Chelsea cut United's lead with win over Man City

LONDON, Mar 15 (Reuters) Chelsea cut Manchester United's Premier League lead to six points after a Frank Lampard penalty gave the champions a 1-0 win at struggling Manchester City.

Making the most of their game in hand on the leaders, Lampard drove home a 28th minute spot-kick at Eastlands to move Chelsea on to 66 points from 29 games, with United on 72.

It was another blow for City manager Stuart Pearce, whose side have slipped to one place above the relegation zone and who dismissed reports on Tuesday that he faced the sack if City lost to Chelsea and at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Arsenal won 1-0 at Aston Villa in the night's other game to go third with 55 points from 28 games, two points ahead of Liverpool, who have also played a game more.

French midfielder Abou Diaby scored their winner after nine minutes.

There was little real sparkle from Chelsea, who welcomed back skipper John Terry after the central defender was knocked out in their League Cup triumph over Arsenal.

City overcame an early bout of the jitters, helped by a lack of any real drive or fluency from the champions and looked to be settling in before calamity struck.

Chelsea's Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou ran into the area from the left flank and was tripped by Micah Richards as he sped past the City right back.

Lampard sent keeper Andreas Isaksson the wrong way with his spot-kick to claim his 20th goal of the season.

Richards made some amends by denying Lampard a second with a goalline clearance in the second half, while Chelsea's former City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips came off the bench to crack a shot against the crossbar in the second half.

LOSING RUN City's fifth consecutive league defeat will keep the pressure on Pearce, whose side are six points above 18th-placed Charlton Athletic but have a game in hand -- against Arsenal.

City were also knocked out of the FA Cup quarter-finals by Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

Pearce, who made it clear he had no intention of quitting, told Sky Sports: ''If they play with that spirit and that endeavour we'll get the victories that we need to keep us in this league -- no problem.

''I'd feel the situation was very, very serious if I hadn't seen my team's performance tonight...it was a very close game against arguably one of the best teams in the world.'' Arsenal got a fortunate winner at Villa Park when Brazilian striker Julio Baptista tried a shot from outside the area that deflected off Diaby and past stranded keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side has been hit by injuries and suspensions, said: ''It was a very untypical goal.

''We could have scored two or three typical ones but we missed...I feel tonight was a great test, not many teams would have won here.'' REUTERS SAM BST1000