LONDON, Jan 1: Champions Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-2 at Highbury to leave their London rivals seven points adrift in third place on Wednesday.

Arsenal’s biggest threat now appears to come from Manchester United, who are five points behind in second after Paul Scholes added an injury-time goal to David Beckham’s 81st-minute equaliser to give them a 2-1 home win over Sunderland.

Arsenal won the Highbury showdown thanks to an early Marcel Desailly own goal and strikes by Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Thierry Henry after 81 and 83 minutes.

Mario Stanic and Emmanuel Petit then got two in two minutes for Chelsea but the comeback came too late to prevent them taking just one point from three games over the holiday period.

Everton edged to fourth, two points behind Chelsea, after a 2-2 home draw with Manchester City. Fifth-placed Newcastle United were playing sixth-placed Liverpool later on Wednesday.

Leeds United made it four wins and a draw in their last five with a 2-0 home success against Birmingham City. James Beattie got his 13th of the season as Southampton took their unbeaten run to eight with a 1-0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Aston Villa beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0, Blackburn Rovers beat Middlesbrough 1-0. Charlton Athletic against West Ham United and Fulham against West Bromwich Albion were postponed because of waterlogged pitches.

United had dominated the game but were foiled by Sunderland’s inspired Austrian goalkeeper Juergen Macho who made countless good saves.

The visitors took a shock lead after four minutes when midfielder McCann collected a poor punch by Fabien Barthez and chipped the ball back over the French keeper and into the net via the head of a despairing Juan Sebastian Veron.

Roy Carroll replaced Barthez due to injury at the half-hour stage but had little to do as the hosts hammered away.

His opposite number, Macho, however, was constantly busy, and his superb block to deny centre back Rio Ferdinand in the 66th minute was just the pick of another batch of great saves.

United finally found a way past him via route one 10 minutes from time when Beckham latched onto a long clearance by Ferdinand to touch in the equaliser.

They piled on the pressure looking for the winner and it duly arrived when Scholes charged on to Mikael Silvestre’s hooked cross to nod in the crucial goal.

Meanwhile Fulham’s home game with West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic’s London derby with West Ham United were posptoned on Wednesday after heavy rain caused problems for the English Premier League.

The Loftus Road pitch being used by Fulham this season was deemed unplayable by referee Paul Barber following a pitch inspection, Fulham said on their website.

Charlton’s game was called off an hour before the scheduled 1500 GMT kickoff due to a waterlogged pitch at the Valley.

Premier League

Arsenal 3 Chelsea 2

Aston Villa 2 B Wanderers 0

Blackburn Rovers 1 Middlesbrough 0

Everton 2 Manchester City 2

Leeds United 2 Birmingham City 0

Manchester United 2 Sunderland 1 Southampton 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0

—Reuters