London, April 1:

Manchester United beat Blackburn 4-1, and Chelsea scored an injury-time winner at Watford to keep the English Premier League a two-club race with seven rounds left on Saturday.

Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Park Ji-sung and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer scored for United after Matt Derbyshire had put Blackburn ahead in the 29th. The Red Devils lead with 78 points and are on course for their first league title since 2003. Chelsea have 72 points after Salomon Kalou’s header gave the defending champion a 1-0 win at Watford.

Also, Peter Crouch scored a hat-trick for Liverpool in a 4-1 win over Arsenal that lifted the club into third place. Liverpool have 57 points while Arsenal dropped to fourth with 55. In other games, it was: Bolton 1, Sheffield United 0; Charlton 1, Wigan 0; Fulham 1, Portsmouth 1; Newcastle 0, Man City 1; and West Ham 2, Middlesbrough 0.

Spanish La Liga

MADRID: Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o scored to help defending champion FC Barcelona beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 and take a three-point lead in the Spanish league. Barcelona’s victory was their 11th of 14 league games at Camp Nou.

Earlier, Valencia climbed into third place by beating Espanyol 3-2 with goals by David Villa, Vicente Rodriguez and Miguel Angel Angulo. Villa struck in the 12th minute, Vicente in the 26th and Angulo in the 59th.

Also, Robert Pires’ first Spanish league goal helped Villarreal draw 3-3 with Real Betis, while Real Sociedad beat Levante 1-0. Barcelona have 56 points, Sevilla 53, and Valencia 50, two more than Real Madrid.