Arsenal's 29-match unbeaten streak this season equaled a record on Saturday -- but Manchester United stands in the way of a new mark.
Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp scored as Arsenal beat Bolton 2-1 at Highbury to equal the longest unbeaten start to a season by a club in the top division of English soccer.
The Gunners emulated the Leeds side of 1973-1974 and Liverpool's 1987-1988 team.
PHOTO: AFP
"This is a great achievement for my players as they've shown an outstanding attitude in going 29 games unbeaten," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
"They deserve a lot of respect, not only for their class but also their motivation, attitude and mental stamina from the first day of the season until now."
Arsenal, still in contention for the FA Cup and Champions League, keeps its nine-point lead over Chelsea. The Blues beat west London rival Fulham 2-1. Manchester United stays third, 12 points behind Arsenal, after two late goals helped it to a 3-0 win over Tottenham.
Newcastle captain Alan Shearer scored twice as Newcastle beat Charlton 3-1. The Magpies are in fifth place, below Liverpool on goal difference.
Arsenal can set an unbeaten record if it doesn't lose to Manchester United at Highbury on March 28. The Gunners also play the Red Devils the week after in the semifinals of the FA Cup on neutral ground.
Arsenal went ahead after 16 minutes. Midfielder Edu crossed to Bergkamp, who passed for Pires to curl a shot inside the far post.
Thierry Henry nearly doubled the score minutes later but Simon Charlton headed the ball clear on the goal line.
Bergkamp added the second after 24 minutes, controlling a difficult Henry cross to score past Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen with a volley. Arsenal flagged in the second half and Bolton was unlucky not to double Ivan Campo's 41st-minute goal.
Bolton remains in 13th place, 10 points above the relegation zone, but Allardyce said he was "very, very concerned" at the club's four consecutive defeats.
"We're in a desperate run at the moment,'' he said.
The next record for Arsenal is the longest unbeaten sequence in a single season. That stands at 30, set by Burnley in 1920-1921. The all-time record for an unbeaten run is held by Nottingham Forest, who didn't lose in 42 matches spread over the 1977-1978 and 1978-1979 seasons.
Scottish Premier League
Rangers beat Dundee 4-0 with goals from Peter Lovenkrands, Frank de Boer, Gavin Rae and Steven Thompson.
The victory means Celtic can't win the league title when the two clubs meet at Ibrox next weekend.
Celtic has an 16-point lead over Rangers and it's a matter of when rather than if it will win the title.
Rangers could be without Ronald de Boer and Craig Moore for the Old Firm derby. De Boer broke his nose, while Moore limped off with a knee problem against Dundee.
Jim McIntyre scored a first half hat-trick and Charlie Miller scored another in Dundee United's 4-1 win over Kilmarnock.
Spanish league
Real Madrid's poor form continued when it slumped to a 4-2 defeat against Athletic de Bilbao, providing a chance for its title rivals to close the gap at the top of the league.
Midfielder Fran Yeste and striker Ismael Urzaiz gave Bilbao a 2-0 lead by halftime, with striker Raul Gonzalez bringing the league leader level with two goals early in the second half.
However, the Basque team's left back Asier del Horno added two more to inflict more gloom on Madrid, which only four days previously had suffered a surprise defeat to Zaragozain in the Copa del Rey final.
Madrid again lacked injured Ronaldo for the fourth straight game, and once again it missed the Brazilian ace, whose absence has coincided with the dip in the team's form. Madrid has won just one of its four games since Ronaldo pulled a left thigh muscle on March 6.
Italian league
Jon-Dahl Tomasson netted two goals, Andriy Shevchenko added another and Kaka made some spectacular moves as AC Milan beat Parma 3-1 in a crucial match.
The home win at San Siro stadium stretched the Milan powerhouse's lead atop the standings to 10 points with eight matches to go.
AC Milan (21-4-1) has 67 points from 26 matches, 11 more then defending champion Juventus, which held third place but lost more ground following a 0-0 draw at Udinese.
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart's fading title hopes took another blow when both were held to draws by the Bundesliga's bottom clubs.
Werder Bremen could pull 11 points clear of Bayern with an away win against Wolfsburg today, and 14 ahead of Stuttgart. No Bundesliga frontunner has ever come close to blowing that kind of lead with eight rounds left.
Bayern was held to 1-1 against 17th-placed Hertha Berlin, and Stuttgart 2-2 by 18th-placed Cologne in matches that didn't indicate they deserved to play for the title.
The Cologne-Stuttgart match appeared to be a mismatch, with the bottom club having scored a league-worst 19 goals. Third-placed Stuttgart had allowed just 10 -- a remarkable 13 less than second-best Bremen.
But it didn't look that way for long after Silvio Meissner chipped in Horst Heldt's cross to give Stuttgart a 1-0 lead in front of one the biggest Cologne crowds all year, 50,200.
Stuttgart needed a 72nd-minute own goal by Matthias Scherz to save the 2-2 draw, following Cologne goals by Florian Kringe in the 45th and Markus Feulner in the 71st.
Dutch league
NAC Breda held defending champion PSV Eindhoven to a 1-1 draw Saturday, bringing Ajax a step closer to its 29th league title.
Stefano Seedorf, cousin of Dutch international and AC Milan star Clarence, netted the equalizer for NAC in the 55th minute after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink had given PSV the lead in the 18th.
Ajax, with 61 points, can stretch its lead over PSV to 11 points with eight rounds remaining if it beats relegation-candidate Vitesse Arnhem at home Sunday, while PSV is hoping to protect what may be a four-point advantage over Feyenoord in the quest for second place and a spot in the lucrative Champions League.
French league
Jeremy Mathieu scored in stoppage time as Sochaux tied 1-1 at Monaco on Saturday, meaning Lyon now tops the French first division on goals difference from its fierce rival.
Both Lyon, which beat Nantes 1-0, and Monaco have 60 points from 29 matches. But two-time defending champion Lyon edges ahead with a superior goals difference.
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