Tottenham had one foot in fourth place until Thierry Henry equalised in the North London derby. Robbie Keane gave Spurs the lead after 66 minutes which left Arsenal outraged as their opponents did not play for an injury. However, substitute Henry secured a share of the spoils at odds of 5/2 six minutes before the end.
Newcastle remain on course for an UEFA Cup berth after a convincing 3-0 win against West Brom. Nolberto Solano gave the 4/5 Magpies the lead after half an hour and Shola Ameobi showed there was life after Alan Shearer with a penalty five minutes before the break and a second goal just before the final whistle.
Bolton remain hot on Newcastle’s tail after a 4-1 demolition of Charlton. Vaz Te scored for the 5/6 Trotters after 14 minutes, Kevin Davies on 21 and Jared Borgetti 10 minutes later gave Sam Allardyce’s team a commanding lead. Darren Bent struck a penalty for the Addicks on 76 but Davies netted his second a minute from time to ensure Bolton won by three goals.
Portsmouth left it late to beat relegated Sunderland to edge out of the bottom three. Sunderland, a speculative punt at 8/1 took the lead through Tommy Miller after 70 minutes but Svetoslav Todorov equalised three minutes later. With two minutes remaining, Kevin Kyle gave away a ridiculous hand-ball and Matthew Taylor converted the resultant penalty to ensure a 2/5 home win.
Birmingham gave their survival hopes a boost with a goalless draw at Everton. A dour match with few chances for either side was played out to a 9/4 stalemate.
Being six points away from Portsmouth, West Brom are now 1/100 for relegation while Birmingham City, two points behind Portsmouth, are 3/10. Harry Redknapp’s side are 5/2 outsiders to face the drop, although they have two tough matches remaining in Wigan Athletic and Liverpool.
The FA Cup semi finals were both all-Premiership affairs with Liverpool meeting West Ham in the final on Saturday 13 May.
Liverpool were 16/5 outsiders in their match at Old Trafford but stunned Chelsea by racing into a 2-0 lead. John Arne Riise stuck a free kick after 20 minutes and Luis Garcia fired in a second seven minutes after the break. Didier Drogba took full advantage of a defensive mix-up on 69 but the Reds held firm..
West Ham left it late to dump Middlesbrough out of the cup at Villa Park. Marlon Harewood struck the decisive goal with 12 minutes left for Alan Pardew’s 9/5 outsiders and secured a place in next season’s UEFA Cup as a result.
