LONDON-- Chelsea's lead at the top of the Premier League was cut to one point on Wednesday when they lost 2-1 at Everton with Louis Saha continuing his scoring jinx over them.
Second-placed Manchester United drew 1-1 at Aston Villa while Arsenal stayed in the hunt after beating Liverpool 1-0.
Saha, who scored against Chelsea in the FA Cup final last season and in the 3-3 draw against them in December, cancelled out Florent Malouda's 17th minute opener for Chelsea with a header in the 33rd.
He then had a penalty saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech on the stroke of halftime before scoring the winner after 75 minutes when he chested the ball down, turned and fired home.
That sent Chelsea to their first defeat in 11 matches and gave Everton manager David Moyes his first victory over the London side on the night he celebrated his 300th Premier League game.
Chelsea remain top with 58 points, but are just one point ahead of Manchester United, who drew at Villa despite playing for more than an hour with 10 men after Nani was sent off for a ragged two-footed challenge on Stilian Petrov.
Nani will now be suspended from the League Cup final against Villa at Wembley Stadium on Feb. 28.
Arsenal ended a run of four league and cup matches without a win beating Liverpool 1-0 at the Emirates where Abou Diaby headed the only goal 18 minutes from time.
They are third on 52 points and Liverpool are fourth on 44.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger refused to rule his team out of contention for the title when he told Sky Sports News: "It was a massive win for us after the last two disappointments against Manchester United and Chelsea.
"We showed great solidarity against a very well organised team. It was a very tight game but we scored a very good goal and are still in the title race -- why not ?" he said.
On balance it turned out to be a better night for Manchester United than they might have expected after going behind against Villa when Carlos Cuellar headed home after 19 minutes.
United equalised four minutes later when Nani's cross from the right was volleyed back across goal by Ryan Giggs. The ball hit the right knee of James Collins and flew past Brad Friedel to give United their 10th own goal of the season.
United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports: "We should have won the game, we were the better team -- and with 10 men for a very long time, we still tried to get a result. The players were brilliant."
Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. David Jones scored the only goal after 27 minutes as Wolves moved out of the relegation zone while Spurs stayed sixth on 43 points.
West Ham United also moved out of the bottom three following their 2-0 win over Birmingham City whose former owners David Sullivan and David Gold celebrated their first win since taking control at Upton Park.
Hull City lost 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers, slipping from 15th to 17th, just a point above the relegation zone.
ROTTERDAM-- Russian second seed Nikolay Davydenko easily overcame a potentially tough challenger in Spaniard Feliciano Lopez to reach the second round of the World Indoor Tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win on Wednesday.
Davydenko, the world number six, had beaten Lopez only once in five previous meetings and had to wait until the ninth game of the first set to break the Spaniard's service.
The Russian took the first set and settled the match with an early double break in the second to leave Lopez still without a win in Rotterdam in his fifth attempt.
"It is always very tough against him on every surface," Davydenko told reporters. "Today I had the feeling he automatically tried to play the tactical plan of our last three meetings.
"It gave me some problems in the beginning, but that also had to do with the extremely fast court."
Davydenko, who defeated Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal in London last year and again in Doha this year, will face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis who brushed aside James Blake 6-4 6-2 .
Swede Robin Soderling overcame Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 7-6 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
Soderling, eighth in the world rankings, trailed 4-0 then 6-4 in the first set tie-break before rallying to win the set.
"He didn't surprise me today but it is always tough to play a qualifier who already had some matches in this tournament" Soderling said.
"I feel mentally and physically okay after some tough weeks and now I only need to start to play some better tennis"
KOLKATA, India-- The Indian cricket board's appeal against the one-year ban on New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla stadium has been dismissed, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday.
The fifth and final match of the series between Sri Lanka and India in December was called off after 23.3 overs due to a dangerous pitch, upon which the tourists had struggled to 83 for five.
Following an investigation by chief referee Ranjan Madugalle and cricket operations manager Dave Richardson, the ICC ruled last month that no international cricket could be played at the stadium until the end of 2010.
Independent appeals commissioner Michael Beloff decided the imposed suspension was proportionate in this case, the ICC said in a statement.
"In his judgment Mr Beloff states that following due consideration of all the evidence and submissions from both the ICC and BCCI, the correct decision was taken by Mr Richardson and Mr Madugalle to declare the pitch to be dangerous and, therefore, unfit," the statement said.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the focus would now be on getting the stadium ready for the World Cup which India is jointly hosting with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from Feb. 19 to April 2, next year
The New Delhi stadium is scheduled to stage four matches.
"The ICC's pitch consultant will travel shortly to Feroz Shah Kotla, a ground with a long and proud history, to begin the process of remedial work that will ensure the pitch is restored to its former glory," Lorgat said in a statement.
PARIS-- Girondins Bordeaux's hopes of an unprecedented treble were dashed on Wednesday when they lost 2-0 at home to Monaco in the last 16 round of the French Cup. Champions Bordeaux, who top the Ligue 1 standings and travel to Lorient for a place in the League Cup final on Feb. 17, were hoping to become the first team to win the league and both domestic Cups in the same season.
They bowed out of the French Cup on a snow-covered pitch to goals scored from close range by Mali international and former Liverpool player Djimi Traore in the 27th minute and Nigerian Moussa Maouzou in the 53rd.
Olympique Marseille also crashed out of the competition in the snow through a 3-1 defeat at Racing Lens in a rescheduled last 32 match.
Tunisian striker Issam Djemaa scored twice in the first half and Toifilou Maoulida sealed Lens' victory in the 57th minute. Benoit Cheyrou saved some pride for Marseille four minutes later.
Saint-Etienne and AJ Auxerre dispatched second division Vannes 2-0 and third division Plabennec 4-0 respectively to reach the quarter-finals but another Ligue 1 team Toulouse failed to make the last 16, losing 2-0 to second division Brest.
BARCELONA-- Barcelona are unwilling to accept a system of sharing television revenue among La Liga clubs as it would weaken their ability to compete with European rivals, president Joan Laporta said on Wednesday.
Barca and Real Madrid dominate in Spain in part because they each have TV contracts worth around 120 million euros ($165 million) a year, around half the total pot for the 20 clubs in the top flight.
Spain's professional league (LFP) essentially backs the introduction of collective bargaining but recognises that persuading Barca and Real to accept it would be difficult.
"I don't want to damage the interests of Barcelona Football Club, because we have to compete with teams in other countries," Laporta said in an interview with Reuters Television at his office next to the Nou Camp stadium.
"In England, we are talking about 2 billion euros for Premier League rights so we have to compete against clubs that are making more money than us," he added.
"But if there is a change in the system we will face that. I'm open to look for other systems to balance what every club represents in this business. I'm open to discuss other possibilities to make money (for) all of us."
Laporta denied a Spanish radio report this week that said the European champions had an agreement with Cesc Fabregas for the Arsenal captain to move back to the club, where he played as a teenager, for next season.
"I respect Arsenal too much to talk about players that are playing for Arsenal now," Laporta told Reuters.
"In this case, we have no agreement with any player that is not playing for Barcelona right now," he added.
"In case we were interested in a player, we would talk directly with the club. There are FIFA rules that we have to respect and there is a question of the way we work."
Laporta is coming to the end of his second term as Barca president and an election will be held to find his replacement after the end of the season, probably in June.
He said he was throwing his weight behind the candidacy of Alfons Godall, one of the club's vice presidents, as he was the best person to take the club on to new heights.
"I defend this (Barca) model and support the candidate that will defend this model," Laporta said.
"His colleagues in the candidacy, in my opinion, are smart and capable of improving this model and this candidate is Alfons Godall, my vice president."
Laporta added he was proud to have persuaded coach Pep Guardiola, who led Barca to an unprecedented six trophies in 2009, to stay on for one more season to June 2011.
He said he understood the 39-year-old's decision not to sign a new contract until after the presidential elections and he has thrashed out the details with the new incumbent.
"This is logical because he would like to know who the new president is but at least he is committed for one more year," Laporta said.
"We shook hands and this is the best way and nicest way to reach an agreement."
