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Man U breaks away from Chelsea

A goal scored by the Chelsea defense into the team`s own goal gave Reading a 2-2 tie and cost the second-place team two valuable points in the race for the English Premiership League championship. Later on Tuesday, league leader Manchester United won 3-1 at Old Trafford against visiting Wigan Athletic behind Cristiano Ronaldo`s two goals. Ronaldo opened the game on the bench.

The gap between Man u and Chelsea has extended to four points, 20 games into the season. "We`ve got a lot of roads to travel yet and there will be points dropped," cautioned Manchester`s manager Alex Ferguson. A distant third is Arsenal, 14 points behind Man U. Their 2-1 victory over Watford gave them the edge over Liverpool who lost 1-0 at Blackburn rovers.

Chelsea missed their captain John Terry whose return date to the field is unclear. Their defense has conceded six goals in the past three games. The club has also been playing without goalie Petr Cech who was seriously injured a few weeks ago. Midfielders Joe Cole and Arjen Robben also sat out the game. "Normally Chelsea in three consecutive matches have three clean sheets but in the last three we have let in six goals," Mourinho said. Luckily, they have the self-procleaimed best soccer player in Europe Didier Drogba who scored two goals.