Chelsea cut Manchester United's advantage atop the Premier League to three points on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Charlton.
Frank Lampard scored with a long-range shot to take defending champions Chelsea to 57 points.
"We fought really hard for this," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "I just feel that we had moments where we could have killed the game and we did not. But this makes it more comfortable in terms of being seven points away from Liverpool."
PHOTO: EPA
Chelsea moved seven points clear of third-place Liverpool, who were held to a 0-0 draw by Everton in the 205th match between the city rivals.
In other matches on Saturday, it was: Aston Villa 1, West Ham 0; Blackburn 2, Sheffield United 1; Fulham 2, Newcastle 1; Manchester City 0, Reading 2; Watford 0, Bolton 1; Wigan 1, Portsmouth 0.
Thierry Henry scored an equalizer as 10-man Arsenal rallied to a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough. The Gunners stayed in fourth place with 46 points, two more than fifth-place Bolton.
Lampard scored his eighth goal in as many matches in the 18th minute after taking a cross from Andriy Shevchenko, who had earlier been denied a goal by Charlton goalkeeper Scott Carson.
Charlton rarely troubled Chelsea until goalkeeper Petr Cech twice saved late on to deny Amady Faye.
Chelsea captain John Terry came on as an 88th-minute substitute for his first action in seven weeks after recovering from a back problem.
"We need J.T. as a player and as a person," Mourinho said. "I hope this was the last game [midfielder] Michael Essien played as a central defender."
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard was busy at Anfield, blocking a seventh-minute shot from Peter Crouch with his feet and saving from Dirk Kuyt.
Xabi Alonso put a dipping shot just over the bar and captain Steven Gerrard went close with a free kick.
Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina saved from Andy Johnson but it was Liverpool doing most of the attacking in an attempt to avenge September's 3-0 loss at Everton.
"Playing against a small team it is not always easy when they have nine men behind the ball," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. "One team wanted to win while one team came not to lose."
Everton boss David Moyes, whose side stayed in eighth, wasn't impressed with the "small team" remark.
"It is a massive gulf in the amount of money they have spent on their squad and us on ours," Moyes said. "We are looking to bridge that gap but we have taken four points from them this season, so we must be doing something right."
Henry scored in the 77th at the Riverside Stadium, 15 minutes after teammate Philippe Senderos had been sent off for a foul on Ayegbeni Yakubu. That mistake gave Boro a penalty kick and the Nigerian striker took it to give his team the lead.
"We were 1-0 down with 10 men and we still managed to come back and I feel 11 against 11, we would have won this game," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.
Leroy Lita scored twice to give Reading victory at Manchester City. Reading moved up to sixth place in their first Premier League season, but another new club, Watford, are still struggling.
Watford are last with 15 points from 25 games after losing 1-0 at home to Bolton. Nicolas Anelka scored in 63rd minute.
"If we play like that we will go down, simple as that," Watford coach Adrian Boothroyd said.
West Ham still round out the relegation zone in 18th place after their winless streak stretched to eight games. Villa striker John Carew scored in the 36th to keep the Hammers on 20 points, the same as Charlton and five fewer than 17th-place Wigan.
Wigan's 1-0 win over Portsmouth improved their chances of staying up and ended a nine-match losing streak.
Morten Gamst Pedersen scored twice for Blackburn in a 2-1 win over Sheffield United with Pedersen grabbing a last-minute winner.
Fulham beat Newcastle through goals from Heidar Helguson and Brian McBride, while Obafemi Martins scored in injury time for the visitors.
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