Arsenal striker Thierry Henry capped a great week on Saturday by scoring twice in his side's 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Highbury.
Henry's free kick and a penalty, following Robert Pires's early goal, settled the match, with Thomas Hitzlsperger's spectacular strike providing Villa's only consolation.
Henry, who scored a hat-trick in Wednesday's 3-1 Champions League victory at AS Roma, produced a carbon-copy curling free kick and a nonchalant penalty against Villa.
"It was important to win [both games], no matter who scored the goals," the Frenchman told Sky Sports TV.
"It's never that easy when you play in the Champions League away and come home, and even more when you play Villa because we always have a tough game against them."
Asked what was said as he and Pires discussed the 49th-minute free kick, Henry said: "Robert said let's do the same thing we did against Roma, I said `okay no problem.'"
Of his dinked penalty he said: "I just wanted to try it."
Villa boss Graham Taylor felt that the penalty eight minutes from time, given after Steve Staunton brought down Freddie Ljungberg, right on the edge of the box, unfairly ended his team's fightback.
"I'm disappointed, we changed the formation round in the second half but before we got a chance to put it into practice we went 2-0 down," he said.
"But after that we did very well and when we got to 2-1 I could see us going on to equalize.
"Of course the penalty took it all away from us then and that's where you get frustrated because I believe those decisions have to be really spot on. I do believe that referees make these decisions honestly but you have to be really, really right about them and right up with the play and I didn't think Mr [Graham] Barber was today."
BIRMINGH. CITY 1, TOTT. HOTSPUR 1
The first half was distinguished only by a glaring Stern John miss for Birmingham and a series of midfield scuffles.
Spurs finally put together a move of substance 10 minutes into the second half when Christian Ziege crossed and striker Teddy Sheringham netted from close range.
But Birmingham did not deserve to lose and Ireland's Jeff Kenna earned them a point 13 minutes later with a driven shot.
BLACKBURN ROVERS 2, FULHAM 1
Dwight Yorke scored his first goal at Ewood Park to give Rovers a 35th-minute lead, tapping in at the far post after good work by Damien Duff. Fulham levelled on the hour when French striker Steve Marlet fired into the corner of the net, but Marlet squandered the chance to put the visitors ahead when his penalty was saved by Brad Friedel soon after.
Fulham's woes multiplied when Rufus Brevett deflected the ball into his own net to give Blackburn an unlikely win.
CHELSEA 3, SUNDERLAND 0
After a tight first half Chelsea came alive and outclassed Sunderland. French defender William Gallas volleyed them in front on 58 minutes and compatriot Marcel Desailly doubled the lead after 84 minutes. Both goals came from Graeme Le Saux crosses.
Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made it three a minute from time with a fierce effort as Chelsea moved up to third and Sunderland slipped back into the bottom three.
MAN. CITY 2, BOLTON WANDERERS 0
A rare goal by former England defender Steve Howey gave City a 25th-minute lead following a corner. Kevin Keegan's side doubled their advantage through Israeli midfielder Eyal Berkovic's deflected effort 11 minutes after the break.
W. BROM. ALBION 1, MIDDLESBr. 0
Danny Dichio's strike gave West Brom some badly needed points, the tall striker taking advantage of some poor Middlesbro defending to fire home the winner 18 minutes from the end of a tense game.
Middlesbrough were poor, although Noel Whelan hit the bar, and they also lost striker Joseph-Desire Job with a nasty head injury after he collided with West Brom's barrel-chested stopper Darren Moore.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later