Arsenal opened a three-point lead at the top of the early premier league standings with a 2-1 victory at Manchester City after Manchester United lost 1-0 at Southampton on Sunday.
Arsenal recovered from a Lauren own goal with strikes by Sylvain Wiltord and Freddie Ljungberg to make it four straight wins, their best start since 1947, and move to 12 points.
Champions United, the only other team to win their first three games, were sunk by James Beattie's 88th-minute header and remained second on nine points.
PHOTO: AFP
Cameroon defender Lauren, under pressure from Trevor Sinclair as he ran towards his own goal, sliced the ball past a bemused Jens Lehmann to give City a 10th-minute lead, which they did not look like losing as Arsenal failed to spark in the first half.
However, French forward Wiltord, left unmarked in the box, scrambled an equalizer three minutes after the break and Arsenal dominated the rest of the match.
Lehmann saved twice in a minute to deny Antoine Sibierski and Nicolas Anelka during a lively City spell midway through the second half but a defensive mix-up between China's Sun Jihai and former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman allowed Ljungberg to poke the visitors ahead after 72 minutes.
Veteran defender Martin Keown then came close to a second own goal in the 88th minute when he deflected the ball against his own crossbar but Arsenal survived.
"They surprised us with a very direct game," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports. "They boxed us in our half and we couldn't get out. I thought we were a little bit within ourselves in the first half.
"We tried to make it more direct ourselves in the second half.
"It's good a start but it's only four games -- now nearly the whole squad goes away on international duty and I hope everybody comes back healthy."
City manager Kevin Keegan thought his team deserved something from the game.
"We didn't want halftime to come, we were comfortable," he said. But when they get ahead they keep the ball the way I would like us to.
"I don't think they were at their best today and that's what disappointed us all."
United also looked jaded as they suffered their first league defeat since last December.
Two long-range shots by Diego Forlan, both parried by Paul Jones, were the nearest they came to scoring, and American goalkeeper Tim Howard made good saves to deny Beattie and Kevin Phillips.
The game looked to be heading for a draw, which would have been Southampton's fourth in a row, until Howard failed to collect a Graeme Le Saux corner and Beattie accepted the gift from point-blank range.
"We played well today," Southampton manager Gordon Strachan said. "I think in the last couple of games we've got back the hunger we had last year.
Chelsea's two-game 100 percent record ended on Saturday when they were held to a 2-2 home draw by Blackburn Rovers.
Liverpool collected their first win of the season, Michael Owen scoring twice in a 3-0 success at city rivals Everton, and there were also victories for Leeds United, Fulham, Aston Villa and Birmingham City.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was