25 January 2005	Tuesday	14 Zilhaj 1425

LONDON, Jan 24: Arsenal kept their faint Premier League title hopes flickering with a tense 1-0 victory over an off-colour Newcastle United at Highbury on Sunday.

Arsenal's 35-year-old Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp scored the winner after 19 minutes to lift the champions back above Manchester United into second place, although they still trail runaway leaders Chelsea by a mammoth 10 points.

With 14 games to go Chelsea, who beat Portsmouth 3-0 on Saturday, have 61 points, with Arsenal on 51 and United, 3-1 winners over Aston Villa on Saturday, on 50.

Berg kamp finished neatly after 19 minutes to settle a bad-tempered match and only some fine goal keeping by Newcastle's Shay Given and some wasteful Arsenal finishing kept the score down.

Bergkamp immediately stamped his class on proceedings, warming the frozen Highbury faithful with some delicious touches as Arsenal dominated the first half. He gave his side the lead by calmly slotting the ball home after a deft pass from Frenchman Mathieu Flamini.

It was Bergkamp's first Arsenal goal since Aug 28. Following that the first half degenerated into a series of spiteful fouls, with Newcastle's Lee Bowyer and full back Steven Taylor playing agent provocateur.

Arsenal remained in control after the break and Thierry Henry was a whisker away from making it 2-0 on the hour when his shot came back off the inside of the post and landed in the arms of grateful keeper Given.

Given also saved superbly from Robert Pires and Henry twice while Ashley Cole missed a sitter. Bowyer squandered the chance to make Arsenal pay when he shot too close to an otherwise redundant Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia with nine minutes left.

FRENCH RESULT

Lille 2 Olympique Lyon 1

PLAYED ON SATURDAY:

Metz 0 Olympique Marseille 1

St Etienne 0 Paris St Germain 0

Stade Rennes 2 AC Ajaccio 0

Caen 0 AJ Auxerre 2

Sochaux 4 Girondins Bordeaux 0

Monaco 2 Racing Lens 0

Toulouse 2 Nantes 1

Bastia 2 Nice 1

Istres 1 Racing Strasbourg 1

SPANISH RESULTS

Albacete 0 Sevilla 2

Deportivo Coruna 4 Espanyol 1

Getafe 3 Real Zaragoza 0

Levante 2 Real Sociedad 1

Malaga 1 Atletico Madrid 0

Real Betis 4 Numancia 0

Villarreal 3 Valencia 1

Real Madrid 3 Real Mallorca 1

PLAYED ON SATURDAY:

Athletic Bilbao 4 Osasuna 3

Barcelona 3 Racing Santander 0. -Agencies