LONDON, 21 September 2003 — Big-spending Chelsea went top of the premier league after cruising to an effortless 5-0 win over bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux yesterday.
Midfielder Frank Lampard and Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink put them 2-0 up at the break before Ireland midfielder Damien Duff tapped in the third and Argentine forward Hernan Crespo came on as a late substitute to score twice.
The totally one-sided game left Chelsea on 13 points, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference and a point clear of champions Manchester United — with their two pursuers meeting in today’s showcase game at Old Trafford.
Southampton moved up to fourth place, their best start to a premier league season, with a 3-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur that puts further pressure on Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle.
Manchester City are a point behind after Paulo Wanchope’s stoppage-time equalizer earned them a 2-2 draw at Fulham. Liverpool are also on 11 whose England strikers Michael Owen and Emile Heskey scored to seal a 2-1 win over Leicester City, as are Birmingham City, 2-0 winners at Leeds United.
But the place to be for entertaining football was Molineux, where Chelsea looked to be in a different league in the day’s early kickoff. Title contenders since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in July and spent 111 million pounds ($180.5 million) rebuilding the team, the London side could easily have been 5-0 up at halftime.
Duff and Crespo, who cost 17 million pounds each, scored their first goals for the west London club and Ranieri was particularly pleased with his Argentine marksman. “With him, Adrian Mutu, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy I’ve got four great strikers,” said Ranieri, who rubbished media reports linking England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson with the manager’s job at Chelsea.
Wolves boss Dave Jones, whose promoted side are rock bottom with one point, one goal scored and 17 conceded from six games, was very disappointed with his players for giving Chelsea so much space.
“They (Chelsea) are good players but you’ve got to match that and compete with that,” Jones said. “Players have got to stand up and be counted.
“There is a lot of anger (in the dressing room). It hurts us, it hurts me, we’re not used to losing games like this — I want some fight from them.”
Birmingham’s good start to the season continued after a twice-taken penalty set them on their way against Leeds. Paul Robinson saved David Dunn’s effort but the referee ruled the keeper had moved too early and Robbie Savage converted the second attempt 11 minutes from time. Mikael Forssell got the second to leave Leeds still without a home win.
Newcastle haven’t won anywhere and their dismal season continued with a 0-0 home draw with Bolton Wanderers that left them third-last with three points from five games. Promoted Portsmouth’s unbeaten start ended with a 2-1 home loss to Blackburn Rovers while Aston Villa beat Charlton Athletic by the same score at Villa Park.
Wigan Athletic consolidated their surprise leadership of the English first division with a 1-0 victory over Watford.
Lee McCulloch’s 11th-minute goal was enough to seal the points and open a two-point gap on Sheffield United, who twice came from behind to beat Cardiff City 5-3.
West Ham United’s stand-in manager Trevor Brooking suffered his first defeat, 2-0 at Gillingham, and third-placed West Bromwich Albion conceded a last-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace. Nottingham Forest missed the chance to climb to second place when they crashed 3-1 at Crewe Alexandre.
In Glasgow, Celtic recovered from their Champions League defeat in Munich to go top of the Scottish premier division with a 3-0 home victory over Motherwell. Second-half goals from Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and Shaun Maloney moved Martin O’Neill’s side above Glasgow rivals Rangers, who play third-placed Hearts today.
Stuttgart Beat Dortmund
to Set the Pace
VfB Stuttgart extended their unbeaten run to six with a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund yesterday that also put them at the top of the Bundesliga standings. Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi hit the winner after the break for last season’s runners-up, the only unbeaten side six games into the season.
Bayer Leverkusen dropped from the top to second place a point back after a spectacular 3-3 draw with 10-man Bayern Munich at the Olympic stadium.
