Boca Juniors.
dutch league
Ten-man Vitesse Arnhem defended staunchly Saturday to hold PSV to a goalless draw and seriously dent the Eindhoven side's title aspirations.
On the final weekend before Dutch soccer's five-week winter break, PSV is level with Ajax on 37 points, but the Amsterdammers have played two games fewer and travel to FC Twente Enschede today.
The hard-earned point failed to lift troubled Vitesse out of the relegation zone. It remains tied for 16th place.
Scottish premier league
Glasgow Rangers came from behind and ended its slump by edging Hearts 2-1 on Saturday to trim Celtic's standings lead to five points.
After a 3-1 loss at home to Greek club Panathinaikos ended Rangers' chances of European success and Dunfermline inflicted a rare victory in the league, Rangers appeared in trouble again when Andy Kirk fired Hearts ahead after 11 minutes at Ibrox.
But Georgian forward Shota Arveladze leveled in the 22nd minute and Chris Burke's first league goal in the 52nd minute proved to be the winner.
Rangers now has 41 points from 17 games but Celtic can regain its eight-point advantage by winning at Motherwell on Sunday. Hearts remains third, 17 points off the lead.
In Saturday's other games, Aberdeen and Dundee tied 2-2 and Livingston won 3-0 at Kilmarnock. The Dundee United-Partick Thistle game was postponed because of a waterlogged field at Tannadice.
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