Premier League round-up:Clint Dempsey delivered a hammer blow to Chelsea'shopes of a top four finish after they looked set to benefit from another refereeing controversy in tonight's 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Dempsey’s header glanced in off Gary Cahill eight minutes from time to deny the Cottagers’ arch-rivals a win that would have taken them level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham after the latter’s shock home defeat to Norwich.
Frank Lampard’s 150th Premier League goal, making him the first midfielder to reach the milestone, had given Chelsea the lead from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time.
Referee Mark Clattenburg initially looked to have penalised a two-footed tackle from Danny Murphy on Salomon Kalou but it was actually awarded for a much less clear challenge by Stephen Kelly.
It was the third match in six days Chelsea had been at the centre of controversial officiating but there was no victory this time as they failed to win a London derby for the fifth time this season and ended the day in sixth place.
Norwichearlier put a big dent in Tottenham'sChampions League ambitions with a hugely impressive 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane.The Canaries broke the deadlock through Republic of Ireland forward Anthony Pilkington and manager Paul Lambert was furious when his team were denied a blatant penalty when Ledley King clambered over Grant Holt in the Spurs box.
His anger intensified moments later when Jermain Defoe equalised, but the Canaries boss had the last laugh when Elliott Bennett hammered a powerful drive through a sea of defenders to inflict a massive defeat on the home side .
Evertonwarmed up for Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool with a thumping 4-0 win over Sunderlandat Goodison Park that lifted them four points clear of the Reds.
Toffees boss David Moyes chose to rest Leighton Baines, Nikica Jelavic and Tim Cahill, and the first half was a bore fest but the game burst into life in the 52nd minute when Magaye Gueye smashed in the opener.
And Everton made sure of the points with a flurry of goals, which began in the 75th minute with a curler from Steven Pienaar. Leon Osman followed suit a minute later and substitute Victor Anichebe completed the rout with a deflected shot.
Hatem Ben Arfa produced a finish of pure class to set Newcastleon their way to a fifth successive Premier League victory with a 2-0 success at home to Bolton.
On an afternoon when the Magpies turned in a faltering display in front of their expectant fans, the Frenchman capped a fleet-footed 73rd-minute run with a cool finish to fire his side back into fifth place, for a few hours at least.
Papiss Cisse made sure of the points with his 10th goal in nine games with seven minutes remaining as Bolton were left to rue second-half saves by Tim Krul from Chris Eagles and Mark Davies.
Stokedefender Robert Huth scored for the second time in 48 hours to earn his side a point in a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa.
Huth had netted his side’s first goal when they came from behind to defeat Wolves and made another telling contribution against Alex McLeish’s side.
The former Chelsea player’s 71st-minute header cancelled out a stunning strike from Villa striker Andreas Weimann which had broken the deadlock.
