LONDON, (Reuters) – Chelsea and Arsenal eked out gritty victories and Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur as usual with the help of a controversial goal in the Premier League yesterday.
Leaders Chelsea snatched a 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers through a late Branislav Ivanovic strike and Alex Song’s 88th-minute header secured a 1-0 win for Arsenal over West Ham United. Manchester United, who have not lost at home to Tottenham for 21 years, sunk their London rivals again as a Nemanja Vidic header and a bizarre late goal by Nani secured a 2-0 victory but big-spending Manchester City suffered a second successive loss, going down 2-1 at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Chelsea lead the table with 25 points from 10 games, five ahead of Arsenal and United and eight clear of City.
Spurs finished fourth last season but their hopes of taking the next step have long faltered on their away record against the big teams as they have not won at United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool for 17 years.
As usual, they played their part in a lively, entertaining game that looked to be drifting towards a regulation 1-0 win for the hosts thanks to Vidic’s 31st-minute header.
However, in an incident that will be replayed and discussed relentlessly, Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes thought a free kick had been awarded against Nani after the winger handled the ball while appealing for a penalty six minutes from time.
Gomes placed the ball on the ground and retreated, only for Nani, aware that the referee had actually ruled “play on”, to nip in and tuck the ball into the unguarded net.
