Michael Owen scored two second-half goals and Alan Shearer added one in the 80th minute to give Newcastle a 3-0 victory Sunday over West Bromwich Albion in the English Premier League.
The victory improved Newcastle to 15 points, and edged the Magpies into 10th place, ahead of Middlesbrough on goal difference. West Brom has only eight points with both teams having played 11 games.
The match at West Brom was the only game Sunday in the Premier League.
PHOTO: AP
Despite the lopsided loss, West Brom could have turned the match around when Robert Earnshaw shot from point-blank range in the 52nd, but was stopped by Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given.
After that, Newcastle broke away.
"In the second half it started to come together a little bit better," Owen said.
PHOTO: EPA
Shearer came off the bench to score his goal, and said he was surprised at being benched by coach Graeme Souness.
"He [Souness] knows how to get the best out of me, though I might have scored two or three if I had started," Shearer joked.
Souness said he benched the 35-year-old Shearer "to look after him."
PHOTO: AP
About Owen he added: "I don't think there is any surprise that Michael got a couple today. Michael is a proven goal scorer. He got a couple of goals to get us on our way."
On Saturday, Chelsea beat Blackburn 4-2 to extend its unbeaten streak to 40 matches in the Premier League. Chelsea has 31 points and leads Wigan by nine points, Tottenham and Bolton by 11, Manchester United by 13, and Arsenal and by 14.
Arsenal rallied to draw 1-1 with north London rival Tottenham.
Wigan beat Fulham 1-0, its sixth consecutive victory to continue its surprising run. And Manchester United fell further off the pace when it crashed to a 4-1 defeat to Middlesbrough.
"It was a shocking performance," Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said.
Celtic beat host Dundee United 4-2 to take over first place in the standings.
John Hartson and Chris Sutton gave Celtic a 2-1 lead after 28 minutes. Collin Samuel equalized for Dundee United in the 30th, but Alan Archibald scored an own-goal two minutes later to give Celtic a 3-2 lead, with Stephen Pearson making it 4-2 in the 88th.
Celtic and Hearts each have 32 points, followed by Hibernian with 28 and Rangers with 22. Celtic leads Hearts with a better goal difference.
Sutton said Celtic fans had begun to warm to new manager Gordon Strachan, who replaced Martin O'Neill.
"It was never going to be easy filling his boots, but the manager is his own man, has his own ideas, his own style and that's good for the club," Sutton said. "Managers are judged on results, but it's too early to say that we have turned the corner because things can change so quickly in football."
Strachan had a rough start at Celtic when he team was eliminated in August in a qualifying round of the Champions League by Artmedia Bratislava.
David Lopez and Inaki Munoz scored a goal in each half and Osasuna downed Espanyol 2-0 to regain the top spot in the standings.
Osasuna, which is 6-0 at home this season and enjoying its best ever start to a season, is two points ahead of defending champion FC Barcelona, which beat Real Sociedad 5-0 and moved into second place.
Ronaldinho scored two goals and midfielder Mark van Bommel, captain Carles Puyol and substitute Henrik Larsson added the others at Camp Nou stadium to extend Barcelona's unbeaten run to seven matches.
"We played well, the result was good and the players are on form, so you'd say it was a perfect match for us," Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard was quoted as saying by news agency Efe.
Osasuna has 21 points, while Barcelona has 19. Madrid, which beat Betis 2-0 on Saturday, is next with 18. Getafe and Celta, which drew 1-1 at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, have 17 points each. Villarreal, Sevilla, Deportivo, Valencia and Sociedad are next with 16 points.
Osasuna owed both its goals to mistakes by Espanyol goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.
Luca Toni scored a goal and set up another to help Fiorentina beat Cagliari 2-1 and take sole possession of third place in the Serie A.
Toni, the league's top scorer with 12 goals, rallied the Florentine team to 1-1 in the 53rd minute and fed Martin Jorgensen for the winner in the 82nd at the Artemio Franchi stadium.
Cagliari, which led 1-0 on a 23rd-minute goal by David Suazo, ended the match with nine players following the ejection of Daniele Conti and Michele Canini in the closing minutes.
The home win lifted Fiorentina to 22 points, behind league leader Juventus and second-place AC Milan which have 27 and 25 points respectively.
AC Milan moved within two points of Juve by beating its Turin rival 3-1 at San Siro on Saturday. The loss ended Juventus' nine-match winning streak.
Inter Milan, which was held to a 2-2 draw by Sampdoria on Saturday, is fourth, three points behind Fiorentina, which barely escaped relegation last season.
Also Sunday, 10-man AS Roma beat Ascoli 2-1 on an extra-time goal by French defender Philippe Mexes; Siena won 1-0 at Treviso on the 135th career goal by veteran striker Enrico Chiesa; Chievo and Empoli drew 2-2; Messina beat Lecce 2-0 for its first season win; Livorno downed lowly Parma 2-0 to vault to fifth place; an own-goal by Luciano Zauri meant Lazio lost 1-0 at Reggina; and Udinese and Palermo played to a 0-0 draw.
At Florence, Toni scored his 12th goal of the season beating Cagliari goalkeeper Andrea Campagno on a perfect assist by Stefano Fiore.
In the 82nd minute, Toni -- who is expected to lead Italy's World Cup team in 2006 -- beat two defenders close to the line and sent a low cross to Jorgensen, who kicked in from 8m.
Fiorentina, which signed several good players in the off season after the club was taken over by shoe industrialist Diego Della Valle, took risks as it pressed in attack for the victory.
Cagliari forward Mauro Esposito had a great scoring chance in the 80th when he rushed unmarked into the Florentine area. Jorgensen, who had run behind him from midfield, managed to press Esposito as he was kicking and the ball went wide. Two minutes later, the Dane netted the winner.
At Stadio Olimpico, AS Roma scored its second straight win after beating Inter Milan 3-2 last Wednesday.
The Roman team, without suspended playmaker Francesco Totti, needed goals by two defenders to overcome Serie A newcomer Ascoli and move to a 15-point tie with crosstown rival Lazio.
Christian Panucci headed in the opening goal in the 39th, but Ascoli rallied to 1-1 in the 83rd on a powerful free kick by Maurizio Domizzi.
Mainz 05 won a battle of bottom teams, beating injury-ridden FC Nuremberg 4-1.
Last-place Nuremberg was forced to use seven German players, many from their youth system, and the inexperience showed in several gifted goals.
Nuremberg's first blunder came when Thomas Paulus footed in a cross for a ninth-minute own-goal. In the 45th, goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer let Antonio da Silva's 40-meter free kick sail in the goal untouched.
"We scored their goals ourselves. You can't win like that," Nuremberg coach Wolfgang Wolf said. "Those are the kind of goals you get when you're bottom."
Also, Arminia Bielefeld beat Hannover 96 4-1 as a season high in goals was recorded for the two Sunday matches.
Benjamin Auer scored for Mainz in the 11th, helped when a defender fell trying to stop him, and Michael Thurk completed the team's scoring in the 52nd.
Stefan Kiessling volleyed in his fifth season goal in the 14th minute for Nuremberg, trying to cope with injuries to the likes of Marek Mintal, the Bundesliga's top scorer last season.
Nuremberg has yielded 13 goals in three matches and fell three points behind 17th-place Kaiserslautern. Mainz, just one point ahead to start the match, jumped four slots to 13th.
Bielefeld, once bottom itself, ran its unbeaten streak to five matches against Hannover. Michael Fink scored just 48 seconds into the game -- the fastest goal in the team's Bundesliga history.
Ghana's Isaac Boakye, a protege of former Bundesliga standout Anthony Yeboah, added goals in the 68th and 84th minutes.
Sporting was held to a 2-2 draw by Boavista, moving the Lisbon team into seventh place.
Sporting got its first goal from 19-year-old midfielder Nani Cunha in the 21st minute, and striker Liedson Muniz added another shortly after.
In the 46th, former Sporting player Joao Pinto headed in a goal for Boavista, and striker William Souza scored the equalizer in the 55th.
On Saturday, both FC Porto and Benfica drew. Porto was held to 0-0 by Setubal, while Benfica and Naval drew 1-1.
Auxerre dominated Paris Saint-Germain in the French first division, winning 2-0 on an own-goal from Edouard Cisse and a late header from Luigi Pieroni.
The hosts had several chances to increase their lead, including in the 12th minute when Benjani and Yann Lachuer collided into each other when chasing a loose ball in the penalty area.
Lachuer later created Auxerre's first goal in the 53rd minute when his curling free kick from the right hit the bottom of Cisse's foot and got past goalkeeper Lionel Letizi.
Four minutes from time, Pieroni headed in a corner to make it 2-0.
Feyenoord stayed close to the top of the standings after beating Willem II Tilburg 3-1.
Midfielder Jonathan De Guzman scored the first goal for Feyenoord in the eighth minute, and winger Romeo Castelen made it 2-0 in the 21st. Patrick Paauwe scored Feyenoord's final goal in the 55th, while Hans Denissen got one back for the hosts in injury time.
The win keeps Feyenoord in a tie for second place with AZ Alkmaar with 24 points, both one point behind leader PSV Eindhoven.
PSV beat FC Twente 1-0 on Saturday, while AZ topped ADO The Hague 2-0.
On Friday, Ajax was held to a 0-0 draw by SC Heerenveen, dropping the Amsterdam powerhouse to sixth place with 15 points.
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