updated 8:38 p.m. ET Dec. 17, 2011
LONDON - Chelsea missed a chance to put pressure on the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League on Saturday, yielding a goal with two minutes left in a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Wigan.
Chelsea looked on course for a fourth straight Premier League victory when Daniel Sturridge scored his eighth goal of the season in the 59th minute. But Wigan dominated the second half and Jordi Gomez tapped in from close range after a mistake by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.
The result left Chelsea with 32 points from 16 matches, four behind second-place Manchester United and six behind longtime leader City.
Defending champion United could take first place for the first time since mid-October if it wins at Queens Park Rangers on Sunday and Manchester City loses to visiting Arsenal. Sunderland is at fourth-place Tottenham and Liverpool is at Aston Villa in Sunday's other matches.
The draw left Wigan in the relegation zone with Blackburn and Bolton, which remained anchored to the bottom of the league after a 2-0 loss at Fulham
Two weeks after becoming the most prolific American scorer in England's top division, Clint Dempsey scored his 38th Premier League goal to get Fulham rolling. He scored his fifth league goal this season and eighth overall with a 32nd-minute header from Bryan Ruiz's cross. Costa Rican forward Ruiz chipped over goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to make it 2-0 two minutes later.
Last-place Bolton has only nine points from 16 games. That's one fewer than Blackburn, which lost 2-1 to visiting West Bromwich Albion. Peter Odemwingie scored West Brom's winning goal with a minute left.
Wolverhampton is one place and one point above the relegation zone after giving up two second-half goals in a 2-1 loss against Stoke. Stoke is three points behind Newcastle, which spent three months in the top four but is now without a win in five matches after drawing 0-0 with visiting Swansea.
In the League Championship, American defender Daniel Potts made his debut for West Ham in a 1-0 home win against Barnsley. A member of the U.S. Under-20 team, Potts is captain of the Hammers' Under-18 team and signed a 2?-year professional contract on Friday. He overcame leukemia two years ago.
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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Cristiano Ronaldo scored his fifth hat trick of the season as Real Madrid won 6-2 at Sevilla to bounce back from last weekend's loss to Barcelona and regain first place in the Spanish league.
Ronaldo put Madrid ahead off a perfectly weighted pass from Angel Di Maria in the 10th minute, made it 3-0 with a 25-yard shot in the 41st and converted a penalty kick in the 85th minute after Federico Fazio fouled Karim Benzema in the area. Jose Callejon (37th minute), Di Maria (66th), Hamit Altintop (89th) also scored for Madrid, which allowed goals by Jesus Navas (69th) and Alvaro Negredo (90th).
Ronaldo, heavily criticized for failing to score on a pair of open shots against Barcelona, leads the league with 20 goals, three more than Barcelona's Lionel Messi. With his 13th hat trick since joining Madrid in the 2009-10 season, Ronaldo increased his season total to 25 goals in all competitions.
"This is to shut the mouths of my critics," Ronaldo said. "I am used to it, so it doesn't matter. I am focused on my team and I don't care what people say about me. ... Those who criticize me don't understand football."
Through 16 games, Madrid has a three-point lead over Barcelona, the three-time defending league champion.
In other games it was Mallorca 1, Getafe 2; Sporting Gijon 1, Espanyol 2; and Athletic Bilbao 2, Zaragoza 1. After Sunday, the league breaks until Jan. 7.
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MILAN (AP) ? Defending champion AC Milan moved into the Italian league lead, winning 2-0 at home over Siena.
Antonio Nocerino scored his sixth league goal of the season in the 54th and Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a penalty kick nine minutes later after goalkeeper Zeljko Brkic was called for a foul on Kevin-Prince Boateng. Ibrahimovic has 10 league goals this season.
Milan moved a point ahead of Udinese, which is at Lazio on Sunday, and Juventus, which hosts Novara. Siena remained two points above the relegation zone after five defeats in six games.
In a dramatic finish in Florence, goals by German Denis in the 81st and Andrea Masiello in the 86th appeared to have given Atalanta victory over Fiorentina, but Stevan Jovetic's goal in the 88th gave the host a 2-2 draw. Chievo won 2-0 at home over Cagliari on goals by Cyril Thereau and Gennaro Sardo.
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BERLIN (AP) ? Defending champion Borussia Dortmund will go into the Bundesliga's four-week winter break three points behind leader Bayern Munich after beating last-place Freiburg 4-1.
Robert Lewandowski scored the first of his two goals in the seventh minute. Jan Rosenthal tied it in the 34th but Ilkay Guendogan restored the visitors' lead in the 44th, before Kevin Grosskreutz added another goal in the 59th and then crossed for Lewandowski to complete the scoring in the 70th.
On Friday, Bayern clinched the unofficial title of "winter champion" with a 3-0 win over Cologne on Friday.
Raul Gonzalez scored a hat trick to help Schalke rout Werder Bremen 5-0, with Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Klaas Jan Huntelaar also scoring to complete a miserable evening for Werder goalkeeper Tim Wiese on his 30th birthday. Schalke and Dortmund have 34 points.
Relegation-threatened Nuremberg ended Bayer Leverkusen's six-game unbeaten run in the league with a 3-0 win, Wolfsburg beat Stuttgart 1-0, Hamburger SV drew 1-1 with Augsburg and Roman Hubnik scored in injury time to rescue a 1-1 draw for Hertha Berlin at Hoffenheim.
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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Carlos Bocanegra scored to help first-place Rangers defeat visiting Inverness 2-1 in the Scottish Premier League.
Bocanegra, one of three Americans starting for the defending champions, put Rangers ahead in the 55th minute with a close-range shot. Andrew Shinnie evened the scores 12 minutes later. Shinnie had a goal ruled out for offside before substitute Kyle Lafferty scored in the 87th minute.
Americans Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya also started for Rangers.
Rangers have 48 points to 41 for Celtic, which plays at St. Johnstone on Sunday.
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PARIS (AP) ? French league leader Montpellier wasted an early lead and was held to a 1-1 draw by Toulouse, allowing Lyon to narrow the gap and giving big-spending Paris Saint-Germain a chance to move into first place Sunday.
Geoffrey Dernis converted a rebound in the sixth minute to put the hosts ahead, but Toulouse defender Cheikh M'Bengue stole the ball from Dernis and tied it with a curling shot in the 40th.
PSG, which trails by one point, hosts Lille on Sunday. Lyon is two points off the lead after beating visiting Evian 2-1 on goals by Jimmy Briand in the 35th and Lisandro Lopez on a header off Briand's cross in the 70th. Yannick Sagbo had tied it in the 43rd.
Marseille rallied for a 2-1 win over Lorient, Saint-Etienne beat Dijon by the same score, and Nancy held on for a 2-1 victory over Caen. Brest edged Auxerre 1-0 and Nice defeated Valenciennes 2-0.
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Sebastian Leto scored once in each half and set up a goal by Jean-Alain Boumsong to lead Panathinaikos to a 3-1 victory over visiting Asteras in the Greek league.
Fernando Usero scored a late goal for Asteras.
Panathinaikos overtook AEK for second place and is a point behind defending champion Olympiakos, which has played one more game. Olympiakos hosts Giannena and AEK plays at Atromitos on Sunday.
Ergotelis won 1-0 at Levadiakos and Xanthi beat visiting Panionios by the same score.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Euro roundup: Chelsea missed a chance to put pressure on the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League on Saturday, yielding a goal with two minutes left in a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Wigan.
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