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Chelsea beat Fulham 4-1 to stay on top
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-14 10:54

Premier League leader Chelsea kept winning with a 4-1 victory over Fulham on Saturday while Arsenal recorded its first league victory in three weeks by rallying past Tottenham 5-4.

Fulham briefly threatened by tying it 1-1 at home on Papa Bouba Diop's goal in the 57th minute, only the fourth goal Chelsea has yielded in league play this season. But the Blues bounced back with goals from Arjen Robben, William Gallas and Cardoso Tiago for the lopsided victory.

Robben, a Dutch winger who had been out three months with a knee injury, has lifted Chelsea since making his team debut two weeks ago.

"He has a winning attitude," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "But his ambition is even bigger."

Thierry Henry, Lauren, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires scored for Arsenal. This was the first league victory for Arsenal since Manchester United snapped its record unbeaten string of 49 league games three weeks ago. The slide cost the defending champions first place, which Chelsea took over a week ago.

Third-place Everton continued to be the surprise of English soccer, beating Birmingham 1-0 on Thomas Gravesen's penalty kick in the 69th minute.

Chelsea (10-1-2) leads the league with 32 points followed by Arsenal (30), Everton (26), Bolton (22), Aston Villa (21) and Liverpool (20).

The Arsenal-Tottenham game was marked by open attacking and poor defense. Arsenal yielded as many goals in this game as Chelsea has given up in all its league games this season.

"This was a completely crazy one," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

Tottenham took a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute when Noureddine Naybet chipped in a free kick from Michael Carrick, and Henry tied it just before halftime. It got wild in the second half with seven goals. Arsenal's Lauren and Vieira made it 3-1 and Jermain Defoe narrowed it to 3-2 in the 61st.

Arsenal's Ljungberg increased the lead to two goals in the 69th. Tottenham's Ledley King made it a one-goal margin again on a header in the 74th, only to see substitute Robert Pires score the clincher in the 81st. Tottenham's Freddie Kanoute closed the scoring in the 88th.

American goalkeeper Kasey Keller, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, was the emergency starter for Southampton and helped defeat Portsmouth 2-1.

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Struggling Valencia could only muster a 0-0 draw with Zaragoza, extending its winless streak to 10 games.

The defending Spanish league champions gave a lifeless display which left Claudio Ranieri's team without a league victory in six games. Valencia last won on Sept. 26 when it beat Racing Santander.

Also, Espanyol moved up to second place by beating visiting Racing Santander 2-1, while Sevilla fell at lowly Numancia 2-1.

In other matches, it was: Getafe 1, Malaga 0; Athletic Bilbao 2, Villarreal 1; and Osasuna 1, Real Sociedad 0.

FC Barcelona leads the league with 26 points, six more than Espanyol. Real Madrid and Levante have 19 points, followed by Sevilla and Zaragoza with 18 each.

On Sunday, Barcelona visits Real Betis, Madrid hosts Albacete and Mallorca entertains Atletico Madrid.

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Martin Petrov scored his second goal late in Wolfsburg's 3-0 victory over Stuttgart when goalkeeper Simon Jentzsch flung the ball almost 50 yards to the streaking Bulgarian. Petrov beat the entire Stuttgart defense before bearing down on Timo Hildebrand and flicking the ball past the diving goalie.

"When the whole team is beaten like that, something is wrong," Hildebrand said.

Wolfsburg, the club owned by carmaker Volkswagen, hasn't come close to a title since reaching the Bundesliga for the 1997-98 season. The team bounced back after it was routed 4-0 last week by Nuremberg.

Wolfsburg has 27 points after 13 games, three points ahead of Schalke, which was upset 3-1 by Hertha Berlin. Bayern Munich could close within a point Sunday with a win against Bochum. Stuttgart, which started the day a point behind Wolfsburg, remained third with 23 points.

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Lyon remained on top in the French first division, beating visiting Nantes 2-0 on second-half goals by Pierre-Alain Frau and Sidney Govou.

Lyon, which has not lost in 18 games in all competitions this season, has 32 points from 14 league games and is on course for a record-equaling fourth straight title.

Lille is four points back in second place but can pull within one point if it beats Monaco at home Sunday.

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John Hartson scored in the 53rd and 77th minutes to keep Celtic in first place in Scotland with a 3-0 victory over Inverness. Chris Sutton scored Celtic's other goal, a strike after just three minutes that set the tone.

Defending champion Celtic leads the Premier League with 37 points, seven ahead of the Rangers and 12 ahead of Aberdeen. The Rangers play at Hibernian on Sunday.



 
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