Frank Lampard capped a great week for himself and Chelsea when he opened the scoring in a 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic on Saturday as the Londoners gained ground on the Premier League leaders.
Arsenal and Manchester United drew 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium in an early kickoff and third-placed Chelsea are now just three points behind both clubs.
Lampard followed up his midweek hat-trick against Leicester City in the League Cup with the opener after 11 minutes and Juliano Belletti got the second seven minutes later.
Portsmouth climbed to provisional fourth on 22 points after an extraordinary first win at Newcastle United since 1949. Noe Pamarot, Benjamin Mwaruwari and John Utaka had them 3-0 up after 11 minutes and Niko Kranjcar finished off a 4-1 win after 71.
Everton scored twice in injury time to beat Birmingham City 3-1, Aston Villa eased past beat bottom side Derby County 2-0 and Fulham beat Reading 3-1. Middlesbrough against Tottenham Hotspur ended 1-1 while Blackburn Rovers were playing Liverpool later on Saturday.
More from rediff