LONDON (Bloomberg) — Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 to move within six points of Manchester United atop English soccer’s Premiership and put more pressure on City manager Stuart Pearce. Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 1-0 to rise to third.Frank Lampard scored the lone goal with a penalty kick in the 28th minute at the City of Manchester Stadium after Micah Richards fouled Salomon Kalou.

Chelsea, seeking a third straight Premiership title, has 66 points to Manchester United’s 72. The Blues are still in contention to win four trophies this campaign after lifting the League Cup and making the last eight of the Champions League. Chelsea visit Tottenham in an FA Cup quarter-final replay in five days.

City remain one spot and six points above the relegation zone after losing a fifth straight match in the top division. British newspapers reported this week that Pearce had two games to save his job, against Chelsea and then Middlesbrough this weekend.

Richards, an England defender, hauled down Kalou and referee Alan Wiley immediately pointed to the spot. Lampard scored his 20th goal of the season when he put the ball into the corner — the only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Five minutes later, City midfielder Joey Barton wanted a penalty when he went down under a Claude Makelele challenge, though Wiley didn’t agree.

Lampard was denied a second goal by Richards after he lobbed goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson early in the second half, and Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips struck the bar against his former team in the 78th minute.

Chelsea captain John Terry played the full 90 minutes in his return to the line-up after suffering a head injury against Arsenal in the League Cup final.

Arsenal rebounded after being eliminated from the Champions League, FA Cup and losing the League Cup final in the past two-and-a-half weeks.

With their two top scorers this season, Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie, out injured, Abou Diaby netted when he deflected Julio Baptista’s shot in the 10th minute. Arsenal improved to 55 points, two more than Liverpool with one fewer match played.