LONDON, Oct 5: Argentina’s Hernan Crespo headed an 88th minute winner to give Chelsea a 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough, while Juan Pablo Angel equalised in Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers in the premier league on Sunday.
Colombian Angel, however, had a penalty saved four minutes from time by Bolton’s Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Chelsea, determined to make amends for their midweek home defeat by Besiktas of Turkey in the Champions League, stayed third in the standings.
The London club are one point behind leaders Arsenal and level with Manchester United, who both won on Saturday, and also have a game in hand.
Villa and Bolton are 13th and 15th respectively, both with eight points from eight games and 12 adrift of Arsenal.
Crespo scored his third goal in five games for Chelsea in English and European competition, rising to nod home from a tight angle after Damien Duff’s cross to the far post.
Man-of-the-match Duff also set up Chelsea’s opening goal in the 17th minute for Iceland’s Eidur Gudjohnsen, who fired a low shot inside goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer’s right hand post from the Ireland international’s defence-splitting pass.
Middlesbrough equalised through Szilard Nemeth virtually from the restart when the Slovakian forward took a ball from midfielder Gaizka Mendieta after a stumble by Chelsea defender Robert Huth.
At Villa Park, Bolton took the lead 53 seconds into the second half when midfielder Kevin Nolan shot inside the far post from a headed pass by Kevin Davies, beating Dutch substitute keeper Stefan Postma.
Angel equalised when he shot from the edge of box into the top right corner after the ball was laid off by midfielder Lee Hendrie.
Results:
Middlesbrough 1 Chelsea 2
Aston Villa 1 Bolton 1
Saturday
Fulham 2 Leicester 0
Leeds 2 Blackburn 1
Liverpool 1 Arsenal 2
Man Utd 3 Birmingham 0
Newcastle 1 Southampton 0
Portsmouth 1 Charlton 2
Tottenham 3 Everton 0
Wolverhampton 1 Man City 0
MATCH ENDS IN DRAW
MADRID: Real Sociedad lost further ground on the Primera Liga leaders when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sevilla on Sunday.
Sociedad, runners-up to champions Real Madrid last season, took the lead after just four minutes, when Valery Karpin crossed from the right for Darko Kovacevic to head home.
Sevilla levelled with a Dario Silva strike on the quarter-hour, though, and Sociedad created little else for the remainder of a disappointing game.
The result left Sociedad in sixth place with nine points, six behind Deportivo Coruna, who moved top on Saturday with a 5-1 win at home to Atletico Madrid.
Valencia, second on 13 points, were looking for a victory over Barcelona at the Nou Camp in a match being played later on Sunday to move back top.
Osasuna continued their solid start to the new season with a 1-1 draw away to Real Mallorca that was enough to take them up to third place on 11 points.
Results
Malaga 2 Celta Vigo 1
Murcia 1 Albacete 0
Real Mallorca 1 Osasuna 1
Real Sociedad 1 Sevilla 1
Valladolid 0 Racing Santander 4
Real Madrid v Espanyol (1700 GMT)
Barcelona v Valencia (1930)
Saturday
Deportivo La Coruna 5 Atletico Madrid 1
Villarreal 1 Real Zaragoza 1
Real Betis 1 Athletic Bilbao 1
Juventus go top
MILAN: Serie A title-holders Juventus on Sunday beat visitors Bologna 2-1 to go top of the standings ahead of an evening derby between AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Juventus have 13 points from five games and lead Roma, who have 11 after a goalless draw at at Siena, and Parma, who edged Sampdoria 1- 0.
Milan trail on 10 and could draw level with the champions by beating cross-town rivals Inter, who trail on eight points.
The home game against underdogs Bologna was no easy affair for Juve. Defender Mark Iuliano put them ahead on 23 minutes, but Bologna drew level two minutes later when veteran Giuseppe Signori converted a penalty.
Juve pressed relentlessly and clinched the game in the 80th minute from a penalty that Frenchman David Trezeguet converted after Cristian Zaccardo floored Gianluca Zambrotta.
In-form Brazilian striker Adriano, meanwhile, continued his scoring streak giving Parma a 16th minute winner against Sampdoria off a cross by Marco Marchionni.
A hat trick by Andrea Caracciolo and the first goal this season by Roberto Baggio sealed Brescia’s 4-1 win at Lecce.
Udinese crushed bottom-of-the-table Ancona 3-0 thanks to a brace by Dino Fava while 10-man Modena won 3-0 at Empoli.
Results:
Ancona 0 Udinese 3
Empoli 0 Modena 3
Juventus 2 Bologna 1
Lazio 1 Chievo Verona 0
Lecce 1 Brescia 4
Parma 1 Sampdoria 0
Siena 0 AS Roma 0
—Agencies