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LONDON -- Late goals provided a fresh twist to the tussle for fourth place in the Premier League on Monday, as Chelsea surged to victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers and 10-man Arsenal slumped to defeat at Fulham. After the title itself, fourth place is the most hotly contested prize in English football -- bringing with it the prospect of qualifying for the lucrative television deals and kudos of the Champions League group stage. For Chelsea to be occupying that place at Arsenals expense as they prepare for the second half of the season, can only be good news for Blues coach Andre Villas-Boas. That said, his sights are set even higher. Chelsea appeared set to drop points when Stephen Ward cancelled out Ramires goal in the 84th minute, but Frank Lampard produced a late goal to secure a 2-1 win at Wolves and end a four-match run without a win. Arsenal showed no such powers of recovery, though, losing by the same scoreline at Fulham after Steve Sidwell cancelled out Laurent Koscielnys first-half header in the 85th minute. Already down to 10 men following Johan Djourous sending off in the 78th, Arsenals defence was breached again in stoppage time when Bobby Zamora produced the winner. Chelsea now has a one-point advantage over fifth-place Arsenal, but is eight points behind the pacesetters: Manchester rivals City and United. "If we go on a winning streak of five or six games, which we are capable of, we can be fighting for this league," Villas-Boas said. The focus turns back to the title race on Tuesday night, with City -- leaders on goal difference -- taking on Liverpool and third-place Tottenham hosting West Bromwich Albion. For Arsenal just capturing one of the four Champions League places is the priority for a club that used to be a regular Premier League title contender. Despite an injury crisis in defence, the Gunners had looked like building on its victory over Queens Park Rangers on Saturday when Koscielny headed in his first goal in almost a year at Craven Cottage. Fulham had squandered several chances to equalize when the game turned in the hosts favour with Djourous second yellow card. Having already been booked for catching Sidwell in the 63rd, he went for pulling back Zamora on the edge of the penalty area. "The first yellow (for Djourou), I felt the referee got all wrong," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. Compounding Wengers misery was two former Arsenal players combining to produce the equalizer. Wojciech Szczesny pushed a corner out to Philippe Senderos, who nodded the ball forward to Sidwell to head home. And in the second minute of stoppage time, Zamora buried the ball in the bottom corner of the net after Sebastien Squillaci failed to fully clear Stephen Kellys cross. On a frustrating day for Wenger, the pressure eased on his Chelsea counterpart Villas-Boas -- thanks to Lampards late winner. But the midfielder was fortunate not to have been sent off for a sliding challenge on Wolves winger Adam Hammill midway through the first half. "My heart was in my mouth over that challenge. I have to admit that," he said. "There was no malice, and I honestly mean that, but I was late and I might have been a bit lucky to stay on the pitch." Ramires put Chelsea in front in the 54th minute, holding off Stephen Wards challenge before firing the ball into the roof of the net. Chelseas players made a point of celebrating with Villas-Boas, who has endured a mixed first season in charge. "Its just part of them showing the unity of the team," said Villas-Boas, whose side lost to Aston Villa on Saturday. "This team is focused on getting the consistency in terms of getting the results. If we go on a winning streak of five or six games, which we are capable of, we can be fighting for this league." In beating Manchester United on Saturday, Blackburn emulated Villa for shock value, but they were brought down to earth by home defeats on Monday. Blackburns goal was breached twice in the first half by Peter Crouch as Stoke won 2-1 at Ewood Park. Substitute David Goodwillie pulled one back in the second half, but couldnt prevent Blackburns third successive home defeat. Villa was overtaken by Swansea in 11th place after the Welsh clubs 2-1 win in the Midlands ended its search for an away success this season. Nathan Dyer scored after just four minutes and Wayne Routledge added his first goal for Swansea within two minutes of the restart. Norwich won a battle of promoted sides, coming from behind to beat 10-man QPR 2-1 at Loftus Road. Captain Joey Barton put QPR in front but later in the first half lost his cool and his place on the pitch with an apparent headbutt on Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson. "Hopefully referee sees it retrospectively and sees hes been conned," Barton said on Twitter. Norwich made its numerical advantage count as Anthony Pilkington equalized with a long-range shot before half time and Steve Morison netted the winner after the break, leaving QPR without a win in eight league matches. cheap jerseys us . -- The Miami Heat got another glimpse at how difficult it is every night when youre the defending NBA champion. cheap jerseys . Cochrane, Canadas only swimming medallist four years ago in Beijing with a third-place finish in this event, posted a preliminary time of fourteen minutes, 49.31 seconds to advance as the third seed.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With 12:01 remaining in the first half, Western Michigan trailed third-ranked Michigan by only a point. The Broncos may have already wasted their best chance to make a game of it. Instead of racing out to a surprising lead, Western Michigan turned the ball over too much early on, allowing the Wolverines time to settle in. Michigans superior talent became obvious after that. Trey Burke finished with 20 points and seven assists, and the Wolverines eventually pulled away for a 73-41 victory Tuesday night. "When we did execute, I felt like we could stay right there with these guys," Western Michigan coach Steve Hawkins said. "But youre probably talking about doing that at a 30 per cent, 40 per cent rate against a team like this. Hopefully by the end of the year, were able to execute at an 80-to-90 per cent rate." The Wolverines (8-0) had actually lost their previous two games against the Broncos, but that was more than a decade ago. Western Michigan (6-2) had won six straight coming into this game, including a victory over South Florida, but the Broncos turned the ball over 13 times in the first half. Nik Stauskas scored 11 points for Michigan, and fellow freshman Mitch McGary added 10 on 5-of-5 shooting. "If you looked at our faces in the first 10 minutes, we did not predict that outcome," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "Our guys picked up the pressure a little bit, we did a few other things -- had to feed off our defence, because our offence, we missed some shots." Freshman Darius Paul had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Western Michigan. The Wolverines werent all that sharp offensively, especially early, but Western Michigan couldnt take advantage. The Broncos committed several fouls at the offensivve end in the first half, and Michigan led 25-15 after a layup by Glenn Robinson III.dddddddddddd. Jordan Morgan pushed the lead to a dozen with a layup of his own, and it was 35-21 at halftime. "I felt like if we really executed well, that we had a chance to take this thing into the last four or five minutes -- and then lets see what happens," Hawkins said. "You knew you were letting a little bit slip away." The Wolverines put the game away early in the second half. Stauskas made a 3-pointer to make it 45-28, and Robinson and Burke added old-fashioned three-point plays to make it a 23-point game. It was 51-34 before Michigan padded the margin with a 22-2 run. A 3-pointer by Tim Hardaway Jr. made it 66-36, and Burke connected moments later from beyond the arc. For much of the night, Michigan threatened its worst shooting percentage of the season, but the Wolverines actually ended up right at 50 per cent. It was the Broncos who really went through a nightmare at the offensive end, shooting 29 per cent from the field, going 2 of 17 from 3-point range and finishing with 18 turnovers. Michigan was coming off a bit of a test last weekend, when the Wolverines won 74-66 at Bradley. Theyll face another interesting nonconference matchup when Arkansas visits Ann Arbor on Saturday. Paul was the only Western Michigan player in double figures, and he shot 3 of 12. The Broncos winning streak might have been a bit deceptive, with the last three victories coming by a combined 10 points. "Some of our talent was able to take over a game when we didnt have anything," Hawkins said. "Tonight, when things broke down or when execution wasnt there, our talent was not going to take over the game. They just have better players." ' ' '
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