Chelsea and Arsenal lose

LONDON: Manchester United piled up the pressure on Chelsea with a 2-0 win over nine-man Wigan while the Premier League leader crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Birmingham here on Saturday.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side is now level on points with Chelsea and only goal difference separates the sides. Elsewhere, Tottenham staged a stunning fightback from two goals down to clinch a 3-2 win over Arsenal in the north London derby.

At St. Andrew's, Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea, without injured England stars John Terry and Frank Lampard, fell behind in the 17th minute when Lee Bowyer produced a fine finish from Cameron Jerome's header.

The Blues laid siege to Birmingham's goal after that but couldn't find a way past England goalkeeper Ben Foster. This was Chelsea's third defeat in four games.

At Old Trafford, United took the lead at the stroke of half-time when Patrice Evra headed home Park Ji-sung's cross for his first Premier League goal in four years.

Mexico striker Javier Hernandez ensured United pushed home its numerical advantage when he headed home Rafael's cross in the 77th minute.

At the Emirates Stadium, Harry Redknapp's Tottenham trailed to goals from Arsenal's Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh at half-time.

But, Gareth Bale reduced the deficit for the visitors, who equalised through Rafael van der Vaart's penalty before Younes Kaboul headed the winner with five minutes left. This was Spurs' first victory at Arsenal since May 1993.

The results: Arsenal 2 (Nasri 9, Chamakh 27) lost to Tottenham 3 (Bale 50, van der Vaart 67-pen, Kaboul 85); Birmingham 1 (Bowyer 17) bt Chelsea 0; Blackpool 2 (Varney 3, Harewood 44) bt Wolves 1 (Doyle 86); Bolton 5 (Davies 18-pen, 90-pen, Lee 39, Elmander 50, 72) bt Newcastle 1 (Carroll 52); Manchester United 2 (Evra 45, Hernandez 77) bt Wigan 0; West Brom 0 lost to Stoke 3 (Etherington 55-pen, Walters 85-pen, 90) . — AFP