LONDON – Chelsea’s week went from bad to worse on Saturday as Newcastle’s French legion of new players inspired a second successive Premier League victory, and Manchester United established a provisional 10-point lead in the title race by beating Fulham.
Moussa Sissoko, one of four Newcastle signings from across the English Channel in the January transfer window, scored twice on his home debut to claim a 3-2 victory.
As Newcastle moved further clear of the relegation zone, Chelsea missed a chance to close the gap on second-placed Manchester City, which retained a six-point cushion going into Sunday’s match against Liverpool.
And the pressure is being cranked up on Rafa Benitez, whose Chelsea side also drew against relegation-threatened Reading on Wednesday after being held by third-tier club Brentford in the F.A. Cup on Sunday.
“What I know, what I can see is the team doing well, working hard and when we have this advantage, we have to manage in a better way,” Benitez said.
Floodlight failure halted United’s match at Fulham for 10 minutes before halftime, and after the break Wayne Rooney provided the spark with a crisp finish to clinch a 1-0 win.
Arsenal won by the same scoreline to go a point behind Tottenham and Everton, who are fourth and fifth respectively.
Everton’s pursuit of the fourth Champions League spot was held up by a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa, which missed a chance to climb out of the relegation zone.
Wigan also remains in the danger spots with Villa, although ahead on goal difference, after being held to a 2-2 draw by Southampton.
It was also a frustrating day for bottom-place Queens Park Rangers, which was held to a 0-0 draw by Norwich.
Reading, however, moved two points clear of the bottom three by beating Sunderland 2-1, while West Ham climbed to 10th with a 1-0 victory over Swansea.
Chelsea’s faint hopes of catching United are even slimmer now after collecting just eight points from a possible 18 since the start of 2012.
Chelsea fell behind just before halftime at St. James’ Park when Jonas Gutierrez buried a header past Petr Cech after connecting with a cross from Davide Santon.
There was a further blow before the break for Chelsea when striker Demba Ba, who left Newcastle last month, was forced off with blood pouring from his nose after being caught by Fabio Coloccini.
Chelsea, though, fought its way back into contention in the 55th minute when Frank Lampard scored his 10th goal of the season with a swerving long-range strike.
Chelsea went in front in the 61st when Ba’s replacement, Fernando Torres, set up fellow Spaniard Juan Mata to curl the ball past fellow Tim Krul.
But Sissoko made his mark just seven minutes later, with his first goal since joining from Toulouse coming after Cech parried an effort from former Bordeaux forward Yoan Gouffran.
And Sissoko was on target again in the 90th after exchanging passes with Santon.
Mali ousts Bafana Bafana
AP
Mali again showed incredible resilience to come from behind and knock the host team out of the African Cup of Nations in a penalty shootout for the second straight year, joining Ghana in the semifinals on Saturday.
The Malians came from 1-0 down to level and then oust South Africa in their quarterfinal after a shootout, repeating the come-from-behind victory from last year when they surged past co-host Gabon and another partisan home crowd to make the last four.
“This victory means a lot to everyone in Mali,” said Mali captain Seydou Keita, with his nation’s flag wrapped around him. “This is an emotional moment for me and this team. We did our job today . . . we fought hard.”
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