Chelsea's goalkeeper Henrique Hilario fumbles the ball above Michael Essien and Newcastle United's Obafemi Martins during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London yesterday. - reuters

LONDON (Reuters):

Chelsea cut Manchester United's Premier League lead to five points after Didier Drogba scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Newcastle United yesterday.

Chelsea, desperate for all three points after the champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Arsenal on Sunday, needed Drogba to come off the bench and poke the ball home in the 74th minute.

Arsenal moved up to third place after their Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the 88th minute to give them a 1-0 victory at Wigan Athletic in the night's other game.

Manchester United are top with 44 points, Chelsea have 39 and Arsenal are third on 29 after 17 games.

Chelsea's performance at Stam-ford Bridge was at best workmanlike and at times poor against an injury-ravaged Newcastle side who had been clinging on for a draw.

Fluffed first-half chances

A reshuffled Chelsea meant rare starts for striker Salomon Kalou and Shaun Wright-Phillips, but both fluffed first-half chances and the England winger was replaced at half-time.

Drogba came on for the restart and the Côte d'Ivoire striker soon added bite to what had been a pedestrian attack after Sunday's thrilling finale to their draw with Arsenal. Yet, Chelsea were still spraying passes and sending shots off target, prompting Mourinho to send on a further striker in Andriy Shevchenko.

The breakthrough came when Arjen Robben provided the pass, Shevchenko skewed a shot and the ball landed at the feet of Drogba, who prodded home his 15th goal of the season in all competitions.

Arsenal struggled at Wigan but finally came to life after a dour first half in which the hosts enjoyed most possession.

Adebayor was denied by Chris Kirkland in a one-on-one with the Wigan keeper early in the second half and was nearly set up minutes later by youngster Theo Walcott.

Further chances fell to both sides before Arsenal's Spanish substitute Cesc Fabregas provided a great ball behind the Wigan defence for Adebayor to beat the offside trap and Kirkland.