Ruud van Nistelrooy scored his 101st Manchester United goal Saturday as the Red Devils held off a fierce Everton fightback to win 4-3 at Goodison Park.
Van Nistelrooy became the second-fastest United player to score 100 goals after 24 minutes. New recruit Louis Saha scored either side of Van Nistelrooy's mark to put United 3-0 up after 29 minutes.
Only Manchester United great Denis Law reached the milestone faster, scoring 101 goals in 111 games.
PHOTO: EPA
Everton rallied through second half strikes from Kevin Kilbane, David Unsworth and an own goal by United defender John O'Shea to level at 3-3. Van Nistelrooy broke the deadlock with a 89th-minute headed winner.
"You don't expect to come back from three goals down against Manchester United," Everton manager David Moyes said. "At halftime I told the players they had to show they cared about wearing the blue shirt and that it is not just another job.''
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said his side's first half performance was one of best he'd seen away from home in years. In the second half, Ferguson said Everton "gave us all sorts of problems."
PHOTO: AFP
Arsenal stayed top of the league with a 3-1 win over second-bottom Wolves with goals from Dennis Bergkamp, Kolo Toure and Thierry Henry's 99th goal for the Gunners. Wolves' Ioan Viorel Ganea had scored after 26 minutes for a 1-1 halftime score.
"It was a real battle, the pitch was difficult, it was windy, the passing was not going well because they closed us down on every inch of the pitch," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "We adapted well in the second half and got our game going. I thought we were outstanding in the second half."
Arsenal hasn't lost yet this season and its 24-match unbeaten streak is a club record.
Arsenal has 58 points, United 56 and Chelsea 49.
Three days after losing 4-3 to Manchester City in a dramatic FA Cup fourth round replay, Tottenham was on the right side of a seven-goal scoreline at White Hart Lane.
Substitute Gus Poyet scored the last-minute winner for Spurs in a seesawing match. Jermain Defoe scored for Spurs after 12 minutes of his debut after moving from West Ham. Eyal Berkovic leveled for Portsmouth.
Robbie Keane put Spurs ahead only for Portsmouth's new signing Lomana LuaLua to level again. Keane regained the lead after 78 minutes before Portsmouth substitute Ivica Mornar scored his debut goal for the club with seven minutes remaining for 3-3.
Newcastle jumped to fourth with a 3-1 win over Leicester and has lost only two of its last 18 league matches. Leicester, still in 18th place, hasn't won in 12 matches in all competitions.
The Magpies had goals from Shola Ameobi, Jermaine Jenas and an own goal from Leicester's Gerry Taggart. Les Ferdinand scored a late header for Leicester.
Three years ago Villa manager David O'Leary had guided Leeds to the semifinals of the Champions League. His latest view of his old club saw them heading ever closer to relegation to the first division.
A goal in each half from Juan Pablo Angel and Ronny Johnsen helped Villa jump from 11th to eighth.
Blackburn beat Middlesbrough 1-0 through Jon Stead, a striker who signed from third division Huddersfield on Monday. Goalkeeper Brad Friedel maintained Blackburn's lead with some standout saves to deny Juninho, Gaizka Mendieta, Gareth Southgate and Boudewijn Zenden.
Steven Gerrard rescued a point for Liverpool at the Reebok Stadium. Nicky Hunt scored his first goal for Bolton in the 11th minute before Sami Hyypia equalized after 51 minutes. Youri Djorkaeff put Bolton 2-1 ahead in the 58th minute before Gerrard equalized 11 minutes later.
In the first division, leader Norwich extended its lead with a 1-0 win over Wimbledon, which finished with nine men after goalkeeper Steve Banks was dismissed for handling and defender Mark Williams joining him after protesting the decision. West Brom stays in second plays despite a 3-0 loss at Reading. Third place Sheffield United lost 3-0 at home to Crystal Palace.
Scottish Cup
Stilian Petrov scored twice and Henrik Larsson added the other as Celtic beat nine-man Hearts 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Scottish Cup Saturday.
Celtic could face Old Firm rival Rangers if the next round -- only if the Gers beat Kilmarnock on Sunday. Hearts had Paul Hartley and Alan Maybury sent off late in the game for fouls on Celtic's Neil Lennon.
"We played terrifically well and deserved to win the game," Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said.
The match between Clyde and Dunfermline was abandoned after 57 minutes because of poor visibility from a blizzard. Dunfermline was leading 2-1.
Dunfermline had taken the lead after just four minutes through Noel Hunt before Barry Nicholson doubled their advantage. Clyde had scored through Mark McLaughlin, but players struggled to see the yellow ball in the snow.
The replay will be on Feb. 17.
Spanish league
Ronaldo scored his 19th goal of the season Saturday as Real Madrid edged Malaga 2-1 to reclaim the leadership in the Spanish league.
Another Brazilian star, left back Roberto Carlos, also scored in Madrid's 11th home win, which maintained its perfect record at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the league this season.
In Saturday's earlier game, striker Miguel Angel "Mista" Ferrer netted a goal in each half as Valencia crushed Atletico de Madrid 3-0 and briefly took over first place.
Madrid has 52 points, two more than Valencia. Deportivo de La Coruna, which visits Albacete on Sunday, is third with 43. Atletico stays fourth with 36 points.
Madrid gave a relaxed display against a Malaga side which had lost all five matches since the New Year and which had never beaten Madrid at the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo converted the defending champion's first chance of the game from close range in the 24th minute from a cross by right back Michel Salgado, who was set free on the right by a lofted pass by David Beckham.
The Brazilian ace, who has grabbed 10 goals in his last 11 league games, came close to doubling his tally in the 50th minute when he broke through and shot past goalkeeper Juan Calatayud, but the ball hit the post.
Madrid's second goal arrived eight minutes later when Roberto Carlos blasted home a free kick from the edge of the penalty area for his third league goal of the season.
Madrid then let up too much and allowed Malaga to reduce the deficit in the 76th minute through a shot by substitute Jose Juan Luque from a pass by striker Salva Ballesta.
The goal gave Malaga greater confidence and Madrid was forced to endure several nervous moments before the final whistle.
Valencia lacked Argentine forward Pablo Aimar and Atletico was without Spanish international striker Fernando Torres, but the visiting team's loss appeared greater as it failed to create goal chances.
Also sidelined was Valencia's Argentine defender Mauricio Pellegrino, whose collapse on the field during last weekend's game in Malaga was put down to stress and anxiety.
Bundesliga
Werder Bremen scored a late goal with a man short to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-1 on the road Saturday and protect its big lead in the Bundesliga.
Defender Frank Baumann scored from close range in injury time to secure victory for Bremen, which is now undefeated in 10 matches.
The win gave Bremen a seven-point lead, but Stuttgart can cut the gap back to four in Sunday's game at Hertha Berlin. Bayern Munich also plays Sunday, at home against Hangover 96.
Bremen has 45 points, Stuttgart 38, Bayern 36, while Bayer Leverkusen stayed on 35 after losing to lowly Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home, its second straight loss.
Bremen began the match without league-leading scorer Ailton (18 goals), who is recovering from a cold, and Moenchengladbach went ahead after 51 minutes when Vaclav Sverkos scored with a looping header from the far post.
The home team's lead lasted only three minutes. Striker Ivan Klasnic, who is still negotiating a contract extension with Bremen, equalized after a series of 'Gladbach defensive errors. Five minutes later, Nelson Valdez headed onto the crossbar for Bremen.
Bremen was left with 10 men with 20 minutes remaining when defender Mladen Krstajic was sent off after tangling with Sverkos.
But Bremen wasn't just happy protecting the draw. Ailton, who had come in after 62 minutes, took a late corner, 'Gladbach's defense couldn't clear and Baumann stabbed the ball home for the winner.
In Leverkusen, Frankfurt went ahead after 21 minutes on a deflected header by Ingo Hertzsch, who arrived in Frankfurt from Leverkusen during the winter break.
Oliver Neuville, coming back from injury as a substitute, notched the equalizer in the 61st.
But Ioannnis Amanatidis, another player acquired during the winter break, headed in the winner after 77 minutes to give Frankfurt an unexpected victory and three points badly needed in its battle against relegation.
Kaiserslautern escaped from the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over Cologne, which is also fighting against demotion.
Vratislav Lokvenc controlled the ball superbly in the 22nd minute and then drove it with his left foot to give new Kaiserslautern coach Kurt Jara a victory in his debut. Jara replaced Eric Gerets earlier in the week.
In Wolfsburg, traveling Dortmund fans left their seats for 15 minutes to protest against the team's poor performances, but went home highly satisfied, although they saw Dortmund fall behind.
Martin Petrov converted a penalty in the 36th minute but Dortmund quickly replied.
Niclas Jensen curled a free kick over the wall inside the near post in the 42nd and Jan Koller stabbed the ball home form close range to put Dortmund ahead for good with time running out in the first half.
Midfielders Torsten Frings and Lars Ricken completed Dortmund's victory with second-half goals, while Wolfsburg got another one from striker Fernando Baiano, who had also earned the penalty.
Dortmund snapped an eight-match run without a win.
In Rostock, the home team went ahead through Antonio di Salvo after seven minutes to take early control.
Pint-sized Winfried Sanou rose above the Rostock defense to put Freiburg level after 64 minutes. But Rostock roared back with goals from Magnus Arvidsson, Gernot Plassneger and Razundara Tjikuzu to make up for the absence of top scorer Martin Max, who was suspended.
Bochum, one of the surprises of the season, stayed in contention for a place in the UEFA Cup by earning a 1-1 draw in Hamburg. Bochum even seemed headed for victory with Soeren Colding's goal in the 70th, but Bernardo Romeo struck back in the 82nd for Hamburg.
Italian league
Newly signed Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata netted a second-half goal and set up another in the closing minutes as Bologna stunned Udinese 3-1 on the road Saturday in Italy's top league and moved one point short of the upper half of the standings.
Nakata, who transferred to Bologna from Parma last month, scored his team's second goal with a long-distance free kick in the 47th minute, and led the quick counterattack which offered midfielder Giuseppe Colucci the chance for Bologna's third goal in the 88th at Friuli stadium.
In first-half injury time, Udinese's Czech midfielder Marek Jankulovski had leveled after an early goal by Bologna's imaginative forward Tomas Locatelli.
Bologna, recovering from a disappointing start, piled up 24 points, one behind ninth-place Chievo, which suffered a home defeat by lowly Lecce 3-2 in the only other match of the day.
Dutch Premiership
AZ Alkmaar recovered form Saturday to trounce troubled FC Volendam 3-0 and stay in fourth place in the Dutch Premiership.
The top three all play Sunday with the lunchtime clash between Ajax and PSV Eindhoven crucial in a two-horse title race. Ajax has a game in hand with the sides level on 46 points, nine clear of third-place Feyenoord.
PSV has an excellent record on trips to Amsterdam with six wins and two draws since Ajax last managed a home win.
Last week, AZ dropped playmaker Barry van Galen, midfielder Stein Huysegems and top scorer Ali Elkhattabi after a run of three lackluster performances. All three responded to the rebuke with a goal against outclassed Volendam.
Elkhattabi has now scored 13 this season, only two behind league leading marksman Mateja Kezman, expected to make his first start this year for PSV on Sunday.
NAC Breda came back from 3-1 down at halftime to edge SC Heerenveen 4-3. Henk Vos won the game from the penalty spot with eight minutes remaining after defender Erik Edman knocked down Hungarian Csaba Feher, NAC's best player on the night.
The defeat allowed FC Twente Enschede to hop over Heerenveen into fifth place on the strength of a 2-0 win over seemingly doomed bottom club FC Zwolle. Congolese born striker Blaise N'Kufo struck early and Georgian winger Georgi Gakhokizde wrapped up the points with a crafty lob.
French league
Monaco extended its lead in the French first division with a hearty 2-0 victory over Metz on Saturday, as top threat Lyon stumbled to an embarassing loss at home.
The league leader, even without injured team captain Ludovic Giuly, manhandled a stumbling Metz and climbed to 51 points. Monaco was seven points clear of closest rivals Auxerre and Lyon.
Jaroslav Plasil netted the first goal for Monaco, benefitting from a Metz defense that appeared to believe that the ball had gone out of play. Defender Gael Givet scored the insurance goal early in the second half.
Defending champion Lyon suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat at home to lowly Guingamp, which scored in the 92nd minute on a Nisa Savelgic flip-kick past goalie Gregory Coupet.
Auxerre vaulted into second, ahead of Lyon on goal difference, with a solid 2-0 victory over Rennes. The defeat for Rennes was its first of the season at home.
Paris Saint-Germain, in fourth, thrilled the home crowd with a scoring frenzy en route to a 6-1 thrashing of Montpellier.
Fifth-placed Sochaux fell 2-0 away to Lille, whose goalie Gregory Wimbee parried two tough shots in frenetic play midway into the second half, then later blocked a penalty kick.
A strong but far from dominant Marseille eked out a 2-1 win over Ajaccio, only after France international Steve Marley netted the game-winner through the goalie's legs in injury time.
Egyptian striker Hossam Ahmed Mido netted a ricocheting ball off the goalkeeper to open the scoring for Marseille.
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