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Portsmouth embarrasses Leeds United

Celtic striker Henrik Larsson, left, of Sweden shoots past Dunfermline's Derek Stillie during their Scottish Premier League match at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Saturday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Struggling Leeds United suffered its worst ever Premier League defeat Saturday falling to a shambolic 6-1 defeat at promoted Portsmouth.

Leeds collapsed in the second half at Fratton Park to its sixth defeat in seven league matches to remain at the bottom of the standings. Gary O'Neill scored twice for Portsmouth on his Premier League debut, with goals also from Dejan Stefanovic, Hayden Foxe, Patrik Berger and Yakubu Ayegbini.

The win ended Portsmouth's run of five losses in six Premier League matches.

"The second half was an absolute shambles," Leeds manager Peter Reid said. "They had no desire to play football, to win a tackle and it was very, very disappointing. The players don't deserve to pick up their wage packets after that performance."

In London, Fredrik Ljungberg scored the winner as Arsenal rallied to beat Tottenham 2-1. Jonatan Johansson scored twice as Charlton beat Fulham 3-1 in the other London derby.

Arsenal leads with 30 points, followed by Chelsea on 26 and Manchester United on 25. Charlton jumped from seventh to fourth with 21 points with its win. Birmingham was pushed to fifth after its 1-1 draw with Wolves.

In other results, Middlesbrough won 2-0 at Aston Villa and Bolton and Southampton played a scoreless draw. Sunday, United plays at Liverpool, Chelsea hosts Newcastle and Manchester City plays Leicester. Blackburn hosts Everton on Monday.

"Who would have thought just a few months ago that we would beat Leeds United 6-1," said Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp.

At Highbury, Tottenham took a shock 5th minute lead through Darren Anderton. Lauren cleared a Robbie Keane cross, but it deflected into the path of Anderton who shot past Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

Arsenal immediately pushed forward with Thierry Henry forcing Tottenham goalkeeper Kasey Keller into several saves and sending a free kick just over the bar.

Arsenal equalized in the 69th minute, with Robert Pires knocking home a rebound after Keller had parried a Henry shot. Ljungberg scored the winner in the 79th minute, his 25m strike deflecting off Tottenham's Stephen Carr and over Keller into the back of the net.

Charlton won the Saturday's other London derby to extend its unbeaten run to six league games. Charlton scored through Graham Stuart's first goal for 22 months and Johansson's first goals since March. Sean Davis scored an injury time goal for Fulham.

"It could have gone either way early on, but we ended up coming up on top," said Charlton manager Alan Curbishley. "We managed to stifle them a little bit and get our nose in front."

At Villa, Boudewijn Zenden scored for Boro in the 30th minute from a Franck Queudrue cross, his first goal since joining the club on loan from Chelsea. Michael Rickett's doubled Boro's lead with a 49th minute penalty, awarded when Villa defender Lee Hendrie brought down Zenden in the box.

At Wolverhampton, Steffen Iversen scored the equalizer in the 1-1 with Birmingham. Iversen scored in the 66th minute at close range from a Henri Camara cross. Mikael Forssell scored his fifth goal in eight games for Birmingham's opener in the 50th minute.

Bolton and Southampton played to a goalless draw at the Reebok Stadium.

Scottish Premier League

Celtic scored four goals in the final 15 minutes to beat Dunfermline 5-0 and extend its overall lead over rival Rangers to eight points. John Hartson scored two goals, with Ross Wallace, Stanislav Varga and Henrik Larsson adding one each.

Goalkeeper Robert Douglas made his first appearance in the Celtic starting lineup since August, ahead of Magnus Hedman.

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill was impressed with the 81st minute goal from 18-year-old substitute Wallace, who dodged past a defender to shoot past Dunfermline goalkeeper Derek Stillie.

"It was a great goal," O'Neill said. "I know what Ross can do for one so small and young. He has terrific power in his left foot and he likes a trick or two and there's nothing wrong with that.

"He can also deliver the ball with great accuracy and he has a definite chance here."

Motherwell beat Dundee 1-0 with a goal from Steven Craig six minutes into the second half for its fourth away win.

Spanish league

Defender Igor Jauregi scored two own-goals Saturday as Deportivo de La Coruna fought back to defeat Real Sociedad 2-1 and move to the top of the Spanish league.

Deportivo's victory was its first in three league matches and helped it recover from its 8-3 thrashing by Monaco on Wednesday in the Champions League.

In Saturday's other games, midfielder Andoni Iraola netted his first league goal as Athletic de Bilbao edged last-place Espanyol 1-0 to go fifth in the standings, while Zaragoza drew 1-1 with Celta de Vigo.

Deportivo has 25 points from 11 games, while Valencia is second with 23, above Real Madrid on goal difference. Osasuna is fourth with 17 points, ahead of Bilbao on goal difference.

Sociedad's defeat was its fourth straight away loss and keeps it in 13th place with 13 points.

Bundesliga

VfB Stuttgart looked tired, but goals from Kevin Kuranyi and Imre Szabics Saturday kept the club unbeaten and top of the Bundesliga.

Stuttgart extended its record to 9-3-0 with a 19-2 goal difference by beating struggling Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0, although its players seemed to coast after combining several weeks of league play with Champions League and German Cup matches.

The side, known for a poise unusual for such a young team, seems to think it's unbeatable at the moment -- a confidence that may come from its record over the past month in all competitions.

"I think we're doing this very well -- we have played seven matches and we've won seven times," Szabics said.

Bremen moved into second overnight, two points back, by routing Hannover 5-1 even without top scorer Ailton. Leverkusen could pull back into second and within one of Stuttgart with a win against Schalke Sunday.

Relegation-threatened Frankfurt won all the statistics against Stuttgart, from attempts to ball possession, but the frontrunners coolly finished their few chances.

Szabics took a pass in the eight minute, danced by a defender, then rifled the ball inside the left post against helpless Frankfurt goalie Oka Nikolov.

In the 64th, the Hungarian passed to Kuranyi on a breakaway and the Germany forward finished to seal the victory.

With Bayern Munich well out of form and Dortmund crippled by injuries to 12 players, Stuttgart has suddenly become the favorite to win the Bundesliga title.

"We want to stay on top -- if we're favorites, it doesn't make any difference," Kuranyi said.

Bremen entered the Hannover match with the best record ever for a third-placed team at this stage of the season.

Even without Ailton, who had 10 goals in 11 rounds, the team padded its league goal total to 33.
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