Under-pressure England captain John Terry scored with eight minutes left Saturday to give Premier League title chaser Chelsea a 2-1 win at Burnley.
Chelsea had looked set to drop valuable points after conceding a 50th-minute equalizer at Turf Moor until Terry, who started the match despite intense media attention on his private life, headed in Michael Ballack's late corner.
"He is a fantastic player," Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "Every game he will play, he will play very well. That is his private life. He is about work. We don't have to say nothing because he is very professional."
The goal took Chelsea to 54 points, four clear of second-place Manchester United.
The defending champions are at third-place Arsenal on Sunday in the weekend's biggest match, but Chelsea's win means the Blues are assured of top spot whatever the result at Emirates Stadium.
Also Saturday, Liverpool beat Bolton 2-0 to close to within a point of Tottenham in the contest for a top-four finish.
Dirk Kuyt's third goal in three matches and an own goal by Kevin Davies increased the pressure on Tottenham, which stayed in fourth place despite conceding a 90th-minute equalizer to draw 1-1 at Birmingham.
With Manchester City not in action until Sunday, Aston Villa moved up to sixth place with a 2-0 win at Fulham.
Chelsea looked on course for a straightforward win after Nicolas Anelka took advantage of slack defending in the 27th to score his eighth league goal of the season, but Burnley equalized following a mistake by Alex.
A long pass from the right looked to have drifted past Alex and Fletcher but the Burnley forward stuck out a leg to hook the ball out of the air from behind the Brazil defender.
The ball bounced off Alex as Fletcher accelerated away before hitting a calmly placed shot past goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Chelsea twice came close to scoring through Joe Cole, who had a header ruled out for offside and then shot wide, before Terry scored his second goal of the season from about 12 yards (meters).
"We're in good form at the minute and we just had to make sure we kept it up," Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said. "We've got plenty of character in the squad and we had to stand up and show it."
Kuyt put Liverpool ahead in the 37th minute, bundling the ball in from close range following a header by Alberto Aquilani, before Emiliano Insua's long-range shot was deflected past Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen by Davies.
Liverpool moved to 41 points after winning its past three home matches.
"We needed to win and we won," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said. "I think we are improving. Clearly you can see the team is working hard."
Tottenham missed second-half chances by Peter Crouch and Tom Huddlestone before Jermain Defoe hit his 17th goal of the season in the 68th minute. Fullback Gareth Bale crossed to Crouch, who headed on for Defoe to score from close range.
Tottenham looked set to win until Birmingham defender Liam Ridgewell scored with a left-foot shot from the edge of the six-yard box.
Liverpool has finished in the top four each of the past four seasons, while Spurs' best ever Premier League finish was fifth place in 2006 and '07.
Gabriel Agbonlahor scored both Villa's goals in the first half at Fulham, which has not won a league match since beating Manchester United 3-0 six weeks ago.
"We're suffering from our injury situation but we were disappointed with the manner in which we conceded those goals," Fulham manager Roy Hodgson said.
Fulham was without Andy Johnson and Clint Dempsey because of injury and lost Simon Davies to an ankle problem midway through the first half. "Of course I'm concerned about this run but I'm more worried that the players who would help us out of it aren't available."
Villa has 40 points. Manchester City has 38 but it will have played two fewer games than Tottenham and Liverpool even after playing last-place Portsmouth on Sunday.
Also Saturday, Everton won 1-0 at Wigan, Wolverhampton Wanderers equalized twice to draw 2-2 at Hull, and Blackburn moved into the top half with a 0-0 draw at West Ham.
Newcastle drew 0-0 at Leicester to extend its lead at the top of the second-tier League Championship to four points after second-place Nottingham Forest surprisingly lost 1-0 at local rival Derby.
