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.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Taiwanese gymnast Tang Chia-hung on Sunday topped the men’s horizontal bar event at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup in Osijek, Croatia, scoring 15.233 to take his third title this season. Tang delivered an outstanding performance in the final, earning a difficulty score of 6.500 and an execution score of 8.633 with a 0.1 stick bonus. His closest competitor was Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, who finished second with 14.933 points. It was Tang’s third gold medal in the FIG World Cup series this year, following his horizontal bar wins in Azerbaijan on March 8, and in Turkey on March
The Daredevils yesterday took eight catches in the final as they eked out a victory in the Taiwan Cricket Triangular Tournament against PCCT at Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District. PCCT’s batting lineup collapsed after they asked the Daredevils to bowl in the T20 decider of the weekend tournament that also involved the Formosa Cricket Club. PCCT were bundled out for 76 in 16.2 overs against a disciplined Daredevils attack. Ninad Malwade was the top scorer in the innings with 21, but he was among those who offered chances to the fielders. Shane Ferreira and Jason Cameron took three wickets each, with
This year’s Taiwan Athletics Open, which offers Taiwanese athletes an opportunity to compete against their international peers, would be held under a new name after its organizers had earlier announced the event’s cancelation. In a statement issued yesterday, the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association said the competition would still take place on June 6-7 at Banciao Stadium, but under the name “New Taipei City Athletics Open 2026.” The event was given a new name to emphasize its local identity and conform with the international practice of naming World Athletics Tour events after cities, the association said. It said it would soon
RSS