Further despair for Chelsea after Newcastle loss

Moussa Sissoko, one of four Newcastle signings from France in the January transfer window, scored twice in his home debut to give Newcastle a 3-2 victory over Chelsea.

As Newcastle moved further out of the relegation zone, Chelsea missed a chance to close the gap on second-place Manchester City, which trails its crosstown rival by 10 points and leads Chelsea by six ahead of Sunday's match against Liverpool.

And the pressure is being cranked up on Rafa Benitez, whose Chelsea side also drew against relegation-threatened Reading on Wednesday after being held by third-tier club Brentford in the FA Cup on Sunday.

"What I know, what I can see is the team doing well, working hard and when we have this advantage, we have to manage in a better way," Benitez said.

Floodlight failure halted United's match at Fulham for 10 minutes before half time, and after the break Wayne Rooney provided the spark with a crisp finish to clinch a 1-0 win.

Arsenal won by the same score to go a point behind Tottenham and Everton, who are fourth and fifth.

Everton's pursuit of the fourth Champions League spot was held up by a 3-3 draw against Aston Villa, which missed a chance to climb out of the relegation zone.

Wigan also remains in the danger spots with Villa, although ahead of goal difference, after being held to a 2-2 draw by Southampton.

It was also a frustrating day for last-place Queens Park Rangers, which drew 0-0 with Norwich.

Reading, however, moved two points clear of the bottom three by beating Sunderland 2-1, while West Ham climbed to 10th with a 1-0 victory over Swansea.

Chelsea's faint hopes of catching United are even slimmer now after collecting just eight points from a possible 18 since the start of 2012.

Chelsea fell behind just before half time at St. James' Park when Jonas Gutierrez buried a header past Petr Cech after connecting with a cross from Davide Santon

There was a further blow before the break for Chelsea when striker Demba Ba, who left Newcastle last month, was forced off with blood pouring from his nose after being caught by Fabio Coloccini.

Chelsea, though, fought its way back into contention in the 55th minute when Frank Lampard scored his 10th goal of the season with a swerving long-range strike. Despite now netting double figures for Chelsea for the 10th straight season, the European champions are not intending to renew the 34-year-old midfielder's contract which expires at the end of the season.

Chelsea went in front in the 61st when Ba's replacement, Fernando Torres, set up fellow Spaniard Juan Mata to curl the ball past fellow Tim Krul.

But Sissoko made his mark just seven minutes later, with his first goal since joining from Toulouse coming after Cech parried an effort from former Bordeaux forward Yoan Gouffran.

And Sissoko was on target again in the 90th after exchanging passes with Santon.

At Craven Cottage, the only goal came in the 79th when Rooney latched onto Jonny Evans' long ball and went through the Fulham defense before curling the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

"They made it difficult for us — we had to go on and believe we would get the goal," said Rooney, who has now scored 10 league goals this season.

"We are in a good position (in the league) ... but we won't get carried away."

Arsenal is now close to rejoining United in the top four after Lukas Podolski's free kick in the 78th deflected off Stoke's Geoff Cameron.

"The target to be in the top four and to focus on the two cups we are still in is very important now as we have strengthened our belief and our confidence," Wenger said.

Arsenal would have climbed above Everton into fifth had it not been for Marouane Fellaini's late equalizer for the Merseyside team against Villa.

Despite Victor Anichebe canceling out Christian Benteke's opener for Villa at Goodison Park, the visitors went 3-1 up after Gabriel Agbonlahor headed home before the break and Benteke netted again in the second half.