LONDON, 17 October 2004 — Robert Pires and Thierry Henry combined to give champions Arsenal a classy 3-1 victory over Aston Villa at Highbury yesterday.
Arsenal’s record 48-match unbeaten league record was briefly under threat when Lee Hendrie gave Villa an early lead but two goals by Pires either side of an Henry strike gave Arsene Wenger’s team three deserved points.
Chelsea suffered their first defeat under coach Jose Mourinho when the Premier League title contenders went down 1-0 at lowly Manchester City. An 11th-minute Nicolas Anelka penalty caused the upset at the City of Manchester stadium and left champions Arsenal five points clear at the top after they had cantered to a 3-1 win over Aston Villa earlier in the day.
Arsenal are 11 points clear of Manchester United who were held 0-0 at Birmingham City.
Everton stayed third on 19 points after a 1-0 home win over Southampton. Ten-man Liverpool fought back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Fulham, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink hit a hat trick in Middlesbrough’s 4-0 win at 10-man Blackburn and Bolton beat Crystal Palace 1-0.
Arsenal will now attempt to make it 50 league games unbeaten when they face bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford today.
Hendrie smashed home a 20-meter shot at Highbury after only three minutes but Villa, shorn of several players through injury, struggled to live with Arsenal after that.
Pires converted a 19th-minute penalty to equalize after Henry was fouled.
Henry made it 2-1 seconds before halftime with his eighth league goal of the season, bending the ball past Villa’s Dutch keeper Stefan Postma who also made a string of fine saves in a one-way second half.
Pires cracked in Arsenal’s third after 72 minutes following more fine work by Henry.
One worry for Arsene Wenger, however, was the sight of captain Patrick Vieira limping off midway through the second half after a heavy challenge.
At Craven Cottage, Portuguese forward Luis Boa Morte pounced twice in the space of six first-half minutes to put Fulham seemingly in control against Liverpool.
Rafael Benitez’s team pulled one back in the second half when Milan Baros’ shot veered in off Fulham defender Zat Knight.
Baros smashed in a rebound to equalise after 71 minutes before Liverpool’s Spanish defender Josemi was sent off. But Xabi Alonso, with a fine free kick, and Igor Biscan scored in a frantic finish to secure Liverpool their first away league win of the season.
Everton fans had to wait until two minutes from time before Leon Osman gave their team victory over struggling Southampton at Goodison.
A disputed Kevin Davies header gave Bolton the points against Palace at the Reebok on the stroke of halftime. Palace claimed furiously Davies was offside but the goal stood.
Bolton rose to fourth on 15 points, one point above Middlesbrough and Manchester United. Palace slipped to bottom after West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City, who started the day at the foot of the table, drew 0-0 at the Hawthorns.
Montella Inspires Roma to First Away Win of Season
In Milan, Vincenzo Montella confirmed his return to form as AS Roma won 2-0 at Livorno yesterday to claim their first away win of the Serie A season.
Montella set up the opening goal for Francesco Totti on the half hour when he chipped a blocked shot into the path of Totti who fired home a volley from close range.
A heavy storm forced the match to be halted for 10 minutes just before the interval but Roma kept firm control of the game after the break.
Montella claimed Roma’s second, and his sixth goal of the season, with a superbly taken solo goal in the 69th minute to secure three points for new coach Luigi Del Neri who was taking charge for just the second time since German Rudi Voeller quit.
Roma have had a troubled start to the season and the victory was the first since their opening day win over Fiorentina.
Livorno are bottom and remain without a win this season. Roma are away to German club Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday. Leaders Juventus face the early season surprise package Messina at the Delle Alpi stadium later.
Stuttgart Top After Beating Dortmund, Bayern Lose
In Berlin, unbeaten VfB Stuttgart moved top of the Bundesliga with a convincing 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund yesterday but Bayern Munich’s recovery ended as they were humbled 1-0 by visiting Schalke 04.
Andreas Hinkel put Stuttgart ahead in the 52nd minute and Brazilian Cacau cashed in on a Kevin Kuranyi pass for the second 16 minutes later as they moved on to 20 points from eight games.
VfL Wolfsburg, the surprise pre-weekend leaders, are second on 18 points but can reclaim the lead with a win today at Hanover 96. Bayern, in an uninspiring warm-up for their Champions League showdown with Juventus on Tuesday, dropped to fourth on 14 points having been overtaken by FSV Mainz (15), who hit two late goals to beat champions Werder Bremen 2-1.
Playing before a sold-out home crowd of 48,000, Stuttgart’s league-leading defense had little trouble against Dortmund and goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand had another clean sheet — extending his run to 682 minutes without surrendering a goal.
