Liverpool fired an early warning to their English Premiership title rivals as they made a gutsy winning start to the new season.
With manager Rafael Benitez under pressure to deliver the Reds' first Premiership trophy after the club spent a small fortune in the preseason, Liverpool sent a statement of intent to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal with a 2-1 win at Aston Villa on Saturday.
But Arsenal answered the challenge yesterday, as striker Robin van Persie converted an 83rd minute penalty and Alexander Hleb struck a 90th minute winner to give them a 2-1 victory over Fulham at the Emirates Stadium yesterday.
PHOTO: AFP
A goalkeeping howler by Jen Lehmann handed Fulham the lead with under a minute left on the clock, the German's fluffed clearance leaving Fulham's new Northern Ireland striker David Healy with a tap-in on his competitive debut.
Fulham, who lost keeper Antti Niemi to injury in the warm-up and had to deploy reserve Tony Warner, looked to have secured a remarkable win until Kolo Toure went down under a challenge by Carlos Bocanegra and Dutchman Van Persie scored from the spot.
Fired up by the equalizer, the hosts piled on the pressure and were rewarded when Belarus midfielder Hleb rifled home the winner off a ball from Spaniard Cesc Fabregas.
On Saturday, the season began in exciting fashion as three other managers with a point to prove were able to come away with opening day victories.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, branded a flop as England manager, saw his Manchester City side win 2-0 at West Ham in his first Premiership test.
Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce took his new side to his former club Bolton Wanderers and returned with a 3-1 win.
And Roy Keane, in his first game as a Premiership boss, saw his newly promoted Sunderland side beat big-spending visitors Tottenham 1-0 with a last-gasp goal.
Elsewhere, hosts Derby drew 2-2 with Portsmouth, Everton beat visitors Wigan 2-1 and Blackburn earned a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough.
Liverpool's talismanic captain Steven Gerrard scored a late winner at Villa Park to serve notice to the Reds' rivals.
The Reds took the lead against Villa through a 31st-minute Martin Laursen own goal, the Denmark defender turning in Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt's cross.
The Villains thought they had salvaged a point five minutes from time when Reds defender Jamie Carragher unintentionally handled the ball in the penalty box and Villa captain Gareth Barry scored on the resulting spot-kick.
However, two minutes later, Gerrard lashed in a splendid free kick to win it for Liverpool.
At Upton Park, Eriksson got off to a flying start -- despite having admitting to never having seen many of his newly signed players before.
Both City and West Ham have spent heavily on new players in the pre-season, but it was Eriksson's investments that delivered an early return.
Italian forward Roland Bianchi scored in the 18th minute and Brazilian international striker Geovanni sealed victory three minutes from full time.
Allardyce knows all about Bolton from his seven-and-a-half years in charge at the Reebok and he put it to good use on his return.
Skilful French winger Charles N'Zogbia scored Newcastle's first 11 minutes in before Nigeria hitman Obefami Martins bagged a brace in the 21st and 27th minutes -- sending a message to England forward Michael Owen that he faces a fight to be the first choice striker.
France forward Nicolas Anelka scored for the Trotters in the 50th minute, but the game was long-since lost.
At the Stadium of Light, Michael Chopra scored the first goal of the new season in Saturday's early match as visitors Tottenham were beaten 1-0 thanks to his goal with 13 seconds to go.
"I was desperate to do it, especially being a Geordie from Newcastle coming to Sunderland, I was desperate to get that goal and show Sunderland fans that I want to be here," Chopra said.
UEFA Cup side Everton, out to improve on last season's sixth-placed finish, beat relegation battle survivors Wigan 2-1 at Goodison Park.
Everton midfielder Leon Osman scored with a header in the 26th minute.
It was a roller-coaster match at Pride Park as newly promoted Derby County held visitors Portsmouth to a 2-2 draw.
Midfielder Matt Oakley scored for the Championship playoff winners five minutes in.
Pompey's Benjani Mwaruwari equalized and new signing John Utaka thought he had scored a winning goal in the 83rd minute but Rams defender Andy Todd equalized.
Blackburn Rovers started their campaign well with a hard-fought win over Middlesbrough at the Riverside.
England winger Stuart Downing put Boro ahead before South Africa striker Benni McCarthy was stretchered off having collapsed following a clash of heads.
His replacement, Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz, equalized in the 63rd minute and Matt Derbyshire won the match with 11 minutes to go.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB