Monday, March 23, 2009

LONDON (AP) Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes were sent off as Manchester United was beaten 2-0 at Fulham on Saturday, tightening the Premier League title race by losing in consecutive matches for the first time in four years.

Chelsea, though, missed a chance to close the gap on the leaders, losing 1-0 at Tottenham to remain four points adrift.

Man United's lead could still be cut to a point on Sunday if Liverpool beats fifth-place Aston Villa, although the defending champions will have a game in hand.

"If you lose games in March and April it can cost you," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "Fortunately, we have a slender lead at the moment but it's not a lot.

"I'm hoping the players go on internationals and come back back to their best for the game against Aston Villa (on April 5) which is going to be crucial."

The Red Devils, beaten 4-1 at home to Liverpool last week, lost Scholes in the 18th minute when he used his hands to block Bobby Zamora's shot on the goal line.

Danny Murphy gave former side Liverpool's title bid a huge help by dispatching the penalty into the top corner.

Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer kept Fulham in the match before Zoltan Gera added a second goal with an acrobatic volley in the 87th.

With the defending champions about to lose their first match at Craven Cottage since 1964, Rooney was shown a second yellow card for throwing the ball away in the 89th.

"The ball was thrown direct to where the free kick was being taken. Did it hit the referee? No," Ferguson said. "He threw it because he wanted to get the game going."

Rooney had started on the bench after last week's 4-1 loss to Liverpool.

"We've always responded in the past (to bad results), and the disappointing thing for me is that in the first half we never even got started," said Ferguson, whose side routed Fulham two weeks ago in the F.A. Cup. "We didn't meet the challenge."

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