Liverpool missed the chance to cut Manchester United's lead at the top of the Premier League when it lost at Middlesbrough 2-0 Saturday. Boro had not won a league match since November and had not even scored in five games, but Tuncay Sanli added to Xabi Alonso's first-half own-goal to push Liverpool down to third place and seriously dent its chances of a first league title since 1990. The result left Liverpool with 55 points, still seven points behind the defending champion, who is not in Premier League action this weekend because it faces Tottenham in Sunday's League Cup final. Chelsea overtook Liverpool on goal difference after a 2-1 win over Wigan, while Arsenal drew 0-0 with visiting Fulham for a fourth straight scoreless draw. Everton scored a goal in each half to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 and keep up its efforts to qualify for European competition. With Fernando Torres injured after limping out of Wednesday's 1-0 Champions League win at Real Madrid, Liverpool rarely threatened Middlesbrough's defense and was disjointed throughout. Middlesbrough had not scored in 527 minutes of Premier League football until Alonso put the home side ahead with a 32nd-minute own-goal. Stewart Downing hit a corner from the right that eluded a bunch of players before hitting the Spain midfielder and bouncing past goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Tuncay made it 2-0 in the 63rd with a shot into the bottom corner from Jeremie Aliadiere's cross and it could have been 3-0 but Reina got down low to save Gary O'Neil's volley. Chelsea had looked set to stay in third place after Wigan's Olivier Kapo headed in Maynor Figueroa's cross to equalize with eight minutes left. But Frank Lampard headed in Michael Ballack's last-minute cross to add to John Terry's 25th-minute volley. The Blues have four points more than fourth-place Aston Villa and 10 more than Arsenal. Australia midfielder Tim Cahill put Everton ahead in the 36th minute and substitute Louis Saha rounded off the scoring 20 minutes from the end with his first goal since Nov. 8. The win moved sixth-place Everton to 44 points from 27 matches and kept West Brom at the bottom of the standings with 22. Middlesbrough climbed out of the relegation zone, which now includes Blackburn and Stoke with the Baggies. Juventus beats Napoli Claudio Marchisio scored with a deflected shot Saturday to give Juventus a 1-0 win over Napoli in Serie A. Christian Poulsen squared the ball across the edge of the area and Marchisio hit a weak shot that deflected off Manuele Blasi and left Napoli goalkeeper Nicolas Navarro wrong-footed. Inter Milan leads the league with 59 points, followed by Juventus with 53 and AC Milan with 48. In another matcho, Mauro Zarate scored two goals in Lazio's 2-0 win over Bologna. The result moves Lazio into seventh place. Real keeps winning Substitute Jose Maria “Guti” Gutierrez and Raul Gonzalez notched second-half goals to lead Real Madrid over Espanyol 2-0 for the Spanish champion's 10th straight league victory on Saturday. The win moved Madrid to within four points of leader Barcelona, which looks to snap a three-game winless streak at Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Guti, who replaced Wesley Sneijder in the 59th minute, curled a left-footed shot over the defensive wall in the 67th, the ball bouncing off the left post and back off goalkeeper Carlos Kameni before landing in goal. Raul's 14th goal of the season came from nearly the identical spot at the edge of the area in the 72nd after turning in Marcelo's pass after the Brazil player's smart run. Barcelona leads the league with 60 points, followed by Madrid with 56, Sevilla 47 and Villarreal 41. Earlier, Frederic Kanoute scored twice as Sevilla beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1 in a preview of an upcoming Copa del Rey semifinal. An Athletic mistake in the 39th minute allowed Aquivaldo Mosquera to cross to Kanoute, who controlled the high pass, held off his marker and volleyed the bouncing ball in with his right foot. The Mali striker, who threatened twice early in the second half, then controlled Ndri Romaric's cross in the 58th and after creating space sent a low shot inside the left post for his 10th goal of the season. Igor Gabilonda had given Athletic the lead in the 26th. The two clubs play the return leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal at San Mames on Wednesday, with Sevilla holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg.
