Ten-man Arsenal pulled off a dramatic second-half comeback on Saturday as they came from two goals down to win 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers to boost their hopes of winning the English Premier League title. ( dpa )
Arsenal trailed 2-0 at half-time to two Matt Taylor goals in a half that saw Abu Diaby sent off, but William Gallas and Robin van Persie pulled them level and a last-minute goal by Cesc Fabregas gave them a dramatic victory.
The win lifts them above Chelsea and to within three points of leaders Manchester United, who play Aston Villa later on Saturday.
Derby County were officially relegated after their 2-2 draw with fellow strugglers Fulham. With fourth-from-bottom Birmingham City beating Manchester City 3-1, not even victories in all six of their remaining games would be enough to save them.
Bolton went into the game having beaten Arsenal in each of the past three seasons at the Reebok and two Taylor goals had the home fans dreaming of making it four in a row.
First Taylor headed home a great cross from Gretar Steinsson on 14 minutes - his first goal for the club - and then, after Abu Diaby was sent off for a poor challenge, he doubled their lead two minutes before the break.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger gambled everything just before the hour mark, taking off Philippe Senderos and Niklas Bendtner and bringing on Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott, and the changes inspired Arsenal as Gallas pulled one back (62) and then Van Persie levelled from the penalty spot after a foul on Alexander Hleb.
Fabregas then bundled in the winner into injury time to send the Arsenal players and fans wild.
Jermain Defoe kept up his amazing record of scoring in every home game since his move to Portsmouth with two goals as they beat Wigan Athletic 2-0.
Ryan Taylor missed a second-half penalty and Wigan are now five points above the bottom three, on 31 points.
Sunderland moved up to 13th on 33 points after a last-gasp 2-1 win over West Ham United, while Reading are one point behind after they survived 20 minutes to draw 0-0 with Blackburn Rovers.