Chelsea romped to a 3-0 victory over Portsmouth on Saturday to open up an 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League and move closer to its first league title for 50 years.
Didier Drogba scored twice and Arjen Robben added another in the first half at Stamford Bridge as Jose Mourinho's Blues increased their lead by a point.
PHOTO: AFP
Chelsea, which has 61 points from 24 games, holds an 11-point lead over Manchester United, which moved into second place by beating Aston Villa 3-1 at Old Trafford. Defending champion Arsenal hosts Newcastle on Sunday and hopes to regain second spot with a victory but now is 13 points behind Chelsea.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Louis Saha and Paul Scholes scored Manchester United's goals against Villa, which had equalized through Gareth Barry.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson believes that, if the league title remains out of reach, his team can use its improved Premier League form to help it win other titles such as the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
"We have to keep looking at Chelsea and obviously they're playing fantastically and there's no sign of any blips," said Ferguson, whose side has won nine of its last 11 Premier League games.
"But if we can maintain our form in the league, then it helps us in other games. I think we are in championship form but Chelsea have an 11 point lead and don't look like slipping at all.
"And credit to them, they've been great. We just keep chasing them."
Everton remained fourth despite losing 1-0 at home to Charlton with Matt Holland scoring the only goal at Goodison Park and Liverpool stayed fifth in spite of a 2-0 loss at relegation-threatened Southampton.
Down at the bottom, three of the last four won and the other, Norwich, hit back from 4-1 down to gain a 4-4 tie with high flying Middlesbrough.
Last place West Bromwich Albion gained only its second victory of the season and its best ever in the Premier League when it downed mid-standings Manchester City 2-0 at the Hawthorns. New signing Kevin Campbell scored his first for the club after just five minutes.
Goals by David Prutton and Peter Crouch revived Southampton's chances of avoiding relegation as Harry Redknapp's ailing side made it three losses in a row for Liverpool in one week.
The victory was Saints' first under Redknapp since he took over at St. Mary's six weeks ago and it moved his team further away from last-place West Bromwich Albion and closer to safety.
"Fantastic, a great performance," Redknapp said. "They showed a bit of bulldog spirit. But it's only a start. We've got a long, hard struggle ahead. It's going to be a battle to the end to stay in this division but that was big result for us today."
Norwich dropped to next to last despite hitting back from 4-1 down at home to Middlesbrough to salvage a 4-4 draw. Boro, which had fallen behind, appeared to be cruising after two rare goals by French defender Franck Queudrue and two more from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. But Dean Ashton, Leon McKenzie and Adam Drury hit back, the final two goals coming in the last two minutes.
"What a magnificent game," said Norwich manager Nigel Worthington. "At 4-1 down, really the game is over and finished. But the character and the determination [of the players] and even the crowd were absolutely magnificent. Maybe with another minute we could have won it 5-4."
Crystal Palace, another team in danger of relegation, improved its survival chances with a 3-0 beating of Tottenham with strikes by Mikele Leigertwood, Danny Granville and Andy Johnson.
Third from last Palace has 21 points, Southampton 18 and Norwich 17. West Brom now has 16 as the four teams bid to avoid ending up in the three relegation spots.
Fulham came from behind to climb further away from trouble with a 2-1 victory at Birmingham with strikes by Andy Cole and Papa Bouba Diop.
In League Championship action, leader Ipswich was held 1-1 at Reading and second place Wigan, which is two points behind, tied 2-2 at home to Watford.
Stilian Petrov and Chris Sutton fired Celtic into a six-point lead over Rangers in the Scottish title race on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Motherwell at Parkhead.
With Rangers not in action until Sunday's game at fourth place Aberdeen, Martin O'Neill's Hoops took advantage by opening up a big lead over its traditional rival.
Bulgarian attacking midfielder Petrov fired Celtic ahead in the 29th minute and English striker Sutton added the second in the 57th. Celtic now has 59 points from 23 games and Rangers have 53 from 22.
Third place Hibernian remained 16 points behind despite Derek Riordan's hat-trick in a 3-0 beating of seventh place Kilmarnock.
Fifth place Hearts were held to a 1-1 tie by lowly Dundee after going behind to Fabian Caballero's 54th minute strike. Joe Hamill leveled six minutes later.
Dunfermline and Dundee United also tied 1-1, Jesper Christiansen putting the home side ahead a minute before halftime but Stevie Crawford leveling for United 18 minutes from the end.
Considered a strong favorite for relegation after its first promotion to the top flight, Inverness moved closer to safety with a 4-1 victory at Livingston.
Richard Hart and Russell Duncan put the visitor 2-0 up and, although Ferenc Horvath replied for Livvy two minutes before halftime, second half strikes by Graham Bayne and Spanish forward Juanjo made sure of three more points for Inverness.
Schalke stayed close to league leader Bayern Munich by beating defending champion Werder Bremen 2-1 Saturday when the Bundesliga season resumed.
In an early opening match of the second half of the season Friday, Bayern Munich rolled past Hamburger SV 3-0, getting goals from Claudio Pizarro in the first half and Bastian Schweinsteiger and Roy Makaay in the second.
But Schalke didn't allow Bayern to open a significant lead. Both teams have 37 points, with Bayern ahead on goal difference.
In the process, Schalke probably ended Bremen's hopes of defending the title. Bremen stayed in fifth place, but now trails the two leaders by nine points.
Third-place Stuttgart also won, beating Mainz 3-2 on the road to stay three points behind at 34. Fourth-place Wolfsburg lost at home to Borussia Dortmund 2-1.
In other matches, Kaiserslautern won 3-1 in Nuremberg, Borussia Moenchengladbach edged Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 and the two bottom teams, Hansa Rostock and Freiburg, played to a 0-0 draw.
In an action-packed match in Gelsenkirchen, Schalke got the winner from Brazilian striker Ailton, who came from Bremen at the start of the season.
Gerald Asamoah, who had shot Schalke ahead after 48 minutes, set up Ailton after a fast break and the Brazilian had no trouble slotting home from 6m for his seventh goal of the season.
Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said Ailton was offside.
"For me it was a clear offside but the referee ruled it good and now we go home empty-handed," Schaaf said.
Ailton was in passive offside earlier in the move, but was onside when he got the ball. Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick said he was against the passive offside rule.
"It should be abolished. Under the circumstances, I am happy with the win," he said.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored two goals Saturday to lead PSV Eindhoven over NAC Breda 4-0 and into a two-point lead at the top of the Dutch premiership.
AZ Alkmaar was held to a 1-1 draw by NEC Nijmegen on Friday.
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