Liverpool’s English Premier League title hopes suffered a huge setback as they lost 3-1 away to Fulham on Saturday and finished the match at Craven Cottage down to nine men.
Liverpool’s sixth loss in seven matches left them nine points off the top of the table and undid much of the good work achieved by last week’s win over champions Manchester United.
“If you see the first half, it is difficult to explain the second-half,” bewildered Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez told Sky Sports.
PHOTO: EPA
In all, eight red cards were shown in Saturday’s matches — a record for one day in the Premier League.
Table-toppers Chelsea maintained their lead over United with a second 4-0 win this week over Bolton Wanderers.
Second-half goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney saw United keep Chelsea’s lead to two points after they beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Old Trafford in Saturday’s late kick-off.
Earlier, Arsenal enjoyed bragging rights in north London after a 3-0 derby win over Tottenham Hotspur.
“Do we have enough to win the title? I say yes,” delighted Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said.
At the other end of the table, basement club Portsmouth won in the league for only the second time this season, beating Wigan 4-0 at Fratton Park with Aruna Dindane scoring a hat-trick.
“I thought we thoroughly deserved the win,” said Pompey manager Paul Hart after a second 4-0 home success in a matter of days following their League Cup rout of Stoke. Second-bottom West Ham drew 2-2 with Sunderland, also the scoreline in Stoke’s match against Wolves. Everton and Aston Villa, who both had a player sent-off, drew 1-1 at Goodison Park.
Burnley added to the pressure on Hull manager Phil Brown with a 2-0 victory over the relegation candidates at Turf Moor.
“I expect to be manager of this football club in the Premier League next year,” a defiant Brown said afterwards.
At Craven Cottage, Fulham went ahead against the run of play when striker Bobby Zamora turned in a Damien Duff cross in the 24th minute.
But before half-time Liverpool were level, with Spain’s Fernando Torres pouncing after Andriy Voronin’s header came back off Aaron Hughes.
Fulham regained the lead when Norway’s Erik Nevland struck from close range in the 73rd minute.
Worse followed for the Reds, with defenders Phillip Degen and Jamie Carrragher sent-off for fouls on Clint Dempsey and Zamora respectively. Fulham wrapped up the match when Dempsey netted three minutes from time.
Chelsea took the lead on the stroke of half-time through a Frank Lampard penalty after Bolton’s Jlloyd Samuel was sent-off for a foul on Didier Drogba.
And Chelsea doubled their lead after Deco scored in the 61st minute following good work by Nicolas Anelka. Zat Knight’s own goal and Drogba’s late effort made it 4-0.
Robin van Persie scored twice as Arsenal put Tottenham’s title aspirations in perspective. The Dutchman opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when he turned in Bacary Sagna’s cross at the near-post.
From the kick-off, Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas surged through the visitors’ defense to make it 2-0.
Van Persie piled on the misery for Harry Redknapp’s team in the 60th minute.
Pompey were on their way to a first league win at Fratton Park this season when Dindane scored his first Premier League goal in the 35th minute after running on to Michael Brown’s through ball.
Frederic Piquionne scored just before the break before the previously misfiring Dindane grabbed two more goals for a hat trick.
Graham Alexander marked his 100th appearance for Burnley with two goals, starting with a 20th minute penalty. Hull’s Geovanni found the back of the net with a free-kick but his effort was ruled out for a foul. The Brazilian was then sent-off and Alexander added a second for Burnley.
West Ham went 2-0 up through goals from Guillermo Franco and Carlton Cole but Sunderland hit back courtesy of Andy Reid’s free-kick. However, the hosts were reduced to 10 men when striker Kenwyne Jones was sent-off for a push on Herita Ilunga.
But Sunderland leveled through Kieran Richardson and then West Ham were a man down when Radislav Kovac was dismissed.
Stoke were also 2-0 up, through a George Elokobi own-goal and Matthew Etherington before Jody Craddock, who hadn’t scored in the Premier League for nearly five years, struck twice for Wolves.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS