Joe Cole scored a second-half winner and Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 to move 11 points clear atop the English Premier League on Wednesday, padding its lead as second place Manchester United was held 2-2 by Birmingham City.
Frank Lampard's record run of 164 consecutive Premier League appearances ended when he was ruled out of Chelsea's game at Manchester City because of the flu. But Cole scored the winner in the 60th minute to avenge the Blues' lone league loss last season.
"I always say the best team wins the championship because it is over 38 matches," said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. "We do not have to be worried. For us it is about controlling the distance, getting three points or picking up one.
"If we had drawn tonight and Manchester United had won I do not think it would make that much difference. The situation would have been the same. For us it is about winning. For the others it is about waiting for our mistakes."
Man United twice squandered the lead at St. Andrews. Birmingham's Jamie Clapham and Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani matched strikes by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney. Alex Ferguson's team had earned 22 points from its previous eight games, but the draw dropped the Reds further behind Chelsea.
"We had good chances and that's a disappointing factor," Ferguson said. "There was also a obvious penalty on Ronaldo but I think the referee listened to the [home] crowd."
Third-place Liverpool won its ninth straight, 3-1 at struggling neighbor Everton. Peter Crouch scored his sixth goal in as many games after having gone seven months without a strike, and Steven Gerrard and Djibril Cisse added two more at Goodison Park.
James Beattie's 42nd-minute header for the Toffees ended Liverpool's eight-game league shutout streak. But Everton finished with only nine men after the second-half ejections of Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta.
Wednesday's results marked the halfway point in the season, leaving Chelsea with 52 points from 19 games, Manchester United with 41 and Liverpool on 37 from 17.
Matches between Bolton-Middlesbrough, Blackburn-Sunderland and Newcastle-Charlton were among 17 called off across England because of freezing weather.
Tottenham remained fourth despite a 2-0 loss at relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion. Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu scored both Baggies goals at the Hawthorns where the temperature went down to minus 4?C.
Goals by Jason Roberts and Henri Camara in the last three minutes of the first half helped Wigan to a 2-0 victory at West Ham, and Paul Jewell's team drew level on points with Spurs.
Thierry Henry scored twice in six minutes, his first goals in six games, as Arsenal outplayed next-to-last Portsmouth 4-0 at Highbury with all four goals coming before halftime.
Dennis Bergkamp and Jose Antonio Reyes scored in the opening 13 minutes as the Gunners moved into sixth, 20 points behind Chelsea.
Brian McBride, the American striker who has just six months left on his contract, scored twice to give him nine for the season, but Fulham was held 3-3 at home by Aston Villa.
Defender Liam Ridgewell was able to score twice for Villa.
Reading won its 10th straight, 2-0 over Leicester, to stay nine points atop the League Championship. With a 20-point advantage over third-place Leeds, Steve Coppell's side appears virtually certain to earn promotion to the top flight for the first time in team history.
Second-place Sheffield United won 1-0 at Southampton and Leeds won 1-0 at Stoke thanks to a second-half strike by American international Eddie Lewis.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS