Andy Cole's two goals earned Manchester City a 2-1 victory Sunday over West Ham, moving City into fourth place in the English Premier League.
Cole scored in the 18th minute, netting a sharp-angled shot from the left side after a build up that started deep in his team's own half. In the 56th, he scored on a rebound that Roy Carroll failed to control.
Second-half substitute Bobby Zamora scored in injury time for the Hammers.
PHOTO: AP
In Sunday's other game in England, Kevin Phillips' first-half goal gave Aston Villa a 1-0 victory over rival Birmingham City.
Phillips, back after missing four games with an injury, scored in the 19th minute with a left-footed shot from 20m. Goalkeeper Maik Taylor got a hand to the ball, but failed to stop it.
Manchester City improved to 17 points -- the same as crosstown rival Manchester United, which leads with a superior goal difference. Chelsea leads the league with 27 points, followed by Tottenham with 18.
Cole, a former Manchester United and England striker, scored the two goals the day after his 34th birthday.
"My little boy asked me yesterday, wouldn't it be nice to get a hat trick to celebrate my birthday. So I dedicated it to him," Cole said.
Asked how much higher City could go in the standings, Cole replied: "We all know there are only a few clubs that can win the championship, and I don't think Manchester City are one of those. But if we can keep playing the way we are playing and, hopefully finish in Europe, everybody will be delighted with it."
Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce credited Cole with his goal-scoring touch -- and something else.
"He's come in and he's got leadership qualities, which probably I didn't realize from afar," Pearce said. "He's been an absolute credit to this club and he's got something to prove."
Battling it out at the bottom of the table, Villa improved to nine points in nine games. Birmingham has six points in nine. It was Villa's first victory in the Premier League against Birmingham.
"We've got to defend better, and we defended better today," Villa manager David O'Leary said. "Birmingham are a team that are very direct. They knock it up to two very big men up there, and they rely on that second ball."
Ricardo Oliveira scored a 17th-minute penalty to give Real Betis a 1-0 win over Getafe.
Getafe, which lost for the first time this season, gave up the penalty when Oliveira was taken down by goalkeeper Luis Garcia.
"There's a first time for everything," Getafe coach Bernd Schuster said. "Today we couldn't take our chances."
Betis midfielder Marcos Assuncao also had a chance, hitting the bar with a free kick early in the second half.
The visitors finished with 10 men when Getafe midfielder Diego Rivas received his second yellow card in the 89th minute.
Getafe now trails leaders Real Madrid and Osasuna by one point. Madrid, which beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 on Saturday, has 15 points.
Celta Vigo also had a chance to move into first place, but lost at Osasuna 2-0 and dropped to fourth with 14 points. Savo Milosevic and Achille Webo scored a goal each.
Thomas Brdaric scored two goals to lead Hannover 96 over FC Cologne 4-1 in a relegation battle.
Both struggling teams were eager to beat competition that could stand in the way of avoiding demotion.
"We worked toward this game for two weeks -- it was a life-and-death win," Hannover coach Ewald Lienen said.
Hannover moved up to 11th, while Cologne's fourth straight loss left it in 13th.
Germany forward Lukas Podolski's pass set up a 47th-minute go-ahead goal by Albert Streit for Cologne, but Hannover responded with three scores in eight minutes.
Eintracht Frankfurt also moved out of the cellar, climbing to 16th, with a 1-0 win at Duisburg. Alexander Meier scored his first Bundesliga goal.
Defending champion Rangers continued to struggle, drawing 0-0 against Dundee United.
The draw left Rangers in fourth place, nine points behind leader Hearts.
Rangers is winless in its last six league games against Dundee United. Rangers played the last few minutes a man short after Sotiris Kyrgiakos was sent off in second-half injury time for his second yellow card.
AC Milan moved into sole possession of second place in the Serie A following a 2-0 win at Cagliari.
Alberto Gilardino and Andriy Shevchenko scored first-half goals for Milan, which has 16 points, five behind leader Juventus.
Gilardino put Milan ahead after only 26 seconds, converting from the center of the area amid four defenders. Shevchenko's goal came on a long shot that Cagliari goalkeeper Fabian Carini could only get a weak hand on.
Filippo Inzaghi made his debut this season, replacing Shevchenko in the 82nd. Inzaghi had not played since the end of last season due to a series of injuries.
Inter Milan, which overwhelmed 10-man Livorno 5-0, is third with 15 points.
Marco Materazzi, Julio Ricardo Cruz, Esteban Cambiasso, Ivan Cordoba and Alvaro Recoba scored for Inter. Brazil striker Adriano, who returned late from South American World Cup qualifying, missed the game.
Reggina notched its second win of the season, 2-0 over Lecce, and struggling Parma was held to a 1-1 draw by winless Treviso.
Salomon Kalou scored a goal and set up another and Feyenoord rallied to beat FC Groningen 4-1.
Feyenoord overtook AZ Alkmaar to lead the overall standings with 21 points.
Defending champion PSV Eindhoven moved to second with 19 points by beating AZ Alkmaar 3-0 on Saturday. AZ is third with 18 points.
Ajax remains fifth, seven points behind Feyenoord after a scoreless draw against Heracles Almelo on Saturday.
Sporting Lisbon slumped to its second defeat in a row, 1-0 at home to Academica and dropped to sixth place.
Brazilian forward Maciel struck in the 29th minute to increase the pressure on Sporting coach Jose Peseiro, the focus of fan protests since the club exited the UEFA Cup. Sporting was last season's defeated UEFA finalist.
After seven rounds, Sporting has 12 points, five shy of unbeaten leader Braga.
Meanwhile, Sporting's crosstown rival Benfica continued its recovery with its first win at FC Porto in 14 years. Benfica had made its worst start to the season, taking one point from its first three games.
Nuno Gomes got two second-half goals to lift the defending champion to fourth and 13 points, one behind Porto.
Braga beat Rio Ave 2-1 on Friday to stay top on 17 points, two more than second-placed Nacional, which drew Guimaraes 0-0.
Sylvain Wiltord scored the winning goa as four-time defending champion Lyon beat visiting Ajaccio 3-2 to move seven points ahead.
Wiltord took a pass from Norway striker John Carew and poked the ball into the bottom corner in the 69th minute. On Wednesday, the France striker scored his 23rd international goal in a 4-0 win over Cyprus.
Unbeaten Lyon has 27 points from 11 matches, seven points clear of Paris Saint-Germain, which lost at rival Marseille 1-0.
Pantelis Konstantinidis scored two second-half goals to help visiting PAOK upset Olympiakos 2-1 and end defending champion's five-match winning streak.
Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure had given Olympiakos the lead early in the second half but the hosts could not find an antidote to PAOK's counterattacking strategy.
The match was played before an empty stadium because of crowd violence in a previous league match.
Despite the loss, Olympiakos remains in first place with 15 points from six games.
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