Chelsea opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday after beating struggling Norwich 3-1.
The Blues -- fresh from winning the League Cup last Sunday -- increased its lead by two points when title rival Manchester United was held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace.
The Red Devils couldn't break the deadlock at Selhurst Park, despite having an extra man for 26 minutes when Crystal Palace's Vassilis Lakis was sent off for two yellow cards.
PHOTO: AP
"It's a bad result for us," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said. "When you're going for the championship, you have to win these games. We haven't done that today so we've given ourselves a real mountain to climb. We've given a great advantage to Chelsea."
Joe Cole, Mateja Kezman and Ricardo Carvalho all scored for Chelsea. Leon McKenzie leveled for Norwich in the 64th -- the first league goal conceded by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech since October and for 1,025 minutes.
Thierry Henry scored a hat trick to lead Arsenal over Portsmouth 3-0.
Chelsea has 68 points, followed by Manchester United with 63 and Arsenal with 61.
Southampton closed in on 17th-place Crystal Palace with a 1-0 win over Tottenham. Palace has 26 points, followed by Southampton with 24, Norwich with 20 and West Bromwich Albion with 18.
Laurent Robert scored to help Newcastle beat Liverpool 1-0 and extend its winning streak to five matches. Steven Gerrard missed a late chance to level for Liverpool.
It was Liverpool's third consecutive defeat. Last week it lost the League Cup final to Chelsea.
Saturday's loss dented Liverpool's chances of challenging Everton for fourth place and the final Champions League spot. Liverpool has 43 points -- eight behind fourth-place Everton, which plays Blackburn on Sunday.
"It was a game without opportunities and it was only on the free kick that we conceded the goal," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said.
Henry, who missed Arsenal's FA Cup fifth round replay over Southampton with an Achilles injury, scored in the 39th, 53rd and 85th minutes.
Arsenal's defensive worries deepened when Pascal Cygan limped off halfway through the first half. Arsenal faces Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the Champions League trailing 3-1 from the first leg and is already without Sol Campbell.
The injury toll showed as seven of Arsenal's starting lineup was aged 23 or under.
"It was a very solid team performance with a great focus, great team spirit and resilience," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. ``For such a young side, they showed great maturity. It promises us a good future."
At Crystal Palace, Ruud van Nistelrooy had Manchester United 's best chances, testing Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly with a header in the first half and a 20m drive after the break. He sent the ball over the bar from close range with five minutes remaining.
"You've got enough problems playing against 11 men with a side of the talent they have," Palace manager Iain Dowie said. "Then they wheel on three of their many mercurial talents in [Wayne] Rooney, [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Paul] Scholes and you know you're up against it."
In the Football League Championship, Sunderland and Wigan both share the standings lead. Sunderland beat Burnley 2-0 on Friday night, while Wigan edged Ipswich 1-0 on Saturday. Ipswich is third, three points off the lead.
Struggling Inverness Caledonian Thistle held Rangers to a 1-1 draw in the Premier League.
Barry Ferguson scored in the 57th minute, his first goal since rejoining Rangers in January. But Caley substitute Bryan Prunty leveled in the 90th.
The draw means Celtic can regain first place in the standings if it wins its three games in hand, starting at Hibernian today.
"We can't sit back and try to win 1-0. We have got to score more goals," Ferguson said. "With all due respect to Inverness, we have got enough quality to win but they totally deserved the draw."
Livingston beat Dundee 1-0 off a 49th-minute goal from Burton O'Brien. Kevin McNaughton scored in the 80th minute to give Aberdeen a 1-0 win at Kilmarnock.
Motherwell beat Dundee United 2-0 off goals from David Partridge and Scott McDonald. Dunfermline drew 1-1 with Hearts.
Samuel Eto'o scored his 18th goal of the season to earn league leader FC Barcelona a 1-0 win over Osasuna, while second-place Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Valencia.
Barcelona failed to impress at Osasuna's El Sadar stadium but won its first in three matches and extended its lead to eight points.
Valencia's Argentine forward Pablo Aimar opened the scoring at the Mestalla Stadium, with Ronaldo equalizing for Madrid with his first goal in eight matches.
With 11 rounds remaining, Barcelona has 62 points, while Madrid has 54. Sevilla, Villarreal and Valencia are next with 43, although Sevilla and Villarreal have played a game less.
"We suffered, but we know beforehand that it would be a complicated game. We battled and worked and overall we deserved to win," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said. "We gained an important victory, thanks to the mentality, sacrifice and attitude of the players."
Michael Ballack's header lifted Bayern Munich past Werder Bremen 1-0, dealing the defending champions title hopes a big setback.
In a disappointing match between the two Bundesliga teams boasting the most goals, Bayern set up a showdown with Schalke next Sunday and moved seven points clear of third-place Bremen.
Schalke, even on points with Bayern, was never threatened in a 2-0 away win against Bochum. Afterward, coach Ralf Rangnick tried to play down the impending clash against Bayern.
"Today the game of games was Bayern against Bremen, now it's Bayern against Schalke," Rangnick said. "We don't think about those things, we concentrate on what is important."
After Ballack lunged between four Bremen defenders in the seventh minute to head in Torsten Fring's corner, there were few scoring scenes.
"This game is disappointing -- I don't know why they bothered wearing different uniforms, they keep giving the ball up to each other," Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said.
Bremen's helplessness on attack was all the more surprising because the North German team had ripped off five straight league wins, collected a league high 53 goals and scored in every match this season.
VfB Stuttgart kept itself in the running for a Champions League berth with a 2-1 win against Bielefeld, leaving the club just one point behind Bremen for the third and final Bundesliga berth in the European competition.
Leverkusen's hopes of a return to the Champions League took a bitter setback as it fell 1-0 to Hamburg on captain Daniel van Buyten's 21st-minute goal.
That dropped the club -- once nursing title ambitions -- to seventh, four points behind Bremen and 11 behind Bayern.
Juventus beat AS Roma 2-1 and AC Milan downed last-place Atalanta by the same score Saturday, keeping the two Italian league powerhouses tied atop the Serie A.
A disputed first-half penalty kick converted by Alessandro Del Piero decided the tense match at Stadio Olimpico in which former AS Roma players Emerson and Jonathan Zebina were booed every time they were in possession of the ball.
Andrea Pirlo scored an injury-time goal in yet another late win by Milan.
Juve and Milan have 60 points each, identical records of 18-6-3 and equal goal differentials.
Third-place Sampdoria, which hosts lowly Chievo Verona in Sunday's 27th-round matches, trails the leading duo by 16 points.
At Olimpico, Juventus withstood the initial pressure of the Roman team and capitalized on its first scoring chance in the 11th minute.
Roma goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli saved a short-range header by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro headed in the rebound.
Antonio Cassano equalized in the 39th, beating an offsides trap and rushing unmarked into the penalty area.
Del Piero netted the decisive goal in the 44th from the penalty spot after two minutes of strong protests by Roma players.
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