Missed opportunity: Arsenal squander chance to pressure United

LONDON (AP):

Arsenal were held to 0-0 by Sunderland to halt their charge for the English Premier League title, while West Bromwich Albion and West Ham picked up crucial victories at the other end of the table yesterday.

Sunderland were thankful to Simon Mignolet at the Emirates Stadium, with the goalkeeper producing an inspired display to keep second-place Arsenal at bay in a one-sided match.

League leaders Manchester United, who have played the same number of games as the Gunners, can move six points clear at the top if they beat Liverpool away today.

Third-place Manchester City moved four points behind Arsenal by beating bottom-side Wigan 1-0. Midfielder David Silva grabbed the winner when his low shot in the 38th was bundled into his own net by Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

In-form West Ham eased past Stoke 3-0 to climb out of the bottom three, replaced by Birmingham, who lost 3-1 at home to relegation rival West Brom.

In the other games, Bolton and Fulham both scored late goals to clinch 3-2 wins over Aston Villa and Blackburn, respectively, and Everton rallied to defeat Newcastle 2-1 away.

Substitute Marouane Chamakh's close-range header against the crossbar was the closest Arsenal came to breaking the deadlock on a day of frustration for the London team, which will now travel to Spain ahead of the second leg of their Champions League last-16 match with Barcelona.

With Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie among the players already out for Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger will be unhappy to see midfielder Jack Wilshere come away nursing a minor ankle injury. The England international should be fit for the Barcelona game, though.

Wenger was more concerned his side wasted the chance to apply heavy pressure on United and was unhappy at what he believed was a wrong decision to disallow Andrey Arshavin's second-half goal for offside.

"I am too disgusted to speak about these things," Wenger said. "These kind of things have too big an impact on the Premier League and we are really disappointed, but we have to take it on the chin for the next game."

Mignolet defied Nicklas Bendtner with a superb tip over the bar at the end of the first half, while Samir Nasri saw the Belgian deny him three times to somehow keep the score level.

Lucky

City were lucky to come away from Eastlands with three points, given the circumstances surrounding Silva's goal and with Wigan wasting a host of clear-cut chances in the second half.

City, in the middle of a busy run of fixtures and playing three days after an FA Cup win over Aston Villa, were lethargic all match.

"In the first half, we played well, but in the second half we were so tired and Wigan played well," City manager Roberto Mancini said.

There was more movement at the foot of the standings as West Ham continued their upward progress with a comfortable victory over Stoke.

Demba Ba, with his fourth goal in three games, Manuel da Costa and Thomas Hitzlsperger were the scorers for the Hammers as they moved a point above Birmingham, who came back down to earth after their 2-1 win over Arsenal in the League Cup final last weekend.

Deservedly beaten

Alex McLeish's side were deservedly beaten by West Brom, which produced an inspired second-half performance to claim a first win since mid-January.

Youssouf Mulumbu, James Morrison and Paul Scharner found the net for the visitors after the break, with Chile midfielder Jean Beausejour scoring Birmingham's consolation.

Those two victories brought Blackburn back into the relegation picture after their defeat at Fulham.

Bobby Zamora scored the winner from the penalty spot, his first goal in more than a year, to see Fulham home and leave Blackburn just two points off the bottom three.

Blackburn twice came from behind to equalise, through goals by Grant Hanley and David Hoilett, after strikes from Fulham winger Damien Duff at Craven Cottage.

Bolton provisionally moved above Liverpool into sixth place, thanks to the victory over Villa, whose winger Ashley Young will rue missing a penalty when his team were 2-1 up.

Darren Bent and Marc Albrighton twice put Villa ahead, only to be hauled back by a brace from Gary Cahill, before substitute Ivan Klasnic scored the winning goal for Bolton.

Leon Best opened the scoring for Newcastle at St James' Park, but goals by Leon Osman and Phil Jagielka earned Everton the win.