After another important weekend of football action, TheFA.com takes a look at all the stories from around the country, starting with the Premiership, where Manchester United are a step closer to the title after their win over Tottenham...

Premiership

Manchester United became firm favourites to win this season's Premiership title race after champions Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead at the Reebok on Saturday to only draw 2-2 with Bolton, while yesterday United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at White Hart Lane.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side had to wait until the second half before taking the lead through Paul Scholes's 14th League strike of the season, and right at the end Ruud van Nistelrooy netted his 21st Premiership goal, making him the first Red Devil since Denis Law in the 1960s to register 40 in all competitions in one campaign.

Meanwhile in the early afternoon kick-off on Saturday, Arsenal appeared to be cruising towards a routine 2-0 win at the ten-man Bolton courtesy of goals from France internationals Sylvain Wiltord and Robert Pires, their tenth and eleventh League goals of the season respectively, and the second consecutive game that Wiltord had found the back of the net.

Amazingly, the former Bordeaux man's opener had been the first occasion since Ole Gunnar Solskjær netted a late equaliser in February that Bolton had conceded a goal at home. However, another Frenchman, Youri Djorkaeff, gave Sam Allardyce's men hope, before an own goal from substitute Martin Keown left Arsène Wenger's men seven points behind United, but with a game in hand on their arch rivals, as the season draws to a close.

And that point could prove crucial to Bolton's hopes of avoiding the drop after West Ham United, under caretaker manager Trevor Brooking for the first time, won 1-0 at Manchester City on Sunday, Frédéric Kanouté with the late winner that leaves the Hammers just two points from Bolton and safety with only two games remaining.

Also in trouble are Leeds after they went down 3-2 at home to Blackburn Rovers, and this despite taking the lead through in-form striker Mark Viduka's career-best 21st of the season and his 12th in the last eight matches. But, after David Dunn had equalised with a first-half penalty, Andrew Cole gave the visitors the lead with his 12th of the season, before Andy Todd made it 3-1. And despite Alan Smith's late goal, Leeds still suffered their ninth League defeat at home this season, the club's worst run for 43 years.

Fulham did their chances of avoiding the drop no harm at all with a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Chelsea, who slipped to fourth as a result following third-placed Newcastle's 1-0 win at Sunderland, making it just one defeat in 16 on Wearside for the visitors. Fulham went behind just before the break when Alain Goma put through his own net, yet secured a point when Luis Boa Morte scored a goal out of nothing on 66 minutes, while Nolberto Solano's winning penalty condemned Sunderland to a record 13th straight League defeat and a 17th consecutive Premiership match without a win.

One point behind the Geordies, and level with Chelsea, are sixth-in-the-table Liverpool after they hit relegated West Bromwich Albion for six at The Hawthorns, with England striker Michael Owen grabbing four to take his tally for the season to 28 in all competitions.

Owen's second just after the interval also made the England striker just the tenth player in the history of the Premiership to register a century of goals and his strike-partner on the day, Milan Baros, also netted twice to give the Reds their seventh win in eight games.

Fellow Merseysiders Everton also won to stay in a UEFA Cup spot, but only after Wayne Rooney had scored in the final minute to give his side a 2-1 win at Goodison Park over an Aston Villa team that had not lost any of their previous five fixtures.

Marcus Allbäck had even given Graham Taylor's side the lead after half-time with his third strike in the last three games, but that lead lasted all of ten minutes before Kevin Campbell levelled matters to help his team end a run of three defeats in five and stay three points ahead of Blackburn in the race for Europe.

Other results on Saturday saw Birmingham City beat Middlesbrough 3-0 at St Andrews, Christophe Dugarry opening the scoring with his fifth strike in four matches, while Stephen Clemence and Stan Lazairdis also got their names on the scoresheet, and Charlton Athletic put an end to a run of four straight defeats by overcoming FA Cup finalists Southampton 2-1 at home.

Scott Parker got his sides first with a brilliant solo effort, his fourth of the season and first for 12 games, before Kevin Lisbie's first strike for nine matches made it 2-0 after the interval. England international James Beattie went back to the top of the Premiership scoring charts with a late consolation, his 24th of the season, but Alan Curbishley's men held on for their first victory in eight.

Top of the Table

 

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

Pts

Man Utd

36

23

8

5

68

32

77

Arsenal

35

21

9

5

73

35

72

Newcastle Utd

36

20

5

11

60

46

65

Chelsea

36

18

10

8

66

36

64

Liverpool

36

18

10

8

59

37

64


To view the full Premiership table, click here

Division One

On Sunday, Portsmouth were crowned First Division champions with a game to go after their 3-2 win at Fratton Park against Rotherham and second-placed Leicester City's 1-1 draw with Norwich City. At the Walkers Stadium, Trevor Benjamin had given the Foxes the lead, only for Mark Rivers to level matters, while on the south coast Svetoslav Todorov's brace sent Harry Redknapp's team on the way to their 28th League win of the season.

Meanwhile, sixth-placed Nottingham Forest got the point they needed to seal their place in the play-offs after a six-goal thriller with Millwall. Goals from Eoin Jess, his third of the campaign, Eugen Bopp and David Johnson mean that Forest are the only team in England to have scored 50 goals at home this season, and but for Neil Harris's 12th of the season and fifth in his last six games late on, Paul Hart's men would have won.

And remarkably, that was also the scoreline at Bramall Lane between third-in-the-table Sheffield United and Wolves, in fifth, with both United's Paul Peschisolido and the visitors' Dean Sturridge grabbing doubles, while Reading overcame relegated Grimsby 2-1 at home, on-loan Glenn Little opening the scoring for Alan Pardew's side with his first goal for the fourth-placed club.

However Ipswich Town's slim hopes of making a late dash into the top-six ended following a 5-1 defeat at Portman Road to Wimbledon, for who the prolific Neil Shipperely netted his 24th of the season, before strike partner David Connolly netted a late brace.

At the bottom, already relegated Sheffield Wednesday scored seven times at ten-man Burnley in a 7-2 win, the second time this season in the League that the home team have let in seven at Turf Moor, while the final relegation place is between Brighton, who had to win on Saturday to survive and Stoke, who themselves needed just a point.

Steve Coppell's men did win 3-0 on the coast against Watford with Paul Kitson netting his 99th career goal, but Stoke went down to a late Dele Abebola goal at managerless Crystal Palace.

Coventry City have now won just once in 20 games, and not all in their previous ten matches, following their goalless draw at Highfield Road with Gillingham, Junior's 14th, 15th and 16th goals of the season gave Walsall a 3-2 home win over Derby, for who Fabrizio Ravanelli scored his 49th goal in England and Preston overcame Bradford City 1-0 at home thanks to a strike from Poland Under-21 international Pawel Abbott.




Top of the Table 

 

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

Pts

Portsmouth

45

28

11

6

92

45

95

Leicester City

45

26

13

6

72

39

91

Sheffield Utd

44

22

11

11

69

50

77

Reading

44

24

4

16

58

45

76

Wolves

45

20

15

10

80

43

75


Division Two

Dario Gradi's Crewe won promotion to the First Division on Saturday behind Wigan after a goalless draw at sixth-in-the-table Queens Park Rangers, who had two players dismissed, and that was also the score as Cardiff went a fourth straight game without hitting the target, at home to Paul Jewell's champions, although the draw did bring an end to a poor recent run of three consecutive defeats for the fifth-placed side.

Third-placed Oldham secured their place in the play-offs with a 4-0 win at Boundary Park against Swindon, 39-year-old striker David Eyres recording his 15th of the campaign and his best total for a decade, but nine-man Bristol City in fourth went down 2-0 at Chesterfield, who remain just a point and a place above Cheltenham in the final relegation place.

Bobby Gould's side, who have lost just four times in 19 games since he took over, beat mid-table Blackpool 2-0 at home to give themselves a chance of breaking clear of the relegation zone for the first time since November and it was Jamie Victory's first goal since September that put them on their way to victory.

However, relegated Mansfield saw their game at Tranmere abandoned due to safety reasons with the home side leading 3-2 at the time and ten-man Huddersfield were relegated following their 5-1 defeat at Port Vale, with Ian Armstrong ending a personal goalscoring drought of no goals in eight games by netting a brace.

Other results saw already relegated Northampton draw 2-2 at home with ninth-placed Plymouth, struggling Barnsley beat Brentford 1-0 thanks to a late Isaiah Rankin strike, Peterborough overcame ten-man Notts County by the same scoreline, while there was a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road between Luton and Stockport, with Steve Howard grabbed his 23rd of the season for the home team, and a goalless draw between Wycombe and Colchester.

Top of the Table

 

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

Pts

Wigan

45

28

13

4

67

25

97

Crewe

45

25

10

10

75

39

85

Oldham

45

22

15

8

67

37

81

Cardiff

45

23

11

11

77

48

80

Bristol City

45

23

11

11

67

42

80


Division Three

In the Third Division on Saturday, it was party time for Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground after the home team thrashed ten-man Cambridge United 5-0 to secure the third and final automatic promotion place behind leaders Rushden and Diamonds and second placed Hartlepool in what was Dennis Smith's side eleventh successive game without defeat.

Meanwhile, Rushden drew 0-0 at Leyton Orient and Mike Newell's team overcame last-placed Shrewsbury 3-0 at home, with Kevin Ratcliffe's strugglers having to play the final 18 minutes with ten men, while Mark Tinkler's grabbed his 13th of the season for the home side.

Fourth-in-the-table Bournemouth were beaten 1-0 at home by seventh-placed Lincoln City, Bury, in fifth, won 2-1 at Southend, who's equaliser was scored by Leon Cort, the brother of Newcastle striker Carlton and Scunthorpe overcame ten-man Oxford United 2-0 at home, with their second goal coming from Paul Dalglish, son of Kenny, to remain three points ahead of their opponents in the race for the final two play-off places on 69 points, the same amount as Lincoln.

Level on 66 points with Oxford are York, who were surprisingly beaten 2-0 at home by second-from-bottom Exeter, the second straight win for the strugglers arriving via strikes from veteran forward Steve Flack and former Geordie player James Coppinger. However, the visitors are still in the relegation zone, a point behind Carlisle and Swansea with only a game to play after the 'Great Escapists' of Division Three won 3-2 at Torquay, a result that left the home team unable to reach the play-offs, and the latter did the same, 2-1 at Rochdale.

And finally, there were home wins for Boston over Macclesfield (2-1), Bristol Rovers against Darlington (2-1), with in-form striker Andy Rammell netting for the fourth time in his last three starts and for Hull, who thrashed Kidderminster 4-1 thanks to a Ben Burgess treble.

Top of the Table

 

Pld

W

D

L

GF

GA

Pts

Rusden

45

24

14

7

72

46

86

Rushden

45

24

12

9

70

50

84

Bournemouth

44

21

15

8

80

50

78

Wrexham

45

19

14

12

58

48

71

Torquay

45

18

16

11

57

53

70


Player of the Weekend: Michael Owen

The striker became the eleventh player in the history of Liverpool Football Club to score 100 League goals in his sides comprehensive 6-0 rout of West Brom on Saturday, placing in him alongside such former Anfield greats as Sir Roger Hunt, Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush.

by Richard Morgan