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Today, in the English Premier League, seven matches took place. After these games, the theoretical hope of winning the champions' title was preserved by the second-placed Arsenal, as the leader Chelsea played a draw with Birmingham and thus revived some intrigue in the championship.
Meanwhile, Manchester United, who were level on points with Arsenal before this round, unexpectedly lost away to Norwich. By the way, in this match, in the 22nd minute, Manchester United striker L. Saha suffered another injury and could no longer continue the match.
In the match between Chelsea and Birmingham at Stamford Bridge, an even bigger sensation was brewing, as in the 65th minute, the away team took the lead thanks to a goal from W. Pandiani. However, the London club's legionary from the Ivory Coast, D. Drogba, managed to equalize the result eight minutes before the end of the game. It is worth mentioning that Chelsea lost their first points after four consecutive victories, and the team's goalkeeper P. Cech conceded only the fifth goal of the season.
Arsenal did not waste time taking advantage of Chelsea's stumble. Under A. Wenger's guidance, thanks to a goal from R. Pires, Arsenal defeated Middlesbrough away and reduced the gap from Chelsea to 11 points. Arsenal, probably, remains the only club that can provide some competition to Chelsea in the fight for this year's champion's title, as today's loser Manchester United can only hope for a miracle.
Liverpool continues to play inconsistently. After playing a great match against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, this time R. Benitez's players conceded a goal in the last minute and lost to Manchester City. This defeat complicates Liverpool's chances of overtaking Everton and securing the fourth place, which guarantees a spot in next year's UEFA Champions League qualifying round. Everton plays their round match tomorrow against Crystal Palace.
All Saturday results:
West Ham 2 - 0 Norwich 55' [1 - 0] Dean Ashton 65' [2 - 0] Leon McKenzie
Blackburn 3 - 0 Bolton 11' [1 - 0] Morten Pedersen 48' [2 - 0] Andreas Jakobsson (own goal) 55' [3 - 0] Steven Reid
Bolton 3 - 1 Fulham 13' [1 - 0] Jay-Jay Okocha (penalty) 33' [2 - 0] Kevin Nolan 47' [2 - 1] Luis Boa Morte 54' [3 - 1] Stelios Giannakopoulos
Fulham's Claus Jensen was sent off in the 12th minute
Chelsea 1 - 1 Birmingham 65' [0 - 1] Walter Pandiani 82' [1 - 1] Didier Drogba
Crystal Palace 1 - 0 Southampton 90' [1 - 0] Kizito Musampa
Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Arsenal 73' [0 - 1] Robert Pires
Portsmouth 4 - 2 Charlton 3' [1 - 0] Yakubu Aiyegbeni 20' [2 - 0] Steve Stone 22' [2 - 1] Jonathan Fortune 45' [2 - 2] Danny Murphy 83' [3 - 2] Diomansy Kamara 90' [4 - 2] Lomana Tresor LuaLua
