Weekend Football Roundup.
Monday, 8th March 2010 at 12:10pm
The FA Cup proved it still has some romance to it over the weekend as two goals from on-loan striker Frederic Piquionne put relegation threatened Portsmouth into the semi finals at Wembley next month for the second time in three seasons and put a smile back on the supporters' faces after their club was placed into administration last month.
Portsmouth will now face the winners of the quarter final tie between Fulham and Tottenham following the replay at White Hart Lane on March 24 after neither side could find the decisive goal at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
In the other semi final, Chelsea, winners in 2009, will face beaten Carling Cup finalists Aston Villa after overcoming Stoke City and Reading respectively.
Chelsea booked back-to-back semi final spots with goals from Frank Lampard and John Terry, while a John Carew hat trick helped Aston Villa fight back from a two-goal deficit at Reading's Madjeski Stadium, winning by four goals to two.
In the Premier League, Manchester United returned to the top of table courtesy of a one nil win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, where veteran Paul Scholes scored his 100th Premier League goal.
Weekend roundup
Arsenal continued their bid for domestic silverware thanks to goals from Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Andrei Arshavin as they beat Burnley at the Emirates 3-1 to leapfrog Chelsea into second place.
At the foot of the table, Bolton Wanderers moved five points clear of the relegation zone after beating Gianfranco Zola's West ham 2-1 at Upton Park.
Goals from Kevin Davies and on-loan midfielder Jack Wilshere gave Owen Coyle's men a two nil half time lead, which was cut in half by Alessandro Diamante's goal after the interval. Despite having 10 men for the last 20 minutes following Tamir Cohen's dismissal, Bolton held on for the win.
In Sunday's match, Everton thrashed Hull City by five goals to one, with Mikel Arteta scoring twice at Goodison Park to move Everton up to eighth and leave Phil Brown's Hull in the relegation zone.
In Spain, Real Madrid moved to the top of La Liga after a thrilling encounter with Sevilla saw them come back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2.
An own goal from Xabi Alonso and a freekick from Ivica Dragutinovic gave Sevilla an unlikely lead at the Bernabeu, before goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Rafael van der Vaart sealed the win for Pellgrino's men.
On the Saturday, defending champions Barcelona dropped points when they were held 2-2 by Almeria. World Player of the Year Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona twice came from behind. A disappointing evening was made complete for Pep Guardiola's men when he was sent to the stands and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was shown a red card in the second half.
In Italy, Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan remain four points clear at the top of Serie A thanks to securing a point at home to Genoa after city rivals AC Milan drew 0-0 with Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. Both sides face tricky trips to England in the Champions League in the coming days with Mourinho heading back to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea and Milan travelling to Old Trafford.
In Germany, Bayern Munich's lead at the top of the Bundesliga was cut to just two points after dropping points at Cologne. Former Munich striker Lucas Podolski put Cologne in front before half time before Bastien Schweinsteiger equalised just around the hour mark.
Shalke closed the gap on the Bavarian giants thanks to a 4-1 win away at Eintracht Frankfurt.


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