Premier League pacesetters Manchester United and Manchester City ground out wins to stay clear at the top while Arsenal remained in dogged pursuit with a 3-0 victory at Birmingham City on Saturday.
At the other end of the table, Joe Cole struck in stoppage time to earn Liverpool a much-needed 2-1 victory over Bolton Wanderers.
United were well below their best, but triumphed 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion with goals by Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez after the hosts missed a penalty.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Carlos Tevez also missed a spot kick, but City got away with it as Adam Johnson’s 34th-minute goal was enough to clinch a 1-0 home win over Blackpool.
United have 41 points from 19 games with City also on 41 from 21 matches. Arsenal are third with 39 points from 20.
ARSENAL
PHOTO: AFP
Arsenal will be delighted to have succeeded where United, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur failed this season by winning at St Andrews.
They took the lead after 13 minutes when Robin van Persie’s free kick took a deflection and doubled it after 58 when Samir Nasri expertly finished off a quickfire move with his 13th goal of the season.
Birmingham, perhaps tired from the fightback that earned a 1-1 draw against United midweek, struggled to keep up and when Nasri and Cesc Fabregas caused mayhem in the home defense after 66 minutes a Roger Johnson own goal completed the victory.
Before Chelsea were to face Aston Villa yesterday, Tottenham moved back to fourth on 36 points after Gareth Bale’s early header secured a 1-0 victory over Fulham.
Sunderland, who suffered their first home defeat of the season against Blackpool midweek, recovered with a 3-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers to rise to the heady heights of sixth.
West Ham United beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 to climb off the bottom and out of the relegation zone after two wins and two draws from their last four games. Stoke City also overcame Everton 2-0.
MAN UNITED
Manchester United were off the pace throughout their early match at the Hawthorns, but somehow came away with all three points.
They went ahead after three minutes with a Rooney header, his first club goal in open play since March, but West Brom equalized when James Morrison stroked in a superb shot from the edge of the box after 14.
West Brom, who had a good penalty claim turned down in the first half, were awarded one after 63 minutes, but Peter Odemwingie sent his effort horribly wide and they paid the price when Hernandez came off the bench to head in a Rooney corner after 75.
“It is a massive result for us today, a lot of games you have to battle and we had to do that today,” United manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports. “Our two center-halves were magnificent and I thought Wayne Rooney was outstanding, he was unbelievable, he drove us on.”
Tevez will rarely have had so many chances without scoring as he was on the end of most of City’s attacking moves.
After a couple of early near misses the visitors went ahead when Johnson’s deflected shot flew in and then Tevez struck a penalty wide.
The Argentine was through on goal twice more in the second half without finding the net and, having fallen out with the fans last month after briefly saying he wanted to leave, found time to apologize to a section on Saturday after one of his misses.
If Tevez was relieved to hear the final whistle it must have been nothing compared to the feelings of Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson.
LIVERPOOL
After his team’s home defeat by Wolves in midweek it was doom and gloom all round when Bolton went ahead through Kevin Davies late in the first half.
Fernando Torres showed a rare glimpse of form with an excellent equalizer before substitute Cole, who has struggled since his close-season move from Chelsea, enjoyed his finest moment to date in a red shirt.
“I thought we played so well, even at 1-1 I wouldn’t have been desperately disappointed,” Hodgson said. “It showed the character of the players and their determination to turn things round and give us a better 2011 than 2010.”
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
UP IN SMOKE: More than half a dozen riders crashed out of the race, with Marquez’s title chances in doubt after driving off the track with flames flickering from his bike Jorge Martin yesterday won a crash-filled Indonesia MotoGP to extend his championship lead, while closest rival Francesco Bagnaia limited the damage by claiming the final podium place. The win leaves the Pramac Racing rider 21 points ahead of his Italian Ducati rival, who finished third behind Spaniard Pedro Acosta in sweltering conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on Lombok island. In front of a crowd of 60,000 in motorbike-mad Indonesia, the 26-year-old put his tumble in Saturday’s sprint behind him, canceling out the gains his title rival Bagnaia made after securing victory in that race. “Thank you Indonesia. I am very happy.
RSS