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LONDON, March 24: Skipper Patrick Vieira restored Arsenal’s two-point lead in the Premier League on Sunday after scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over Everton at Highbury.
France’s midfielder smashed the ball home in the 64th minute after a superb solo strike by Everton teenager Wayne Rooney had cancelled out Pascal Cygan’s first goal for Arsenal.
With seven games remaining, the win left the champions on 66 points, two more than Manchester United who went top on Saturday with a 3-0 demolition of Fulham at Old Trafford.
Third-placed Newcastle United (61) are also in the title race, while Liverpool moved up to fifth on 52, just two points behind Chelsea, after a 3-1 victory earlier on Sunday over struggling Leeds United.
But the main drive on Sunday was to respond to United’s impressive win, courtesy of a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat-trick.
SETBACK FOR Sociedad
MADRID: Real Sociedad squandered the chance to reclaim the league leadership for at least a few hours when Villarreal snatched a 2-2 draw with two injury-time goals on Sunday.
Darko Kovacevic side-footed Sociedad into the lead on 26 minutes and the former Juventus striker made it 2-0 from the penalty spot on 74 minutes.
Victor pulled one back for Villarreal in the second minute of added time, though, and in a frantic finale Jorge Lopez blasted in when Sociedad failed to clear a corner to earn his side a point.
Real Sociedad’s draw with Villarreal was enough to take them level with leaders Real Madrid on 54 points with 11 games left to play.
Barcelona, still unbeaten since the arrival of Radomir Antic to replace Louis van Gaal, are in ninth place, 11 points behind Valencia but now within three points of the UEFA Cup places.
Results of Spanish first division soccer matches played on Sunday:
Barcelona 6 Racing Santander 1
Celta Vigo 2 Athletic Bilbao 1
Malaga 0 Real Betis 0
Real Madrid 2 Deportivo Coruna 0
Real Mallorca 2 Valladolid 1
Real Sociedad 2 Villarreal 2
Recreativo Huelva 1 Osasuna 1
Sevilla 3 Alaves 2
Valencia 1 Espanyol 1
Rayo Vallecano 0 Atletico Madrid 0
—Reuters
