Clinical Chelsea tighten their grip

By Roger Brown

Chelsea FC continued their excellent run of form and stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to five points with a fine 4-0 victory at Charlton Athletic FC 4-0, while Manchester United FC also enjoyed a notable away success.

Two for Terry
Damien Duff opened the scoring at The Valley on four minutes, before two John Terry goals in four minutes early in the second half effectively ended the contest. Eidur Gudjohnsen completed the scoring on the hour, although champions Arsenal FC can move back to within two points of Chelsea with victory at Liverpool FC on Sunday.

United success
Paul Scholes' strike eight minutes into the second period gave Manchester United the lead at West Bromwich Albion FC. Ruud van Nistelrooij doubled the lead on 72 minutes and Scholes added a third with eight minutes to go to leave Sir Alex Ferguson's side in fourth place.

Rovers relief
West Brom therefore slipped to the foot of the table as Blackburn Rovers FC had secured only their second league win of the season earlier on Saturday. Goals from Paul Gallagher and a Paul Dickov penalty after Zat Knight had been sent off for handball earned three crucial points at fellow strugglers Fulham FC.

Strugglers draw
Two more clubs threatened with relegation met at Saint Andrews, Birmingham City FC taking the lead against Norwich City FC on nine minutes with a goal from Clinton Morrison only for Darren Huckerby to level just past the hour.

Four-goal thriller
At Saint Mary's stadium Crystal Palace FC opened the scoring against Southampton FC three minutes after half-time with a goal from Andy Johnson. Kevin Phillips quickly equalised only for Wayne Routledge to restore the visitors' lead in the 54th minute, but Andreas Jakobsson's late leveller salvaged a point for the home team. Velimir Zajec's first game in charge as caretaker manager of Portsmouth FC ended in victory, meanwhile, Arjan De Zeeuw scoring the only goal at Bolton Wanderers FC.

City cheer
In Saturday's late match, first-half goals from Jon Macken and Shaun Wright-Phillips earned Manchester City FC a 2-0 win against Aston Villa FC, for whom Juan Pablo Angel missed a late penalty before Lee Hendrie was sent off a minute into added time. On Sunday, Newcastle United FC take on third-placed Everton FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC play in-form Middlesbrough FC.