London, Sept 28: Chelsea climb to second with unconvincing 1-0 win over Aston Villa. Star-studded Chelsea moved to within one point of Arsenal at the top of the English Premiership with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's fifth league goal in the 43rd minute was enough to give Chelsea the points, although Aston Villa twice came close to equalising in the second half through Juan Pablo Angel. Chelsea's expensively assembled team - with the likes of Hernan Crespo, Claude Makelele and Jesper Gronkjaer on the bench - never really got into their stride, with Adrian Mutu missing twice early on and Damien Duff shooting past the post. Three minutes before the break Chelsea finally found their fluency with a fine move started with Mutu, whose pass found Frank Lampard. Lampard's shot was parried by Thomas Sorensen, but Hasselbaink was on hand to score from close range. Despite their lead, Chelsea looked far from certain keeping in front after the break. A careless back-pass from Lampard on 49 minutes should have been tucked away from Colombia's Angel. but he shot past Carlo Cudicini's post. Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri brought on Makelele, Gronkjaer and Joe Cole in an attempt to ease the pressure, but Villa again looked more likely to score. In the dying minutes Ulises De La Cruz whipped over a cross and Angel again shot wide with the goal at his mercy.


Premier league P W D L F A Pts 1. Arsenal 7 5 2 0 14 5 17 2. Chelsea 6 5 1 0 16 6 16 3. Manchester United 7 5 1 1 13 3 16 4. Birmingham City 6 4 2 0 8 2 14 5. Southampton 7 3 3 1 8 4 12 6. Manchester City 6 3 2 1 14 8 11 7. Liverpool 6 3 2 1 9 4 11 8. Portsmouth 7 2 3 2 9 7 9 9. Blackburn Rovers 6 2 2 2 14 12 8 10. Fulham 5 2 2 1 11 9 8 11. Aston Villa 7 2 1 4 7 11 7 12. Middlesbrough 7 2 1 4 6 12 7 13. Bolton Wanderers 7 1 4 2 5 11 7 14. Charlton Athletic 6 1 2 3 7 9 5 15. Leicester City 7 1 2 4 10 13 5 16. Everton 6 1 2 3 8 11 5 17. Leeds United 6 1 2 3 6 12 5 18. Tottenham Hotspur 6 1 1 4 5 12 4 19. Newcastle United 6 0 3 3 7 10 3 20. Wolverhampton Wanderers 7 0 2 5 2 18 2


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