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Crespo winner as Chelsea keep pace
MIDDLESBROUGH, England -- Chelsea underlined their title challenge in England as a dramatic late winner from Hernan Crespo gave them a 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough. Eidur Gudjohnsen had put Claudio Ranieri's expensively asssembled side ahead after 17 minutes from a Damien Duff pass before Szilard Nemeth levelled for Boro just 19 seconds into the second half from a Gaizka Mendieta through ball. Crespo struck with two minutes to go as he headed home Duff's cross. Ranieri made seven changes from the team that lost to Besiktas 2-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday. His decision paid off when Gudjohnsen -- left out against the Turkish club -- slid home a Duff pass after Frank Lampard stole the ball off George Boateng. Chelsea, which spent more than 100 million pounds ($US160 million) on a dozen players in the offseason, almost doubled the lead in the 32nd -- John Terry's header hit the crossbar. Middlesbrough, with Mendieta prominent, pepped up after his pass to Nemeth set up the the equaliser with a first-time shot to beat Carlo Cudicini. Gudjohnsen's header went wide in the 50th minute, and Middlesbrough 'keeper Mark Schwarzer made a reaction stop on Robert Huth's dipping, swerving effort in the 57th. Schwarzer saved Crespo's hard shot with his face on a breakaway before the Argentine -- one of the summer imports -- headed home the winner. "It's a cruel game," said disappointed Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren. Chelsea are still in third place, a point behind leaders Arsenal, but have a game in hand over both them and second placed Manchester United. Villa fightbackSunday's other Premier League game saw Aston Villa and Bolton draw 1-1 at Villa Park. Bolton took the lead 53 seconds into the second half when midfielder Kevin Nolan shot inside the far post from a headed pass by Kevin Davies, beating Dutch substitute keeper Stefan Postma who had yet to touch the ball after replacing injured Thomas Sorensen at the interval. Juan Pablo Angel equalised with his fourth league goal of the season when he shot from the edge of the box into the top right corner after the ball was laid off by midfielder Lee Hendrie. Bolton manager Sam Allardyce said he was especially pleased that his side had scored their first away goal of the season. "(Finishing) has been one of our problems all season that we have to try and rectify but I'm very pleased that we have broken that duck and Kevin, playing further up for us today, stuck it in the back of the net for us and gave us a lot of confidence. "Both teams, particularly in the second half, had a number of chances to actually win the game but we both failed to take them," he said. "That's probably the reason why we are where we are in the table at the moment." Villa defender JLloyd Samuel later hit the post with a volley from a corner before the penalty was awarded against Bolton's Spanish defender Ivan Campo for a foul on Angel. Jaaskelainen dived to his left to push away the Colombian's spot kick. "We had a chance to take the three points which we probably wouldn't have deserved," said Villa manager David O'Leary.
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