LONDON, 5 October 2003 — Arsenal overcame injury problems and the concession of an early goal to beat Liverpool 2-1 and stay top of the Premier League yesterday.
A stunning strike by Robert Pires in an early kickoff at Anfield extended Arsenal’s lead in the standings before Manchester United closed the gap back to one point with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over Birmingham City. Big-spending Chelsea will move level with United on 19 points if they beat Middlesbrough today in the first of their two games in hand.
Fulham, for whom Luis Boa Morte scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Leicester City, moved up to fourth with 14 points.
Arsenal, without injured captain Patrick Vieira and Fredrik Ljungberg, were outplayed for long periods but showed their best battling qualities to record only their second victory at Anfield in 11 premier league visits.
Harry Kewell gave Liverpool a deserved 14th-minute lead with a low left-foot shot from the edge of the area before Brazilian Edu’s deflected header put Arsenal level on the half hour. Manchester United put their Champions League defeat in Stuttgart behind them to end 10-man Birmingham’s unbeaten start to the season.
United struggled to break down the Premier League’s most miserly defense until City goalkeeper Maik Taylor was sent off in the 35th minute for bringing down Paul Scholes. Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy tucked the penalty past replacement keeper Ian Bennett and United added further goals in the second half from Scholes and Ryan Giggs. Two under pressure managers, Peter Reid and Bobby Robson, ended traumatic weeks with smiles on their faces.
Reid’s Leeds United had Seth Johnson’s double to thank for a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers, their first home win of the season.
Alan Shearer’s 250th career league goal gave Newcastle United their first victory of the campaign, 1-0 at home to Southampton.
Wolverhampton Wanderers remained rooted to the foot of the table despite winning their first top-flight game for nearly 20 years, a late goal by Colin Cameron sealing a 1-0 victory over Manchester City.
Tottenham Hotspur’s revival under caretaker manager David Pleat continued as they beat Everton 3-0 at White Hart Lane with goals from Fredrick Kanoute, Gustavo Poyet and Robbie Keane, and Charlton Athletic snatched a 2-1 win at Portsmouth with a last-gasp winner.
Bayern Hammer Hertha
to Close Bundesliga Gap
In Berlin, champions Bayern Munich closed the gap on Bundesliga leaders VfB Stuttgart to one point by crushing struggling Hertha Berlin 4-1 yesterday.
First-half goals from Dutch striker Roy Makaay and playmaker Michael Ballack, followed by two more after the break from midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Hasan Salihamidzic, helped the Bavarian club climb two spots into second.
Hertha were 3-0 down when midfielder Niko Kovac pulled one goal back, but the capital club drop to third from bottom in the standings. Stuttgart were held to a 0-0 draw by bottom-placed Cologne, but extended their unbeaten run to eight matches as their goalkeeper made Bundesliga history.
Timo Hildebrand has now gone 825 minutes without conceding a goal, breaking the previous record of 802 minutes set last season by Bayern’s Oliver Kahn.
Coach Felix Magath’s men could not repeat their brilliant performance in a 2-1 Champions League win over Manchester United on Wednesday but might have picked up three points if Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi had not missed two great chances.
Six-time German champions Borussia Dortmund recorded their first away win of the season by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 courtesy of a first-half goal from striker Giuseppe Reina.
Celtic Wreck Rangers’
Winning Run to Go Top
In Glasgow, Celtic shattered the 100 percent record of champions Rangers in the Scottish Premier League this season when they beat their Glasgow rivals 1-0 at Ibrox yesterday to go top of the table.
Celtic’s goal came less than 20 seconds into the second half when striker John Hartson’s effort was deflected into the net by Rangers’ Georgian defender Zurab Khizanishvili.
Rangers had won all seven of their previous Premier League games this season but Celtic’s win lifted them a point clear of the champions on 22 points after eight games. Third-placed Hearts, on 13 points, were due to play host to Dundee later.
Martin O’Neill’s side fully deserved their victory in a scrappy first Old Firm encounter of the season with Alan Thompson, Henrik Larsson and Hartson all going close to scoring further goals for the visitors.
Celtic’s third successive win against Rangers and their fourth at Ibrox in six visits was achieved despite having several defenders injured or suspended.
Chris Sutton reverted from attack to defense and was outstanding alongside Stanislav Varga as Celtic defended manfully to keep Rangers, who lacked imagination in the vital areas, out in the second half.
