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March 8, 2010

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Scholes powers United to summit

MANCHESTER United went top of the English Premier League by winning 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers and cash-strapped Portsmouth beat Birmingham City 2-0 to reach the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.

Paul Scholes scored the only goal after 73 minutes at Molineux as United overcame the loss of 28-goal Wayne Rooney, who was sidelined with a knee injury, and moved two points ahead of Chelsea, which was playing at Stoke City in the FA Cup yesterday, and Arsenal, which beat next-to-last Burnley 3-1. Chelsea has a game in hand on both.

The Wolves defense failed to clear a cross from Nani and Scholes moved the ball into space inside a crowded area and beat goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann with an angled shot for his 100th Premier League goal.

Wolves striker Sam Vokes squandered a golden chance to equalize in stoppage time when he was found unmarked in front of goal but lifted the ball over the bar from six meters.

At the Emirates in London, Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas fired home Samir Nasri's cross in the 34th for his 17th league and cup goal of the season but he went off with what appeared to be a right hamstring injury before halftime.

"How big the damage is we don't know yet because it's too early," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose team faces FC Porto in the Champions League tomorrow and has to overturn a 1-2 deficit. "We'll see tomorrow and Monday. We will have to make a late decision if he plays against Porto certainly."

David Nugent equalized from Leon Cort's pass but Theo Walcott regained Arsenal's lead in the 60th for his first goal in 18 appearances, and Andrei Arshavin added the third in injury time.

United has 63 points from 29 games, Chelsea has 61 from 28 and Arsenal 61 from 29.

In Saturday's other Premier League game, Bolton Wanderers won 2-1 at West Ham United to improve its chances of avoiding relegation and push the home side deeper into trouble.

Relegation zone

The win moved Bolton up to 13th and five points above the relegation zone while West Ham is only three points from danger.

In FA Cup action, Frederic Piquionne scored twice in four minutes to give Portsmouth victory over Birmingham as the club reached the last four two years after winning football's oldest domestic cup competition.

But the visitors were unhappy that referee Steve Bennett ruled out a goal which TV replays showed crossed the line. By coincidence, it happened on the day that the International Football Association Board ruled out any more experiments with goal-line technology to decide such incidents.

Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur fought out a 0-0 draw at Craven Cottage in a quarterfinal of few clear-cut chances. Tottenham defender Vedran Corluka almost turned a cross into his own net with a minute to go.



 

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