London, April 2:

Manchester United won 2-1 at Bolton on Saturday to cut Chelsea’s Premier League lead to seven points after the champions were held 0-0 by relegation-threatened Birmingham.

Substitute Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the winner after United had trailed to Kevin Davies’ 25th-minute goal and Louis Saha equalised.

Van Nistelrooy, on the bench for five of the past six games, went on in the second half and took a pass from Saha to score with 11 minutes to go. It was his 150th goal for the club. Birmingham conceded 12 goals and scored none in their previous three games, but gave Chelsea few chances at St Andrews until the closing stages.

Chelsea lead with 79 points, and Manchester United have 72. Third-place Liverpool won 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion on goals from Robbie Fowler and Djibril Cisse but are still 12 points behind Chelsea.

Thierry Henry scored twice as Arsenal outplayed Aston Villa 5-0. Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Vassiriki Diaby also scored to help the Gunners move to within two points of fourth-place Tottenham. In other matches, Spurs slipped 3-1 at Newcastle, Sunderland gained a 2-2 draw at Everton and Portsmouth won 3-1 at Fulham.

Spanish La Liga

MADRID: Ronaldinho converted a penalty but Ronaldo equalised in a 1-1 draw between leaders FC Barcelona and a 10-man Real Madrid. The result left Barca 11 points atop the standings and requiring 10 points from their last seven games to retain their title. Second-place Madrid played the last 65 minutes with 10 men following the ejection of Roberto Carlos for two yellow cards.

In other 31st-round games, Villarreal edged Zaragoza 1-0, while Real Sociedad beat Malaga 3-0. Barcelona have 69 points, followed by Madrid with 58 and Osasuna with 55. Valencia are next with 53 points, while Sevilla have 51.

Italian Serie A

ROME: Leaders Juventus were held to a 0-0 draw by Treviso, but still managed to stretch their lead over AC Milan to nine points after the Milan club tumbled 1-0 at Lecce.

Third-place Inter Milan moved within two points of their city rivals with a 3-0 win over Messina. Inter scored three first-half goals within 10 minutes. Santiago Solari netted two and Obafemi Martins added another. At Treviso, the Turin powerhouse had their third draw in four matches to move to 79 points. AC Milan have 70.