LONDON, 17 September 2006 — Portsmouth went top of the English Premier League after winning 1-0 at Charlton Athletic yesterday with substitute Lomana Lua Lua scoring the only goal after 74 minutes.

Portsmouth, whose match kicked off at lunchtime, retained top spot after Everton failed to build on last week’s 3-0 derby win over Liverpool and were held to a 2-2 draw by Wigan Athletic at Goodison Park after twice leading.

Portsmouth have 13 points from their opening five matches and have yet to concede a goal. Manchester United are second with a maximum tally of 12 from four while Everton are third with 11 points from five matches.

The other games ended with Reading winning 2-1 at Sheffield United, Bolton Wanderers drawing 0-0 at home with Middlesbrough and Watford drawing 0-0 with Aston Villa, a result good enough to lift Watford off the bottom into 18th place.

Portsmouth have won four of their opening five games and drawn the other and have yet to concede a goal this season.

Lua Lua, who came on as a 64th minute substitute for Benjani Mwaruwari, smacked home a right-footed shot from 25 meters after being set up by Sean Davis.

Everton would have replaced Portsmouth at the top if they had beaten Wigan by four goals but, although they led twice, Wigan pulled them back both times and the points were shared.

Andy Johnson put Everton ahead after 48 minutes, his fifth goal of the season, before Paul Scharner leveled after 61 minutes. James Beattie’s penalty put Everton back in front after 65 minutes before Scharner equalized again two minutes later.

Celtic Stay Top After 1-0

Home Win Over Dunfermline

In Glasgow, Celtic beat Dunfermline 1-0 at home to boost their lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League yesterday thanks to a first half goal from defender Stephen McManus.

He headed home from close range after 31 minutes following a corner by Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.

Dunfermline’s Dutch keeper Jan de Vries pulled off a series of fine saves but he was beaten again in the first half by Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen only for the ball to crash back off the bar.

In other matches Aberdeen won 2-0 at Falkirk, Kilmarnock won 1-0 St Mirren and Inverness Caledonian Thistle drew 0-0 at home with Dundee United.

Bielefeld Strike Late to

Hand Bayern First Defeat

In Berlin, Arminia Bielefeld came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Bayern Munich yesterday, handing the Bundesliga champions their first defeat of the season.

Mark van Bommel scored six minutes into his league debut to put the Bavarians ahead but a mistake in defense allowed Artur Wichniarek in to equalize in the 25th minute.

Bayern, who won 4-0 at home to Spartak Moscow in the Champions League in midweek, could find none of the same spark in attack and Bielefeld clinched a deserved win when Jonas Kamper blasted in from a free kick six minutes from time.

Werder Bremen, runners-up to Bayern last season, were also disappointed. They let slip a 2-0 lead at home to VfB Stuttgart and ended up losing 3-2.

Hamburg SV, who like Werder were beaten in the Champions League in midweek, lost 1-0 away to Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern’s defeat meant Nuremberg’s 1-1 draw at home to Bochum was enough to take them clear at the top of the table with eight points from four games.

Dortmund’s victory took them up into a share of second place on seven points, along with Schalke 04, Bayern and Energie Cottbus, who won 2-0 at home to Mainz.

Schalke, who went into the fourth round of matches as co-leaders, will go two points clear at the top if they win away to Hertha Berlin today.

Le Mans Move Up to Third

With Win at Sedan

In Paris, unheralded Le Mans moved up to third in Ligue 1 with a 2-1 win at promoted Sedan yesterday.

The westerners’ third victory out of six games put them two points behind leaders Olympique Marseille and second-placed champions Olympique Lyon.

Le Mans’s Guinean forward Ismael Bangoura opened the scoring after four minutes with an angled effort from inside the box.

Brazilian defender Paulo Andre doubled their lead with a header from a corner in the 26th.

Algeria defender Nadir Belhadj reduced the arrears for the home side from the edge of the box after 78 minutes.

Le Mans were reduced to 10 men in added time when substitute midfielder Stephane Sessegnon was sent off for a dangerous tackle.