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Today in the English league, eight matches of the 31st round were played. After today's matches, London's "Chelsea" moved closer to the title, increasing the gap from the "Man Utd" and "Arsenal" clubs to 13 points and leaving only theoretical chances to fight for the first place for the teams coached by A. Ferguson and A. Wenger.
Nevertheless, most of the emotions and masculine fighting happened not in the leaders' matches, but in the match between the teams of "Newcastle" and "Aston Villa", which was convincingly won by the visitors from Birmingham. "Aston Villa" broke into the lead in the fifth minute, thanks to J.P. Angel.
The next goal came in the 73rd minute when Steven Taylor was sent off the field for a handball in the penalty area, and Gareth Barry successfully converted the penalty kick. Just seven minutes later, G. Barry sent the ball into the net for the third time from the penalty spot.
And then the fun began - in the 82nd minute, K. Dyer and L. Bowyer started fighting in the middle of the field. Several "Aston Villa" players immediately rushed to break up the scuffle, but they couldn't stop the angry players right away, and K. Dyer even managed to tear his teammate's shirt. Both players were sent off the field, leaving their team to play with eight against eleven. However, "Aston Villa" did not take advantage of this and did not score any more goals.
Meanwhile, "Chelsea" comfortably defeated "Southampton" 3-1 without major problems. In this match, the Icelandic E. Gudjohnsen, who once played for Lithuanian teams, scored twice, while F. Lampard added one goal.
"Arsenal" played a great game today, especially their leader T. Henry: the London club crushed "Norwich" 4-1 at home, and the Frenchman scored three goals, achieving a hat-trick. After this victory, the defending champions equaled points with "Man Utd", who unexpectedly played a goalless draw with "Blackburn" at "Old Trafford".
The intense battle continues for the fourth place, which gives the opportunity to participate in the UEFA Champions League next year. After today's victory against "Bolton", the "Liverpool" club moved closer to "Everton", who will play their round match tomorrow.
"Middlesbrough" climbed to seventh place after winning away with a narrow margin against "Crystal Palace". The match between "Charlton" and "Man City" ended in a dramatic draw, as did the matches between "Birmingham" and "Tottenham".
All Saturday's results:
1 - 3
22' [0 - 1] Frank Lampard
39' [0 - 2] Eidur Gudjohnsen
69' [1 - 2] Kevin Phillips
83' [1 - 3] Eidur Gudjohnsen
2 - 2
4' [0 - 1] Hermann Hreidarsson (own goal)
10' [1 - 1] Shaun Bartlett
38' [1 - 2] Robbie Fowler
90' [2 - 2] Chris Perry
4 - 1
19' [1 - 0] Thierry Henry
22' [2 - 0] Thierry Henry
30' [2 - 1] Darren Huckerby
50' [3 - 1] Fredrik Ljungberg
66' [4 - 1] Thierry Henry
1 - 1
59' [0 - 1] Stephen Kelly
66' [1 - 1] Darren Carter
0 - 1
35' [0 - 1] Franck Queudrue
1 - 0
86' [1 - 0] Igor Biscan
0 - 0
0 - 3
5' [0 - 1] Juan Pablo Angel
73' [0 - 2] Gareth Barry (pen.)
80' [0 - 3] Gareth Barry (pen.)
73' S. Taylor sent off ("Newcastle")
82' K. Dyer and L. Bowyer sent off ("Newcastle")
