Football: Cole comes good, again

LONDON: Joe Cole helped Chelsea extend their lead at the top of the Premiership to 11 points by scoring the winner in a hard-fought 1-0 win away to Manchester City on Wednesday.
Chelsea were kept scoreless until the 79th minute when Cole pounced on a rebound from an Eidur Gudjohnsen shot. The reigning champions' position was strengthened as second-placed Manchester United lost ground with a 2-2 draw away to Birmingham City while Liverpool remained third, despite conceding a first league goal in 762 minutes, with a 3-1 win against nine-man Everton in the 202nd Merseyside derby.
Arsenal thrashed relegation-threatened Portsmouth 4-0 and Wigan beat fellow promoted side West Ham 2-0.Meanwhile Fulham and Aston Villa shared six goals in a 3-3 draw at Craven Cottage and West Brom ended Tottenham's six-match unbeaten run with a 2-0 win.
Cold weather saw the scheduled matches between Blackburn and bottom-of-the-table Sunderland, Bolton and Middlesbrough and Newcastle and Charlton all postponed.
Ruud van Nistelrooy gave United a fifth minute lead and Wayne Rooney restored their advantage early in the second-half after Jamie Clapham's 18th minute equaliser. But Uruguay forward Walter Pandiani equalised 12 minutes from time.
Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead before James Beattie pulled a goal back just before half time. Cisse's goal two minutes into the second period secured the Reds' ninth league win in a row and killed the game before Everton had Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta dismissed.
Arsenal were 4-0 up two minutes before half-time with goals from Dennis Bergkamp, Jose Antonio Reyes and a Thierry Henry double, the second from the penalty spot.
Illness ends Lampard's record run: England midfielder Frank Lampard's record run of 164 consecutive Premiership appearances came to an end on Wednesday when he was left out of champions Chelsea's side to play Manchester City because of a virus.
Ferguson attacks referee over Ronaldo: Sir Alex Ferguson demanded referees give Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo greater protection.
He said there was a rising tide of hatred against Ronaldo being generated by supporters in England and claimed his side were the victims of the latest bout of crowd reaction as they dropped 11 points behind Chelsea.