Second-half goals from El-Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies gave surprising Bolton to a 2-1 victory Sunday over Newcastle. The win improved Bolton to 21 points, good for fourth in England behind leaders Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton.
Newcastle's Darren Ambrose equalized for Newcastle early in the second half, setting the stage for Davies' 70th-minute winner.
PHOTO: AP
The loss was the first for Newcastle coach Graeme Souness since moving to the club in early September from Blackburn.
PHOTO: AP
Arsenal and Chelsea both have 26 points, followed by Everton (23), Bolton (21), Middlesbrough (18), Liverpool and Manchester United (17) and Newcastle (16).
"We work hard for each other," Davies said. "You can see that, we're a team. We're together."
PHOTO: EPA
Bolton already has four victories at home this season after only six at home in 2003-2004.
Souness gave credit to Bolton, but said the game was a disappointment.
"We conceded two very, very poor goals," Souness said. "The way they [Bolton] play football you are always under pressure with their set pieces and throw ins."
Arsenal needed a last-second goal by Robin van Persie to save a 2-2 draw against Southampton at Highbury.
Thierry Henry missed a first half penalty but scored in the 67th minute. Rory Delap leveled in the 80th and put Saints ahead five minutes later to set up Persie's winner in second-half injury time.
The team that ended Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten league streak a week ago, Manchester United, couldn't maintain that form. The Red Devils lost 2-0 at Portsmouth on David Unsworth penalty and a Aiyegbeni Yakubu strike.
Scottish League
Rangers hammered Aberdeen 5-0 on Sunday to move to within four points of Premier League leader Celtic.
The victory gave Rangers 27 points and showed the difference in class between the Glasgow side and third-place Aberdeen. Aberdeen stayed on 22 points.
Steven Thompson gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute, and it was no contest afterward with Peter Lovenkrands (68th), Nacho Novo (75th), Fernando Ricksen (88th), and Novo scoring again on a penalty in the second-half injury time.
Spanish League
Michael Owen continued his goal-scoring run as Real Madrid beat Primera Liga newcomers Getafe 2-0 at Bernabeu Stadium Sunday to rise to third in the Spanish standings.
Ronaldo scored the second goal, giving Madrid 16 points in league play, seven behind leader FC Barcelona.
Getafe made Madrid work hard for the win, attacking fluidly and with great penetration, forcing Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas to save on at least five occasions. At one point in the 19th minute, Casillas saved twice within seconds.
It took a deep cross by star midfielder Zinedine Zidane to steady Madrid's mood. Ronaldo dug out the pass and sliced it into the path of a sprinting Owen who timed his shot perfectly to just make the far corner of the net in the 28th minute.
In the 79th minute full-back Roberto Carlos produced a very long throw-in that Raul Gonzalez controlled with one touch and shot toward goal. Getafe keeper Sanchez Broto saved the shot at full stretch only for Ronaldo to pounce on the ball as it came out, burying it in the goal.
Bundesliga
Selim Teber came off the bench to score twice and lead Kaiserslautern to a 2-1 victory over Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga on Sunday, lifting his team from the bottom of the table and probably saving his coach's job.
In the other 11th-round game Sunday, Hansa Rostock suffered its sixth loss in six home games, going down 2-0 to Nuremberg, which got both goals from Markus Schroth within a span of three minutes.
Kaiserslautern coach Kurt Jara had Teber and goalkeeper Tim Wiese to thank for remaining in charge. Before the match, the club's management had told Jara only a victory would save his job.
For a while, it looked like Jara was on the way out.
Bielefeld hit the post once and Wiese made a stunning reflex save in the 67th to deny Ervin Skela from close range. He then made an acrobatic save to stop Skela's free kick from 18m out.
But in the 79th, Wiese was beaten by the speedy Delron Buckley, who picked up a long pass on the left and drove the ball past the Kaiserslautern goalkeeper. Wiese got his fingers on the ball but couldn't hold onto it. Buckley raised his season total to seven goals.
Kaiserslautern replied almost immediately when Teber used a defensive Bielefeld error to revive his team's hopes.
With time running out, Carsten Jancker headed back to the unmarked Teber and his shot from the edge of the area deflected off a Bielefeld defender to find the net.
Dutch League
Ajax Amsterdam won its first Dutch league match in a month Sunday, beating NEC Nijmegen 1-0 thanks to an early goal by Rafael van der Vaart.
Ajax regained some of the ground lost to its main rivals, rising to fifth place as league leader PSV Eindhoven surrendered points for just the second time this season in a scoreless tie at FC Utrecht on Friday. Second-place Feyenoord Rotterdam, meanwhile, missed a chance to take the league lead Sunday with a 4-1 loss at AZ Alkmaar.
At the Amsterdam ArenA, Ajax captain Rafael van der Vaart scored his 50th goal in the Dutch Eredivisie in the 23rd minute when he guided a pass from Maxwell into the goal with a touch of the toe.
FC Groningen beat ADO The Hague 4-3 and SC Heerenveen won at Den Bosch 4-2.
Italian League
Juventus defeated Chievo Verona 3-0 Sunday with goals from Marcelo Zalayeta, Pavel Nedved and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to restore the Turin powerhouse's five-point lead atop Serie A,
Coach Fabio Capello rested captain Alessandro Del Piero for a Champions League match against Bayern Munich on Wednesday and several other starters were out injured, but Juventus still had no trouble scoring in the 25th, 65th and 80th minutes.
Juventus leads the Italian league with 25 points. AC Milan is second with 20 points.
Portuguese, League
Benfica escaped with a 1-1 draw against cellar-dwelling Gil Vicente on Sunday, nearly losing the match were it not for a Simao Sabrosa goal in injury time.
Benfica, last season's runner-up was stunned by a goal from Gil Vicente's Fernando Nandinho Santos at the 39th minute and not even striker Nuno Gomes' repeated scoring attempts managed to garner the Lisbon club any goals for most of the game. But with a minute left in injury time, Sabrosa secured the tie.
Benfica leads the standings with 17 points, while Gil Vicente inched up to four points. FC Porto is in second place with 16 points.
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