Arsenal and Manchester United picked up victories Saturday to stay one-two in England's Premier League. Under-pressure sides Newcastle, Leeds and Tottenham also collected badly needed wins.
With the match tied 1-1 at Anfield, the French international curled in a perfect right-footed shot in the 68th minute that got behind 'keeper Jerzy Dudek as he leaped high to his left.
PHOTO: AP
Liverpool took a 1-0 lead in the 14th after dominating the early play. Australian Harry Kewell gave the Reds the lead, collecting a loose ball in the area and driving home a sharp-angled shot from 16m.
Arsenal equalized in the 31st, a goal that was initially awarded to Brazilian Edu on a close-in header, but then given as an own-goal to Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia.
Manchester United stayed in second place with 19 points with Chelsea playing Sunday at Middlesbrough. Chelsea has played two fewer games than the leaders and has 16 points. In Sunday's other match, Bolton played at Aston Villa.
Man United took a 1-0 lead on Ruud van Nistelrooy's penalty in the 36th, which came after Birmingham's Maik Taylor was sent off on a red card. Paul Scholes scored in the 57th and Ryan Giggs wrapped it up with a strike in 82nd.
Man United was playing just days after losing 2-1 to German leader Stuttgart in the Champions League.
"The players have overcome a very difficult week," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "It's always an issue coming out of a Euroepan game whether you win, lose or draw."
Fulham moved into fourth place behind Chelsea with 14 points, the same as Birmingham City. Luis Boa Morte scored in the 36th and 73rd in the 2-0 victory over Leicester.
Newcastle won 1-0 at home over Southampton, the Magpies' first league victory of the season. Captain Alan Shearer got the winner, his 250th career league goal.
Newcastle moved up to 18th place with five points. Wolves are on the bottom with five, the same as Leicester.
Slumping Leeds got a needed victory as Seth Johnson scored twice with Dino Baggio scoring in the 86th for Blackburn to make it close.
Tottenham is now unbeaten in three matches under caretaker manager David Pleat as Frederic Kanoute, Gus Poyet and Robbie Keane got the goals in a 3-0 win over Everton.
Last-place Wolves also got their first win of the season -- 1-0 over Man City -- and their first in 19 years in the top flight of English soccer.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger credited his team with coming back after Liverpool scored the first goal.
"They [Liverpool] were early on leading and had two or three chances to may be kill the game, but with our first chance we came back to 1-1," Wenger said.
"I believe Liverpool was very good in the first half. It was difficult for us to get into the game. Slowly it became better and better."
Liverpool and England got bad news when Reds' striker Michael Owen limped off in the second half with what was reported to be a right shin injury. It was unclear if he would be ready to play next Saturday in England's decisive Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey.
Owen went off early in the second half for treatment after a tackle by Ashley Cole. He returned but was taken off for good in the 71st and replaced by Emile Heskey.
"The x-ray is clear, there doesn't appear to be any fracture," Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier said. "He will have a scan done tomorrow morning. But he felt something, so we'll see tomorrow."
Asked if Owen would be ready to play next week, Houllier replied: "I think it's too early to say. It could be a minor thing or it could be a more serious matter. ... Normally he's a quick healer."
Celtic 1, rangers 0
Celtic won the first Old Firm Derby of the season Saturday to take over first place in Scotland, defeating Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox on an own-goal by Zurab Khizanishvili in the 46th minute.
Celtic striker John Hartson was originally awarded the goal.
The victory moved Celtic into the league lead with 22 points. Rangers, who had won their first seven league games, have 21.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS