Robin van Persie returned Arsenal to the top of the Premier League yesterday, the Dutch striker's second goal of the afternoon settling a five-goal thriller with Sunderland.
Van Persie's 80th-minute strike was sufficient to give his side a 3-2 win and lift them back above Manchester United, who had held top spot for less than 24 hours after their win over Wigan at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger made just one change to the side that won in Bucharest in the Champions League in midweek, bringing in Abou Diaby in place of Emmanuel Eboue, who dropped to the bench.
The Gunners went ahead in the seventh minute when Grant Leadbitter was penalized for a foul on Cesc Fabregas.
Arsenal initially felt aggrieved because Diaby had curled in a brilliant finish just seconds after referee Rob Styles blew for the foul.
It was only a brief reprieve for Sunderland however. From the free-kick, Van Persie rifled home an unstoppable shot, the ball flying directly over the head of Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon and in off the crossbar.
Seven minutes later Arsenal doubled their advantage when Philippe Senderos took advantage of more hesitant defending to stab Emmanuel Adebayor's cross beyond Gordon.
The visitors were fortunate not to fall three goals behind six minutes later when Diaby swept home Alexandr Hleb's cross, only for the goal to be ruled out for what appeared to be a very debatable offside flag against Mathieu Flamini.
Keane had said in the build-up to this game that he was determined that his side would put up stiff resistance, and signs of an unlikely comeback were apparent when former Celtic winger Ross Wallace scored to put them back in it.
Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia raced out of goal to halt Kenwyne Jones, but the rebound fell kindly for Wallace, who finished in tidy fashion.
It was Sunderland who emerged for the second half with more purpose as they went in search of an unlikely point. And three minutes after the break their high tempo was rewarded with an equalizer from the head of Kenwyne Jones.
The equalizer perhaps came a shade too early though, as Sunderland began to sit back in an attempt to grab what would have been a valuable point.
Theo Walcott finally unlocked Sunderland's defense after 80 minutes, turning in the box and then sliding a pass to van Persie, who steered the ball past Gordon with the outside of his left boot.
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