Chelsea and NewcaStle lose ground

Jan 21, 2012, 17:08 GMT

London - Chelsea's grip on fourth place slackened when they were held to a goalless draw at Norwich City on Saturday, while Clint Dempsey scored a hat-trick in Fulham's 5-2 win over Newcastle United.

Norwich had not kept a clean sheet all season, but were threatened only fleetingly by a Chelsea side desperately short of fluidity, Fernando Torres missing two decent chances.

'He had a good couple of chances, and for you to have chances you have to position yourself to have those good chances and he was there present,' said Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas. 'With a little bit more luck he will find the back of the net.

'We created enough opportunities to win the game, not only for our striker but for our midfielders coming through. I think we are in the top three for teams creating goalscoring chances, it's just finding that efficiency. It's been happening all season.

'For a super-motivated Norwich (the result) is not bad, for us in the league it's not enough.'

Chelsea trail Tottenham Hotspur, who face leaders Manchester City on Sunday, by four points, and remain four clear of Newcastle.

Newcastle took the lead at Fulham with a Danny Guthrie screamer just before half-time, but were pegged back by a Danny Murphy penalty after Davide Santon was - perhaps harshly - deemed to have bundled over Damien Duff.

Fulham went ahead on the hour, Clint Dempsey bundling in after Bobby Zamora's shot had been saved by Tim Krul and the US international added his second five minutes later lashing in from a Zamora assist.

Two minutes later Fulham had a fourth, Zamora converting a penalty after Krul had felled Andy Johnson. Hatem Ben Arfa pulled one back late on, before Dempsey completed his hat-trick.

'The first half was sort of Brixton,' said Fulham boss Martin Jol, 'the second half was a holiday in Jamaica. It was an unbelievable difference.'

Bolton Wanderers moved out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 victory over Liverpool.

Mark Davies ran unchallenged into the Liverpool box to put Bolton ahead after three minutes, and the Reds were similarly lackadaisical as they allowed Niger Reo-Coker to meet a Chris Eagles cross 23 minutes later.

Craig Bellamy ran on to an Andy Carroll flick to pull one back before half-time, but five minutes after the restart Gretar Steinsson got on the end of a David Wheater header to make it 3-1.

Mark Hughes registered his first win as Queens Park Rangers manager in his second game as his side climbed out of the relegation zone with a 3-1 victory over Wigan Athletic, who remain bottom, five points from safety.

A 33rd-minute Heidur Helguson penalty gave QPR the lead after an inexplicable handball from James McCarthy, and Akos Buzsaky whipped in a brilliant free-kick to double that advantage before half-time.

Hugo Rodallega pulled one back with a superb free-kick and Helguson missed a second penalty, but Tommy Smith's 81st-minute piledriver made the game safe.

'The lads have been working exceptionally hard since I came here,' said Hughes. 'I have only been here two weeks but when you are down near the bottom of the league it's important to show commitment and the right attitude and the lads are doing that so a lot of credit has to go to them.'

Robbie Keane struck his first two goals for Aston Villa as they won 3-2 away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who had Karl Henry sent off after 72 minutes.

Darren Bent put Villa ahead with an 11th-minute penalty, but Wolves levelled 10 minutes later through Michael Kightly. Dave Edwards then nodded in Dan Johnson's header from close range to give Wolves a 31st-minute lead, only for Keane to level after Clark had headed down a poor Matt Jarvis clearance.

And with four minutes remaining, Keane lashed in the winner off the underside of the bar.

Blackburn Rovers slipped into the bottom three with a 1-1 draw at Everton, Sunerland's resurgence under Martin O'Neill continued with a 2-0 win over Swansea and Graham Dorrans curled in a last-minute free-kick as West Bromwich Albion won 2-1 at Stoke City.