man Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday to cut Manchester United's Premier League lead to two points and Newcastle hit back to draw 1-1 with Sunderland. Fernando Torres scored with an 89th minute glancing header and tapped in the second after a blunder by Ashley Cole after Chelsea had Frank Lampard sent off in the 60th minute at Anfield. The victory enabled Liverpool to leapfrog Chelsea into second place behind Manchester United, which beat Everton 1-0 on Saturday and has a game in hand on both its rivals. United now has 53 points from 23 games, Liverpool has 51 from 24 and Chelsea 48 from 24. Lampard was sent off for a sliding, feet-first challenge on Xabi Alonso in a game littered with fouls. Referee Mike Riley also showed seven yellow cards, four to Liverpool, including captain Steven Gerrard for diving to try and get a free kick on the edge of the Chelsea area. Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari said referee Riley was wrong to send Lampard off and hoped that the decision would be overturned. “I want the referee to look at this on television and maybe change this card for Lampard,” Scolari said. The game appeared to be headed for a draw when Torres guided home a leftwing cross from Fabio Aurelio with a top-quality glancing header. Two minutes later, Cole lost the ball to Yossi Benayoun inside the Chelsea area and the ball broke to the unmarked Torres who tapped it home. Shola Ameobi scored an equalizing penalty to earn Newcastle a 1-1 draw with neighbor Sunderland and edge a point further away from relegation trouble. Djibril Cisse gave Sunderland a 32nd-minute lead at St. James' Park and Newcastle appeared headed for another defeat until it was fortunate to get a penalty in the 69th minute. Steed Malbranque was harshly judged to have brought down Steven Taylor as the Newcastle midfielder dribbled into the area but referee Howard Webb blew for a foul. Ameobi drove the spot kick into the roof of the net for his 50th goal in a Magpies shirt.
