Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Arsenal turned up the heat on their Premier League title rivals with a 5-0 thrashing of Derby at The Emirates stadium on Saturday.
Togo striker Adebayor was joined on the score-sheet by Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby as the Gunners made it six wins out of six in all competitions and extended their unbeaten start to the season to nine matches.
Liverpool also remain unbeaten this season but their form has been nowhere near as impressive.
PHOTO: AP
Rafa Benitez's side had to suffer the ignominy of being booed off by their own supporters after being held to a 0-0 draw at home to Birmingham -- a result that again put the spotlight on the manager's rotation policy, which resulted in Fernando Torres spending the first hour on the bench.
Manchester City hung on to second place after an entertaining 3-3 draw at Fulham but Sven-Goran Eriksson's side would be overtaken if either Manchester United or Chelsea won their meeting at Old Trafford yesterday.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will be able to sit back and watch that match knowing that his side's edge over at least one of their major rivals will be increased.
The Frenchman is revelling in the determination displayed by his young squad.
"They showed they mean business," Wenger said. "They are not there to show off. They want to achieve something together."
Arsenal were without four first-choice players -- Jens Lehmann, William Gallas, Emmanuel Eboue and Alexander Hleb -- through injury.
But they only needed 10 minutes to stamp their dominance on the Premiership newcomers, Abou Diaby evading two challenges on the edge of the area before hammering the ball high into the net.
Derby were unable to cope with the Gunners' high-tempo style and Adebayor doubled the lead after 25 minutes when he ran on to Cesc Fabregas's through ball and went round the goalkeeper.
The Togo striker added his second from the penalty spot five minutes after the restart, Fabregas's 7th goal of the season made it four and Adebayor completed his hat-trick 11 minutes from time.
Manchester City twice came from behind at Fulham, goals from Martin Petrov and Emile Mpenza cancelling our a Simon Davies header and a free-kick by Hameur Bouazza.
Petrov's second goal then gave City the lead before former England midfielder Danny Murphy grabbed a point for Fulham.
Elsewhere, Liam Miller secured a barely deserved point for Sunderland against local rivals Middlesbrough with a late equalizer that earned Roy Keane's side a 2-2 draw.
Promising midfielder Grant Leadbitter had given Sunderland the lead inside two minutes.
But Boro's fightback a headed equalizer from Julio Arca and they looked the far more likely winners after Stewart Downing cut in from the left and beat Craig Gordon with a stunning right-foot drive.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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