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Chelsea kept their Premier League title hopes alive with a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough on Sunday but their performance would have caused few alarms for leaders Manchester United.
Ricardo Carvalho’s well-placed header inside the opening six minutes at Stamford Bridge proved sufficient for Avram Grant’s side to cut the gap to five points but they rode their luck as Boro’s Brazilian striker Afonso Alves twice hit the woodwork.
Liverpool later completed a quartet of weekend wins for the top four with a 1-0 defeat of Everton at Anfield. The result tightened their grip on fourth place, which is worth a slot in the Champions League qualifiers.
Spaniard Fernando Torres scored his 21st league goal of the season to defeat a subdued Everton side, who now look destined for a UEFA Cup place.
Chelsea, unbeaten at home in the league for four years, survived a nervy second half to move back above Arsenal into second place with 71 points from 32 games while United, 4-0 winners against Aston Villa on saturday, have 76.
Arsenal, who beat Bolton Wanderers 3-2 on Saturday, have 70 points, with Liverpool back on 62 and Everton on 57.
Chelsea’s stuttering display did little to suggest they will be able to close the gap in the six games they have left, one of which is against United at home.
“It was important to win at this stage of the season but the quality was not there today,” manager Avram Grant told Setanta Sports.
“Maybe we scored too early. We didn’t play our game and sometimes there is no reason for it.”
Carvalho’s powerful header from Wayne Bridge’s free kick suggested an easy afternoon for Chelsea but Didier Drogba, Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips all wasted good chances to put the result beyond doubt.
Alves, still to find the net since signing for STG12 million ($A26.14 million) in January, was introduced after 64 minutes and he should have equalised almost immediately when he headed wide from virtually in front of Carlo Cudicini’s goal.
With 20 minutes to go a dreadful error of judgement by Cudicini gifted Alves the ball 25 metres out with an empty goal gaping, but this time his curled shot bounced back off the post.
Alves continued to worry Chelsea’s defence and sent a header against the bar. The ball came out to Wheater, who also sent his effort against the woodwork.
Middlesbrough dropped to 13th place, below Newcastle United who eased their relegation fears with a 4-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur after trailing 1-0. Nicky Butt, Geremi, Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins were all on target.
Everton arrived at Anfield with genuine hopes of overtaking their city rivals but produced a stale performance and barely had a worthwhile effort on goal.
The game was only seven minutes old when Everton striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni was caught in possession on the edge of the area and when the ball was poked through to the lurking Torres he fired a clinical shot across keeper Tim Howard into the net.
Liverpool, who face Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Wednesday, were dominant throughout and Steven Gerrard thumped a volley against the post and stung Howard’s hands with another late drive.
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