Didier Drogba sent Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League on Saturday, but Arsenal stayed right on their heels thanks to a stoppage-time victory over 10-man Hull City.
Nicklas Bendtner was again the Gunners savior, following up his hat-trick against Porto in the Champions League in midweek with a strike three minutes into stoppage-time to seal a 2-1 win at the KC Stadium.
Chelsea’s 4-1 win over relegation-threatened West Ham United kept them above Arsenal on goal-difference, with Manchester United a point further back ahead of their meeting with Fulham at Old Trafford yesterday.
PHOTO: AFP
Tottenham Hotspur consolidated their hold on the final Champions League qualifying spot with a 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers, while Wolverhampton Wanderers won the day’s big relegation battle, 2-1 at Burnley.
Arsenal, who have the easiest run-in of any of the top three, looked set for a straightforward victory over Hull City after Andrey Arshavin fired them ahead after 14 minutes.
They were pegged back by Jimmy Bullard’s penalty, however, after Sol Campbell was deemed to have pulled down Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Hull were reduced to 10 men before halftime when George Boateng received a second yellow card but, held the visitors at bay until right at the death, when Bendtner slotted home the rebound following a Denilson shot.
“It’s maybe not good for my heart, but for the championship it’s not bad,” Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said of his team’s fifth straight win.
West Ham United had gone in level at the break at Stamford Bridge, thanks to a stunning long-range strike from Chelsea old boy Scott Parker which canceled out Alex’s early header for the home side.
Drogba’s second-half brace, either side of a Florent Malouda strike, took his goal tally for the season to 27 and enabled Chelsea to preserve a little energy ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League last-16 second-leg match against Inter.
“It was important to have a good reaction,” Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said in reference to the recent 4-2 home defeat by Manchester City.
Tottenham Hotspur tightened their grip on fourth place after Roman Pavlyuchenko made it eight goals in his last six matches with a double in a 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.
Jermain Defoe put Tottenham ahead in the first half. Russian striker Pavlyuchenko struck soon after the interval and then netted again in the closing stages to ease the hosts’ nerves following Christopher Samba’s goal for Blackburn.
Tottenham are three points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester City.
Aston Villa remain in the hunt for fourth spot, but their cause was not helped by a goalless draw at Stoke City.
Everton’s strong recent form was reflected in a powerful start at Birmingham City, Victor Anichebe and Ayegbeni Yakubu giving them a two-goal lead inside 22 minutes, but they were forced to settle for a point after an entertaining encounter at St Andrew’s.
Cameron Jerome got Birmingham back into the match and Craig Gardner claimed the equalizer with his first goal since his move from Aston Villa.
Bolton Wanderers continued their resurgence under Owen Coyle with a convincing 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic.
Johan Elmander gave the Trotters a 10th-minute lead, before Bolton went on the rampage in the second-half. Elmander’s strike partner Kevin Davies converted a penalty after Tamir Cohen was brought down, Fabrice Muamba made sure of the points in the 53rd minute and Matthew Taylor turned the game into a rout with a fourth 17 minutes from time.
Wolverhampton Wanderers claimed an extremely important win when they overcame relegation rivals Burnley 2-1 at Turf Moor to pull three points clear of the drop zone.
Matt Jarvis gave the visitors a first-half lead after a misjudged back header by Tyrone Mears and a Clarke Carlisle own-goal early in the second half made it a doubly miserablen for Burnley. Steven Thompson got the consolation.
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