Soccer: Spurs hold Man United, Charlton and Wigan soar

LONDON - Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur missed the chance to slash Chelsea's lead in the English Premier League when they drew 1-1 at Old Trafford.

Jermaine Jenas' free kick for Spurs cancelled out Mikael Silvestre's first-half opener and the result left champions Chelsea eight points clear of three clubs on 19 points before they play bottom club Everton the following day.

Charlton Athletic moved up to second with a 2-1 comeback win at Portsmouth, Spurs are third and promoted Wigan Athletic jumped to fourth after a 2-0 win at Aston Villa.

Arsenal kept in touch with a 1-0 home win over Manchester City. Robert Pires scored Arsenal's winner with a penalty but wasted a second spotkick in bizarre circumstances.

European champions Liverpool lost more ground after a 2-0 defeat at Fulham and struggling Birmingham City were also beaten 2-0 at Blackburn Rovers.

At Old Trafford, French defender Silvestre put United in front following a fumble by Spurs' England goalkeeper Paul Robinson after only seven minutes but the much-improved London side did not capitulate.

Jenas curled in a fine free kick to equalise 18 minutes from time and fellow midfielder Michael Carrick hit the bar with another free kick late on.

"The result is disappointing," United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports TV. "Today we dropped two points and that's not going to help us at all." United, with 18 points, finished the day in fifth place.

Spurs manager Martin Jol said: "If you play like we did in the second half I think you deserve a point. We bounced back and it's not the first time this season we have done that." His satisfaction was soured by a late booking for Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids that rules him out of next Saturday's derby against Arsenal.

Charlton's Danish forward Dennis Rommedahl smashed their winner into the roof of the net in the 77th minute at Fratton Park, as the Londoners roared back from a disappointing first half.

Victory put them ahead of Spurs, who have played a game more, on goals scored.

Arsenal are seventh on 16 points from nine games but their win over sixth-placed City at Highbury will be remembered for the extraordinary incident involving Pires.

The French midfielder had already given Arsenal the lead with a 61st-minute penalty when they were awarded a second spotkick with quarter of an hour left.

In an apparent attempt to fool City goalkeeper David James, Pires tried to tap the spotkick to Thierry Henry but fluffed his touch and referee Mike Riley awarded City a free kick, apparently because the ball had not moved sufficiently off the spot.

"We got away with it because we won the game," said a bemused Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. "It was a wrong and a bad decision."

Wigan registered their fifth straight win in all competitions with an Aaron Hughes own goal and Alan Mahon's spectacular strike giving them victory at Villa Park.

"Obviously we're not going to win the league but we've made great strides," beamed Wigan manager Jewell.

At Craven Cottage, Liverpool's domestic fallibility was exposed once again with Fulham fully deserving their victory.

Striker Collins John fired them in front after half an hour and in the last minute Luis Boa Morte sealed victory.

Liverpool, who won 1-0 at Anderlecht on the Champions League on Wednesday, are 12th on 10 points from their eight games.

"Today is difficult to explain. Maybe it was bad luck, I don't know," said manager Rafael Benitez. "But I think we deserved some goals."

Second-half goals by strikers Paul Dickov, from a disputed penalty, and Craig Bellamy gave Blackburn a 2-0 win over Birmingham and increased the pressure on manager Steve Bruce.

Birmingham's sixth league defeat of the season left them adrift in the relegation zone, third from bottom on six points.

- REUTERS