Premier League Roundup, Mar. 1Associated Press
Updated: March 1, 2008, 3:51 PM EST 727 comments RSS digg blog email print LONDON (AP) - Manchester United moved to within a point of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League on Saturday after the Gunners drew 1-1 with visiting Aston Villa.

Arsenal almost lost at Emirates Stadium after defender Philippe Senderos scored a 27th-minute own-goal, but Nicklas Bendtner equalized in the last minute to salvage a draw.
Even so, defending champion United, which had trailed by five points eight days ago, closed the gap with a 3-0 win at Fulham.


Barclays Premier LeagueMon., Feb. 25
Manchester City 0-2 Everton Recap
Sat., Mar. 1
Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa* Recap
Birmingham 4-1 Tottenham Recap
Derby 0-0 Sunderland Recap
Fulham 0-3 Manchester Utd Recap
Manchester City 0-0 Wigan* Recap
Middlesbrough 0-1 Reading Recap
Newcastle 0-1 Blackburn* Recap
West Ham 0-4 Chelsea Recap


Chelsea recovered from last weekend's League Cup final defeat to Tottenham with a 4-0 win at London rival West Ham, while Spurs rested several players after winning their first trophy for nine years and lost 4-1 at Birmingham.

Arsenal now has 65 points from 28 matches, but United's goal difference is seven better than the leaders' and Chelsea is six points back having played one game fewer.

"If it comes down to goal difference, it could make a difference," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "The way it's been going in the last few weeks, it's been a bit of a seesaw. But we have to look over our shoulder because Chelsea's score today was emphatic."

Fourth-place Everton hosts Portsmouth on Sunday, while sixth-place Liverpool is at Bolton. But at the other end of the standings, Newcastle slipped to within three points of the relegation zone after a 1-0 loss to visiting Blackburn.

Arsenal was desperate for victory after last week's 2-2 draw at Birmingham, in which it lost striker Eduardo da Silva to a career-threatening leg injury. It dominated the early exchanges as striker Theo Walcott had a shot saved by Villa goalkeeper Scott Carson and almost created another opportunity.

Senderos shot wide from inside the area after Carson had dropped the ball from a corner, but, four minutes later, scored past his own goalkeeper when he tried to intercept a cross by Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Villa lost Nigel Reo-Coker and Curtis Davies to injury, but almost went 2-0 ahead before halftime when home keeper Manuel Almunia had to push a 20-meter shot by Shaun Maloney onto the crossbar.

Arsenal pushed for a late equalizer and Bendtner managed it with a close-range shot.

"In the first half, you could see it was a hangover from last week," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "We were dominated physically and technically ... but this shows the team never lies down."

Fulham goalkeeper Antti Niemi had already saved from Nani and Carlos Tevez before Tevez won a free kick just outside the area in the 15th. Owen Hargreaves curled the ball over the defensive wall and wide of Niemi to make it 1-0.

Park Ji-sung scored a minute before halftime with a header and Simon Davies completed the scoring midway through the second half, with an own-goal.

"It was a professional performance," Ferguson said. "It was windy and in these conditions you have to have good concentration.

"I don't think Fulham were a big threat to us inside the penalty box, but outside they played some good stuff."

Chelsea responded to reports of unrest in its expensively assembled squad with a convincing win at Upton Park, with the recalled Joe Cole and Michael Ballack both scoring as the Blues went 3-0 up in the first 22 minutes.

Former West Ham midfielder Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead from a 17th-minute penalty kick after Anton Ferdinand had fouled Salomon Kalou and Cole made it 2-0 in the 20th with a low shot.

Ballack, who, like Cole, was dropped for the League Cup final, put Chelsea further ahead before Lampard was sent off in the 34th for what looked like an innocuous push of Luis Boa Morte in the face.

Still, Ashley Cole made it 4-0 for Chelsea in the 64th.

Tottenham no longer has to worry about its league position after qualifying for next season's European competition by winning the League Cup, so it rested players including Robbie Keane, Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate to prepare for Thursday's UEFA Cup match against PSV Eindhoven.