Brad Friedel stood on his head time and again to help Blackburn draw Manchester United, while Fulham and Reading suffered big survival blows.

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GUNNERS EASE PAST READING
Reading's once solid-looking survival prospects appear to be slipping away as the Royals suffered yet another defeat in a 2-0 away loss to Arsenal.

Marcus Hahnemann started and played the full 90 for Reading, as did Bobby Convey, who has only featured sporadically for his side this year.

It was a match where Arsenal really should have won by more, having peppered Hahnemann's goal with 12 shots through 90 minutes, compared with Reading's two.

After a glut of early chances, it was Gunners top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor that broke the deadlock in the 30th minute with a deft touch past the Reading defense, while Gilberto Silva double the Londoners' advantage just eight minutes later.

Reading seemed resigned to defeat from then on, while Arsenal seemed resigned to the 2-0 scoreline, missing a heap of scoring chances before the final whistle blew.

Scoring
ARS - Emmanuel Adebayor 20 30'
ARS - Gilberto Silva 1 38'

Line-ups
ARS - Jens Lehmann; William Gallas, Kolo Touré (Emmanuel Eboué 60'), Gaël Clichy, Gilberto Silva, Aliaksandr Hleb (Denilson 74'), Francesc Fabregas, Alexandre Song, Emmanuel Adebayor (Niklas Bendtner 73'), Robin Van Persie, Theo Walcott

REA - Marcus Hahnemann, Graeme Murty, Ivar Ingimarsson, Liam Rosenior, Ibrahima Sonko (Michael Duberry 73'), Andre Bikey, James Harper (Emerse Fae 73'), Bobby Convey, Kalifa Cissé, Jimmy Kebe (Marek Matejovsky 79'), Dave Kitson

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REDS PUT FULHAM ON LEDGE
The temporary hope that was provided from last week's surprise win over Reading was gone for Fulham on Saturday, as Liverpool all but resigned the Cottagers to the drop with a 2-0 win at Craven Cottage.

Kasey Keller, Clint Dempsey and Brian McBride all started for Fulham, with the latter being taken out in the 81st minute for Diomansy Kamara. Carlos Bocanegra was an unused substitute and Eddie Johnson did not make the match day squad.

Liverpool had the better of play on the whole, despite fielding what was essentially a reserve side, and they struck early on with a 17th minute goal from Jermaine Pennant.

Fulham tried as hard as they could to pull back an equalizer - a buzzing Dempsey went close to equalizing twice - but Liverpool did well to dominate possession of the ball, eventually doubling their advantage with 20 minutes to go via Peter Crouch.

The result leaves Fulham second from bottom, five points from safety with only three league games left to go.

Scoring
LIV - Jermaine Pennant 2 17'
LIV - Peter Crouch 3 70'

Line-ups
FUL - Kasey Keller; Paul Konchesky, Aaron Hughes, Paul Stalteri, Brede Hangeland, Jimmy Bullard, Danny Murphy (Leon Andreasen 78'), Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, David Healy (Erik Nevland 76'), Brian McBride (Diomansy Kamara 81')

LIV - Pepe Reina; Sami Hyypia (Jamie Carragher 46'), Steve Finnan, Martin Skrtel, John Arne Riise, Jermaine Pennant, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano (Xabi Alonso 72'), Lucas Leiva, Peter Crouch, Andriy Voronin (Fabio Aurelio 82')

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UNITED GRABS LATE EWOOD SHARE
Manchester United needed a last-gasp goal from Carlos Tevéz to keep their dreams of a Premier League title in hand in a 1-1 away draw with Blackburn Rovers.

Brad Friedel started and played the full 90 for Rovers, who began the match quickly and put United behind after only 21 minutes.

As has so often been the case this year, it was Roque Santa Cruz that scored the vital goal for Blackburn, poking an opportunistic finish past Tomasz Kuszczak to the home fans' delight.

United struggled to recover from the shocking goal in the first half, but the defending champions came together in the second, producing a slew of chances that Friedel repeatedly denied until they finally were rewarded with a close range Tevéz goal just two minutes from time.

Scoring
BLA - Roque Santa Cruz 16 21'
MU - Carlos Tevéz 12 (Paul Scholes) 88'

Line-ups
BLA - Brad Friedel; Stephen Warnock, Ryan Nelsen, Christopher Samba, Steven Reid, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Johann Vogel (Aaron Mokena 85'), Brett Emerton, David Bentley, Jason Roberts, Roque Santa Cruz

MU - Tomasz Kuszczak; Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown (John O'Shea 81'), Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs (Nani 46'), Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney (Park Ji-Sung 90'), Carlos Tevéz

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HAMMERS DOUBLE UP DERBY
West Ham United made a meal of perhaps the most useless fixture in the weekend's program of Premier League games, as the mid-table Hammers defeated already-relegated Derby County 2-1 at Upton Park.

Eddie Lewis started and played the full 90 for Derby, who were looking to recover from last Saturday's 6-0 demolishing at the hands of Aston Villa. Benny Feilhaber was an unused substitute for the Rams, while Jonathan Spector was absent from West Ham's match day squad.

Bobby Zamora made it seem like Derby was in for another rout with a goal after just 20 minutes, but the Rams' defense held surprisingly strong through the first half and into the second.

The hard work paid off, as Tyrone Mears gave Derby a glimmer of hope in an otherwise awful season with a 65th minute equalizer.

However, their excitement was short-lived as West Ham scored the final, winning goal 13 minutes from time thanks to Carlton Cole.

Scoring
WHU - Bobby Zamora 2 20'
DC - Tyrone Mears 1 65'
WHU - Carlton Cole 5 77'

Line-ups
WHU - Robert Green; Lucas Neill, George McCartney, John Pantsil, James Tomkins, Scott Parker, Fredrik Ljungberg (Luis Boa Morte 90'), Mark Noble, Julien Faubert (Nolberto Solano 78'), Bobby Zamora, Fred Sears (Carlton Cole 74')

DC - Roy Carroll; Tyrone Mears, Andy Todd (James McEveley 83'), Alan Stubbs, Dean Leacock, Robbie Savage, Mile Sterjovski, Eddie Lewis, Hossam Ghaly, David Jones (Emmanuel Villa 75'), Kenny Miller