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The English Premier League season is coming closer to an end. On Monday night by Lithuanian time, three matches were played in the football homeland, and on Tuesday, "Blackburn" and "Chelsea" played their penultimate season match.
The latter match ended somewhat unexpectedly - "Blackburn" achieved an important victory in the fight for a place in the UEFA Cup by defeating the English champions with a minimal score of 1-0. Defender Steven Reid scored the winning goal for them at the end of the first half.
This was only the fourth loss for the "Chelsea" team in this season's English top flight, where they did not field their strongest lineup.
Meanwhile, "Man Utd" yesterday showed how important Wayne Rooney is to the team. Without their indisputable team leader Sir Alex Ferguson's wards failed to beat UEFA Cup finalist "Middlesbrough" at home. The match ended in a goalless draw.
After a slow first half, in the second half "The Red Devils" took the initiative and created several dangerous opportunities to score, but they were not able to capitalize on them. Finally, the hosts were given a chance by the referee when defender Lee Cattermole handled the ball in the penalty area, but Ruud van Nistelrooy, who is far from having the most successful season, struck poorly and the goalkeeper saved the shot.
By losing two more points, the Manchester footballers left an opportunity for the "Liverpool" team to take second place in the championship. Currently, "Man Utd" has just a one-point advantage over Rafael Benitez's club and in the last round, they will play at "Old Trafford" Stadium against "Charlton". "Liverpool's" opponent on the road will be "Portsmouth".
The hope of securing a place in next year's Champions League in the national championship was preserved by the London "Arsenal" team, who thrashed the relegating "Sunderland" team 3-0 away. The Sunderland footballers, who started the match successfully, collapsed when Danny Collins scored an own goal in the 29th minute. Later on, Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry increased the lead.
Now the "Gunners", who have two more matches to play, are four points behind the fourth-placed "Tottenham" club. Meanwhile, Martin Yol's pupils will face a tough challenge on the road against the Football Association (FA) Cup finalist "West Ham" club.
In their determined match on the road, they defeated "West Bromwich" resistance 1-0. Nigel Reo-Coker scored the only goal.
All results:
1 - 0 London 43` [1 - 0] Steven Reid
0 - 3 29' [0 - 1] Danny Collins 40' [0 - 2] Cesc Fabregas 43' [0 - 3] Thierry Henry
0 - 0
65' Ruud van Nistelrooy ("Man Utd") missed a penalty kick from 11 meters
0 - 1 42' [0 - 1] Nigel Reo-Coker
Top scorers:
1. Thierry Henry ("Arsenal") 24 goals 2. Ruud van Nistelrooy ("Man Utd") 21 3. Darren Bent ("Charlton") 18 4-6. Robbie Keane ("Tottenham") 16 Frank Lampard ("Chelsea") 16 Wayne Rooney ("Man Utd") 16
