Manchester United shrugged off the absence of Wayne Rooney to defeat Fulham 2-0 at Old Trafford and open up a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.
United, still furious at the two-match ban handed out to Rooney for swearing, secured all three points thanks to Dimitar Berbatov’s 22nd goal of the season and a close-range header from Antonio Valencia.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson made eight changes from the side that defeated Chelsea 1-0 in the Champions League as he juggled his options ahead of tomorrow’s return leg at Old Trafford.
Photo: AFP
United’s victory keeps the pressure on second-placed Arsenal, who were to play Blackpool yesterday knowing they can ill-afford any more slip-ups, even with their two games in hand over the leaders.
Chelsea kept alive their remote hopes of overhauling United with a 1-0 victory over Wigan at Stamford Bridge, Florent Malouda scoring the only goal as the Blues remained third, 11 points adrift of United.
However, it was another disappointing afternoon for Chelsea’s £50 million (US$82 million) striker Fernando Torres, whose goal drought continued after he appeared as a second-half substitute.
Tottenham — thrashed 4-0 by Real Madrid in midweek — maintained their push for a place in next season’s Champions League with a 3-2 win over Stoke at White Hart Lane to remain in fifth spot.
Peter Crouch bounced back from the disappointment of his red card in the Bernabeu to score twice, with Luka Modric grabbing Spurs’ other goal.
Birmingham and Blackburn remain three points clear of the relegation zone after grinding out a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.
Birmingham took the lead through a headed Lee Bowyer effort on 32 minutes only for Blackburn to level on halftime courtesy of David Hoilett.
West Ham missed the chance to pull themselves out of the drop zone after crashing to a 3-0 defeat at Bolton.
Bolton took the lead on 14 -minutes with an exquisite strike from Daniel Sturridge.
Lee Chung-yong made it 2-0 for the Trotters on 20 minutes, heading in at the near post from Martin Petrov’s cross, before Sturridge grabbed his second.
West Bromwich Albion eased their relegation fears against Sunderland, twice coming from behind to snatch a 3-2 victory at the Stadium of Light as the Baggies revival under Roy Hodgson continued.
Sunderland took the lead courtesy of a Nicky Shorey own goal.
West Brom leveled it through Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie, but Sunderland grabbed the lead again on 31 minutes through Phil Bardsley.
However, the Baggies got back on level terms after halftime with Congolese midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu rounding off a well-worked move to score.
Paul Scharner then bagged the winner for West Brom on 72 minutes after another flowing move.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but