LONDON, 25 September 2005 — Chelsea’s Frank Lampard fired the champions to a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa but there was a shock for Manchester United as they went down 2-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers yesterday.
Chelsea’s seventh league win in as many games gave them a double-digit lead over their main title rivals after United were stunned by two goals from Norwegian forward Morten Gamst Pedersen and Arsenal drew 0-0 at West Ham.
Charlton Athletic’s charmed start to the season continued as they stayed second with a 2-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion, while England striker Michael Owen was Newcastle United’s match- winner as they beat Manchester City 1-0.
Everton were booed off after losing 1-0 at home to promoted Wigan Athletic, their eighth defeat in nine games this season in all competitions. Liverpool needed a late penalty from France striker Djibril Cisse to draw 2-2 at Birmingham City. But the extraordinary message from the day’s action is that with the season barely a month and a half old, holders Chelsea are already looking like champions elect.
They are top on 21 points, ahead of Charlton (15) and four clubs including Manchester United on 11 points. Arsenal are seventh on 10 points.
Though they conceded their first league goal of the season after six clean sheets, Chelsea’s ability to exert pressure from midfield and up front enabled them to turn a difficult game around. Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel had a hand in both the first two goals, heading on keeper Thomas Sorensen’s long kick for Moore to squeeze an angled shot past Petr Cech in the 44th minute.
The Colombian turned villain just a minute later, though, breaking away from the Villa wall and allowing Lampard’s free kick to soar into the back of the net.
The England midfielder made no mistake from the spot in the 75th minute after Villa’s Olof Mellberg had checked Chelsea’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba in the area.
Manchester United will be reflecting on Paul Scholes’s comments in midweek that their title hopes would be over if they failed to win their next two games against Blackburn and Fulham. Pedersen gave Blackburn a surprise lead when his floated free kick ended up in the net through a packed area.
United, who used Wayne Rooney as a second-half substitute, drew level in the 67th minute when Rovers keeper Brad Friedel failed to hold a Rooney shot and Ruud van Nistelrooy pounced. Arsenal’s title hopes suffered a setback as their injury-hit side — missing forward Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires — failed to break down the Hammers at Upton Park.
Udinese Slip to Third Straight
Serie A Defeat
In Rome, Champions League side Udinese slumped to their third consecutive Serie A defeat when they lost 2-0 to lowly Reggina yesterday.
Udinese had lost their last two Serie A matches against Fiorentina and Juventus, but were firm favorites to beat Reggina, who had failed to earn a point in their opening four games.
The result, which left the club stuck in mid-table with six points from five matches, is bound to prompt fresh criticism of Udinese president Giampaolo Pozzo, who has excluded the team’s top striker Vincenzo Iaquinta from the squad after he refused to extend his contract.
It could have turned out differently for Udinese if an early effort by midfielder Jose Vidigal had not been deflected wide by the outstretched leg of home keeper Ivan Pelizzoli.
The match swung two minutes before halftime when Reggina captain Francesco Cozza turned his marker just outside the area and fired right-footed into the roof of the net.
Reggina sealed victory 14 minutes from time when Francesco Modesto broke the offside trap and flicked the ball across the area for striker Simone Cavalli to finish into an empty net.
Hamburg Bring Bayern
Back Down to Earth
In Frankfurt, Hamburg SV beat leaders Bayern Munich 2-0 yesterday to end the last perfect record in the Bundesliga and close to within a point of the champions.
Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart put Hamburg ahead in the 10th minute and a great strike from former Bayern youth team player Piotr Trochowski clinched victory just past the hour. Bayern went into the game on a 15-match match winning streak — nine games on the run-in to the 2004-05 title and the first six this season — but they looked second best and only a series of good saves from Oliver Kahn spared them a heavier defeat.
With seven games played, Bayern stay top with 18 points, followed by Hamburg on 17.
Third-placed Werder Bremen also closed in, reaching 16 points after winning 2-1 at home to Bayer Leverkusen with goals from Miroslav Klose and Ivan Klasnic.
Schalke climbed to fourth on 13 points, a 2-0 victory at home to Hanover 96 giving them their first league win since mid-August.
Hamburg took advantage of a big slice of luck to take the lead while the sides were still settling.
Trochowski played a ball toward the Bayern goal and a lunge from Ali Karimi deflected the ball into the path of Van der Vaart, who calmly beat Kahn from 10 meters.
