Chelsea move to top with win over Portsmouth

Chelsea moved three points clear at the top of The Premiership after they beat visiting Portsmouth on Saturday, while Aston Villa remained unbeaten with a 1-1 draw with Fulham.

Charlton Athletic still languished at the bottom after they were held to a frustrating draw by Watford in an early relegation six-pointer at The Valley.

Everton, meanwhile, ended Sheffield United's two-game unbeaten run with a comfortable 2-0 win against 10 men in the War of the Roses. Wigan humiliated Manchester City 4-0 at home.

Andrei Shevchenko ended his nine-game goalscoring drought with a slightly fortunate opening goal, as The Blues looked rampant at times against Pompey.

A string of outstanding saves from David James kept the visitors in the match in the first half, as they went in 0-0 at half time.

Ten minutes after the restart though Chelsea had the lead as Frank Lampard played the ball into the ever-dangerous Arjen Robben. The Dutchman then squared the ball back to Shevchenko and Sol Campbell's deflection took the ball past James.

No sooner had Chelsea taken the lead, it was 2-0. With Robben again looking threatening down the left, his deep cross looped up off Sol Campbell's head. Didier Drogba then nodded the ball back across to Michael Ballack for his first Premiership goal on 57 minutes.

Benjani Mwaruwari pulled one back for the visitors after a goalmouth scramble on 69 minutes, but it was too little too late for Redknapp's men who stay fourth.

The day's early kick-off saw Wigan take advantage of some calamitous defending from Stuart Pearce's team, to equal their biggest victory ever in The Premiership.

Emile Heskey gave The Latics a dream start as he connected beautifully with Emmerson Boyce's cross to make it 1-0 after just two minutes.

Captain Richard Dunne compounded City's problems on four minutes as he continued the trend set by Juan Pablo Angel last week, with an inexplicable headed own goal on four minutes.

Henri Camara capitalized on some lacklustre defending by the visitors to make it three on 65 minutes. The lackadaisical looking Stephen Jordan went to clear the ball as it drifted across Nicky Weaver's line, he showed no urgency and the ball rebounded off Camara and into the empty net.

Luis Antonio Valencia completed City's nightmare with a well struck fourth, and secured Wigan only their second win of the season.

The Premiership's bottom two sides shared a hard-fought point in a tense and scrappy battle at The Valley.

Both teams had chances to break the deadlock, but were let down by poor finishing in what has been the tale of their seasons so far.

Under pressure Iain Dowie was left the most aggrieved however, as The Addicks were wrongly awarded a free kick for handball in the first half. Referee Lee Mason adjudged that the ball struck Jordan Stewart outside the area, but replays showed the offence had taken place just inside the box.

Finally, David Moyes' Everton side moved onto 16 points with their 2-0 win at home to Sheffield United. Mikel Arteta opened the scoring for The Toffees after a smart one-two with Phil Neville. The former Manchester United man delivered a delightful ball into the middle and Arteta powered his header home with 13 minutes on the clock.

Twenty minutes later and The Blades' chances of a result were all but gone. Andrew Johnson broke free with the ball and powered into the box, covering defender Claude Davis could not resist tugging away at the striker's shirt and Dermot Gallagher awarded a penalty. To make matters worse, Davis was given his marching orders and James Beattie kept his cool to convert a strong penalty past the outstretched arms of Paddy Kenny.

United battled valiantly, and had some good chances to take a foothold in the game, but ultimately their numerical disadvantage cost them the game, as they slipped down to 17th.

In Saturday's late kick-off Aston Villa maintained their unbeaten start to the season following a 1-1 stalemate with Fulham.

Gareth Barry gave the home side the lead midway through the first half in dispatching a dubiously awarded penalty but Moritz Volz' strike earned Fulham a share of the spoils.

Source: Xinhua