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Arsenal inflict repeat defeat on Newcastle

Arsenal moved back atop the English Premier League on Tuesday with a 3-0 win over Newcastle -- its second victory over the Magpies in four days.

Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and Francesc Fabregas all scored for Arsenal, which beat Newcastle 3-0 on Saturday in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Tuesday's victory improved it to 57 points and put it three ahead of Manchester United.

The Red Devils were to play Portsmouth yesterday.

"For us, it is good to win tonight and see what they will do tomorrow," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It is too far to go to just concede at every single result. What's important for us is to be level with United and Chelsea going into April, so we need to be consistent and win our games."

In other games on Tuesday, it was: Bolton 0, Fulham 0; Middlesbrough 1, Wigan 0; and Sunderland 2, Birmingham 0. Other games yesterday had Chelsea vs Reading, Derby County vs Manchester City, West Ham vs Liverpool and Everton vs Tottenham.

Adebayor headed Arsenal into the lead against Newcastle in the 40th minute after taking a cross from Mathieu Flamini. It was his 16th league goal of the season.

Flamini made it 2-0 in the 72nd with a powerful shot from distance. Fabregas was set up by Nicklas Bendtner for the third in the 80th.

Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton entered as a substitute in the 57th minute -- his first action since Dec. 23, when he played in the Magpies' 2-2 draw with Derby in the league. He was arrested in the early morning hours of Dec. 27 and charged with assault and affray for his involvement in an altercation inside a fast-food restaurant. He remains free on bail awaiting further proceedings.

Newcastle's new executive director Dennis Wise watched from the stands after his surprise move from Leeds on Monday.

Manager Kevin Keegan said that the job Wise was hired for had been determined before Keegan joined the club on Jan. 16.

"It's been very open in that sense," Keegan said.

"I know what Dennis is going to do and the idea in principle is good: to look for new players, to bring youngsters through and do things which our academy isn't doing so much at the moment," he said.

"They want someone on the board who understands football and Dennis knows very well. I think it will work very well. He reports to me: The chain is established," Keegan said.

Sunderland moved out of the relegation zone by beating Birmingham, rising from 18th to 14th with its sixth win of the season. Daryl Murphy converted from Kenwyne Jones' header to score from six meters in the 15th minute. Rade Prica made it 2-0 in the 65th minute in his club debut six days after joining the team.

"I think today was a big step for us, we needed three points badly," Jones said. "Any team that comes to us at home, we definitely do well. It's about getting every point we can from now until the end of the season and hope for the best."

Middlesbrough beat Wigan with a 19th-minute goal from Jeremie Aliadiere, who took a long ball from Stewart Downing.

Fulham earned its first point under manager Roy Hodgson since his Dec. 28 move to the club with the scoreless draw against Bolton. However, the Cottagers remained in 19th place with 16 points.
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