LONDON: Arsenal stayed a point clear at the top of the English Premier League on Saturday despite losing their 100 per cent record with a 1-1 draw against Portsmouth at Highbury.

Arsenal moved to 13 points from five matches, one ahead of Manchester United, who won 2-0 across London at Charlton Athletic.

Chelsea, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 in a London derby at Stamford Bridge, climbed to third on 10 points with a game in hand over the leading pair.

Portsmouth, unbeaten since their promotion, are fourth on nine points, followed by south coast rivals Southampton (9) and Liverpool (8).

Southampton also remained unbeaten after their 2-0 home win over bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Liverpool moved up from 10th spot following their eventful 3-1 win at Blackburn Rovers where Michael Owen scored twice and Harry Kewell got the other after Matt Jansen had put Blackburn ahead in the eighth minute.

Blackburn ended the match with 10 men after Lucas Neill was sent off for a wild tackle on Jamie Carragher after only 13 minutes, while Liverpool's Czech international Milan Baros went off in the fifth minute with a suspected broken ankle.

For once Arsenal and Manchester United did not have things all their own way against teams they would have expected to beat with something to spare.

Sheringham header

Portsmouth opened brightly and former Spurs favourite Teddy Sheringham silenced the Arsenal fans who love to bait him by putting Pompey in front with a diving header after 26 minutes following a pinpoint cross from Steve Stone.

It was the 37-year-old's fifth goal of the season and had the visitors dreaming of their first victory at Highbury since 1955, but Arsenal pulled level six minutes before the break.

Referee Alan Wiley ruled that Portsmouth defender Dejan Stepanovic had fouled Robert Pires at the edge of the box, and awarded a penalty which was hotly disputed by Pompey boss Harry Redknapp afterwards.

"I've seen matches turned every week by terrible, terrible refereeing decisions," he said afterwards and television replays seemed to suggest minimal contact between the players.

"Pires trod on his foot and threw himself on the floor. I thought Pires was going to get a yellow card for diving."

Thierry Henry levelled from the ensuing penalty, which had to be taken twice after Arsenal players encroached on the first effort and there were no more goals in the second half.

United win

While Arsenal were stuttering in North London, Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy took his tally to 17 goals in his last 13 premier league matches after Charlton had kept United under control for more than an hour.

Van Nistelrooy pounced to fire home from six metres for the first goal which came after the home side failed to clear a Ryan Giggs free kick.

Charlton's task was made even more difficult when Jason Euell was sent off soon afterwards for a foul on Gary Neville. A second Van Nistelrooy goal nine minutes from time sealed the points.

Chelsea fightback

Chelsea's new-look side did what their old-look sides have done for the last 13 years - not lose to Tottenham. Chelsea extended their unbeaten league streak against Spurs to 27 matches with a 4-2 victory despite going behind to a Frederic Kanoute goal after 25 minutes.

Spurs played well for the first 30 minutes but Chelsea stormed back into the game with two goals in two minutes shortly before halftime from Frank Lampard (35) and Romanian international striker Adrian Mutu (37).

Chelsea took control after the break with Mutu adding a third after beating the Spurs offside trap in the 75th minute and, although Kanoute gave Spurs some hope with a second in the 86th, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made it 4-2 in the 90th.

"We did not start how we would have liked and Spurs were better than us but after that we showed very good character," said Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

Southampton stayed in touch with the leaders with a 2-0 win over Wolves at St Mary's with James Beattie scoring twice, once from the penalty spot.

There were three penalties and two sendings off at Goodison Park where Everton drew 2-2 with Newcastle United.

Alan Shearer scored both Newcastle's goals from the spot, while Duncan Ferguson scored with a late penalty against his old side to give Everton a share of the points.

Laurent Robert of Newcastle and Gary Naysmith of Everton were also both sent off.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 09/15/2003 page8)