Carlos Tevez curled in a free kick to give Manchester City a 2-1 victory over leader Chelsea Saturday and halt its run of seven Premier League draws. City's first victory since September did a huge favor for neighbor Manchester United, with the defending champion thrashing West Ham 4-0 to close the gap on Chelsea to two-points. Arsenal climbed to third by beating Stoke 2-0, Aston Villa moved up to fifth with a 3-0 victory over Hull, but Liverpool squandered another chance to keep up with the top four by drawing 0-0 at Blackburn. In the battle against relegation, Portsmouth stayed bottom despite beating Burnley 2-0 and Wolverhampton moved above Bolton in the drop zone by beating Gary Megson's side 2-1. Birmingham continued its surge up the standings by winning 3-2 at Wigan to claim a third straight victory. Manchester City got off to the worst possible start with Emmanuel Adebayor accidentally turning the ball into his own net after goalkeeper Shay Given had parried Nicolas Anelka's eighth-minute shot. But the Togo striker made amends in the 37th when he tapped home the rebound from close range after his initial effort had bounced back off Chelsea captain John Terry. As City pushed for a winner, Shaun Wright-Phillips won a free kick when he was fouled by Ricardo Carvalho. Tevez strode up and curled the ball around the defensive wall and beyond goalkeeper Petr Cech in the 56th. Chelsea was handed lifeline when Nedum Onuoha fouled striker Didier Drogba late in the match, but Lampard's resulting penalty kick was saved by Shay Given. At Upton Park, veteran United veteran Paul Scholes scored his 99th Premier League goal Saturday in the rout of West Ham with a trademark volley from 20 yards. Darron Gibson, Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney each scored in an 11-minute burst of goals in the second half. United manager Alex Ferguson had been forced to field a makeshift defense due to injuries, with midfielder Darren Fletcher at right back. And when captain Gary Neville, playing at center back, limped off after 34 minutes with a groin injury, Michael Carrick was shifted into the back four. United finished the match with 10 men after Wes Brown limped off and, with all three substitutes used, Giggs was deployed at left back. Juventus beats Inter New Italy international Claudio Marchisio scored a spectacular winner Saturday to give Juventus a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan and slice a few points off the four-time defending champion's lead. Inter coach Jose Mourinho was sent off for protests after Juventus went ahead 1-0 in the 21st minute following a deflection in the aftermath of a free kick from Diego. Earlier, AC Milan won its fifth consecutive Serie A match, beating Sampdoria 3-0 after first-half goals from Marco Borriello, Clarence Seedorf and Alexandre Pato. Inter leads with 35 points, Milan is next with 31 and Juventus has 30. Sampdoria remained in a tie for fourth place with Parma on 24 points. Leverkusen held Bayer Leverkusen retained the Bundesliga lead and broke the club record for the best start to a season despite being held to a 0-0 draw Saturday at Hannover. By remaining undefeated in 15 games, Leverkusen improved on its 14-game undefeated start from the 2001-02 season. Defending champion Wolfsburg rallied to salvage a 2-2 draw at home against promoted Freiburg, which profited from an unjustified penalty. Hamburger SV drew 0-0 at home with Hoffenheim, Bochum battled back with 10 men to earn a 1-1 draw in Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund routed Nuremberg 4
