Champions beaten

Manchester United who took the lead but lost 3-1 at Everton, closed the gap on Chelsea who won 2-0 at Wolves, by winning their midweek match 3-0 at home to West Ham with 2 headers from Rooney and a late goal from Michael Owen. A last minute goal saw Portsmouth lose 2-1 to ten-man Stoke, while a screamer from Bobby Zamora gave Fulham a 2-1 victory at home to Birmingham. Liverpool and City drew blanks in Manchester, and Burnley scored twice at Aston Villa with the hosts scoring 5 times in between.
In the FA Cup replays Stoke deprived Manchester City of silverware with a 3-1 triumph in extra time, and Reading returned from West Brom with a 3-2 win also in extra time, while 2 late penalties from John Carew finally ended the hopes of Crystal Palace as Villa progressed with a 3-1 home win, and Roman Pavlyuchenko scored twice at Tottenham eased 4-0 past Bolton at white Hart Lane.
Chelsea lost their first leg of the Champions League 2-1 at Inter, while in the Europa League Fulham knocked holders Shakhtar Donetsk out of the competition with a 1-1 draw in Ukraine having won their home leg 2-1, and Liverpool won 3-1 at Unirea to go through, but Everton fell 3-0 at Sporting Lisbon. A last gasp goal gave Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win at Galatasaray to see the Spaniard through after they had only managed a home draw in their first leg.

Knockout time

The Premier League was given the weekend off to make room for the FA Cup while waiting for the European competitions to return in midweek. Troubled Portsmouth travelled to Southampton where they disposed of their bitter rivals 4-1 with all the goals coming in the last 24 minutes. Chelsea took a step closer to the final with a 4-1 win at home to Cardiff City while Manchester City will have to replay at Stoke after a 1-1 draw at home (a dress rehearsal in the Premier League at the Britannia on Tuesday also ended in a 1-1 draw) and Reading will travel to West Bromwich Albion after sharing 4 goals with the baggies. A last minute goal gave Birmingham a 2-1 win at Derby County. A late goal at Crystal Palace gave Aston Villa a 2-2 draw and a home replay, and Tottenham also gained a home replay with their 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderes while Fulham eased 4-0 past Notts County at the Cottage.
In the Spanish league Barcelona lead the way despite losing 2-1 at Atletico Madrid.
Wayne Rooney scored twice as Manchester Untied returned from Italy with a 3-2 win over AC Milan in the first leg of the Champions League, while Real Madrid lost 1-0 at Olympique Lyonnais. Goalkeeping errors by Fabianski handed Porto a 2-1 home win against Arsenal, while a last minute goal in Munich gave Bayern a 2-1 win over Fiorentina.
Among Europa League matches Juventus returned from Ajax with a 2-1 victory while a single goal late on in the match gave Liverpool a home win over Unirea Urziceni of Romania. There were also 1-0 home wins for Twente against Werder Bremen, Brugge against Valencia and Hamburg against PSV. Everton and Fulham won 2-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively.

Big two midweek slipup

Didier Drogba once again did the damage as he scored both the goals for Chelsea to send Arsenal home empty handed, where they enjoyed a 1-0 midweek win over Liverpool as Chelsea lost 2-1 at Everton, and Manchester United who had hammered Portsmouth 5-0 at Old Trafford with the help of 3 own-goals on Saturday, dropped points in their 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. At the weekend Dirk Kuyt scored the only goal of a tempestuous derby to give Liverpool victory over Everton, and Kevin Phillips came on at Birmingham to score 2 late goals and condemn Wolves to a 2-1 loss, while Manchester City lost by the same scoreline at Hull, and Tottenham who lost their midweek match 1-0 at Wolves, played a goalless match at home to Aston Villa.

Londoners drop points

A 3-1 Manchester United triumph over Arsenal at the Emirates kept the pressure on Chelsea who needed a John Terry goal to win 2-1 at Burnley and could only draw 1-1 in their midweek match at Hull. Tottenham were denied victory by a last minute goal at Birmingham and an Agbonlahor double gave Aston Villa a win at Fulham. Butterfield scored a hat-trick as Crystal Palace won their FA Cup replay 3-1 at home to Wolves, and Tottenham enjoyed the same result in their replay as Defoe netted a hat-trick at Leeds.