Manchester City held fierce crosstown rival Manchester United to a 0-0 draw on Sunday, keeping the Red Devils 11 points behind leader Chelsea.
In a hard fought, tough-tackling match, City defenders shut out United's expensively assembled attack of Alan Smith, Louis Saha and Wayne Rooney.
PHOTO: EPA
Smith was sent off with two minutes remaining for his second yellow card.
PHOTO: EPA
"It's not championship form," said Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, who also criticized referee Graham Poll.
"The chances we're creating and not taking them is not good enough. The belief's there -- they've dominated the game. We're suffering at the moment."
PHOTO: AFP
Also Sunday, Middlesbrough needed an injury-time goal from George Boateng to draw 1-1 at 10-man Bolton, and Fulham beat Newcastle 4-1 at St. James' Park off two goals from Steed Malbranque and one each from Collins John and Luis Boa Morte.
Chelsea, which beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday, leads the Premier League standings with 29 points, followed by Arsenal with 27. The defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace.
Everton is in third place with 23 points, ahead of Bolton with 22, Middlesbrough with 19 and Aston Villa with 18. United is seventh, also with 18 points.
Scottish League
Rangers beat Livingston 4-1 in the Scottish Premier League on Sunday to cut Celtic's lead to four points.
Rangers had goals from Peter Lovenkrands, Nacho Novo, Steven Thompson and Hamed Namouchi. Craig Easton had netted for the home side to make it 2-1 midway through the second half but Rangers moved swiftly to take control of the match.
A 60th-minute Paul Hartley penalty gave Hearts a 1-0 win over 10-man Aberdeen.
A goal-bound shot by Hearts striker Ramon Pereira was stopped on the line by Kevin McNaughton's hand, earning the Aberdeen defender a straight red card.
Hartley scored from the resulting penalty to lift Hearts to third in the standings.
Spanish League
Forward Miguel Angel "Michel" Carrilero scored in the 19th minute Sunday to earn Getafe a 1-0 victory over Valencia in the Spanish league and extend the defending champion's winless streak to nine games.
Later, Real Madrid beat Malaga 2-0 in another 10th-round match. Luis Figo scored the first goal from the penalty spot in the 24th minute and substitute Michael Owen added another in the 79th.
It was Owen's fifth goal in six matches and helped Madrid move into second place, seven points behind leader FC Barcelona.
Valencia was left it in seventh place, 11 points adrift and still seeking its first victory since beating Racing Santander on Sept. 26. Valencia has lost five in its skid, including twice in the Champions League.
"I think it was our worst game of the season. We tried in the second half but nothing went right," Valencia coach Claudio Ranieri said.
Also, Sevilla surrendered second place after a 1-1 draw with struggling Mallorca, while Levante moved into third place with a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona, which beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 on Saturday and equaled its best start to a season, has 26 points. Real Madrid and Levante have 19 points, followed by Sevilla with 18. Espanyol and Zaragoza have 17.
Bundesliga
Schalke rallied with two goals in the final 11 minutes to beat Hamburg 2-1 SV for a club record sixth straight victory under new coach Ralf Rangnick, pulling even on points with Wolfsburg atop the Bundesliga.
Stuttgart climbed within a point of the lead, thrashing last-placed Rostock 4-0 to remain in third, ahead of Bayern Munich on goal difference.
Schalke, which picked up several top players during the offseason, has won every game since Rangnick replaced Jupp Heynckes in late September and is getting consideration as a serious title contender.
"That favorite talk isn't important," Rangnick said. "The important thing is that we turned around a match for the first time. Until now we've always led."
Hamburg led until the 79th minute, when Brazilian midfielder Lincoln crossed to Mike Hanke for the equalizer. Seventy seconds, Lincoln later went on a long solo run after raking in an errant Hamburg pass and, with defenders still retreating, rifled a low shot from the edge of the area inside the right post for the winner.
Stefan Beinlich gave Hamburg the lead in the 47th, bouncing in the go-ahead goal.
The loss ended a three-game unbeaten streak for Hamburg, which had climbed as high as 10th place two rounds ago under former star player Thomas Doll as coach.
Sunday's matches left the Bundesliga with its most unpredictable title race in years, with favorites like Bayern and Werder Bremen fighting to keep their place amidst several unexpected challengers.
Wolfsburg remained in first with 24 points after 12 rounds, staying ahead of Schalke on goals scored.
Behind Stuttgart was Bayern Munich, which blasted Hannover 3-0 on Saturday.
Italian League
AC Milan played to a 1-1 draw with AS Roma at San Siro, failing to take full advantage of a loss by league-leader Juventus and make up three points in the standings.
Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko put Milan ahead in the sixth minute, heading in a Cafu cross, as Milan dominated the first half.
But Roma came out energized in the second half and Vincenzo Montella equalized with his league-leading ninth goal in the 48th, hitting the crossbar on his first attempt and then converting an easy rebound.
The draw left Milan four points behind Juventus, which lost its first match of the season Saturday at Reggina 2-1. Roma is ninth, 12 points back.
Portuguese League
Simao Sabrosa set up the first goal and added one of his own to lead Benfica to a 4-0 victory over Setubal, moving the 33-time champion to the top of the standings.
The victory gave Benfica 20 points, three more than Setubal, Maritimo and Boavista.
Azar Karadas opened the scoring on the half-hour, heading home a Sabrosa corner for his fourth goal of the season.
Substitute Tomo Sokota made it 2-0 five minutes into the second half when Brazilian midfielder Geovanni pounced on a defensive blunder in the 71st and Sabrosa sealed the match in the final minute.
Giovanni Trapattoni was celebrating his 800th match as a coach in European leagues.
French League
Pauleta and Edouard Cisse netted brilliant goals Sunday to give Paris Saint-Germain its seventh straight win over rival Marseille, 2-1, while Lille closed in on leader Lyon in the French league.
PSG played with 10 men for much of the match as left back Sylvain Armand was sent off for a violent two-footed challenge from behind on Fabrice Fiorese.
The hosts took the lead in the 32nd minute when Pauleta collected a pass on the left edge of the penalty area, cut inside Dehu and curled a shot past Fabien Barthez and into the bottom corner of the net.
Laurent Battles leveled for Marseille in the 42nd minute, but Cisse scored the winner in the 70th, surging up the middle.
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