LONDON, 2 November 2003 — Arsenal hammered Leeds United 4-1 to stay top of the Premier League yesterday but there was no let-up in the pressure as champions Manchester United and title rivals Chelsea both clocked up victories.
Thierry Henry scored twice and Robert Pires and Gilberto grabbed one apiece at Elland Road as Arsenal swept to an easy victory over struggling Leeds to stay top on 27 points.
But Chelsea stay just a point behind after Romanian striker Adrian Mutu got the only goal of their game at Everton, while United moved on to 25 points after a 3-0 win over Portsmouth. United, beaten at home by Fulham last weekend, made no such mistake at Old Trafford yesterday as Diego Forlan gave them a first-half lead, Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo added his first for the club and fellow substitute Roy Keane smashed home a late third.
Elsewhere, Newcastle United drew 1-1 with 10-man Aston Villa after skipper Alan Shearer had a late penalty saved, Manchester City won 2-0 at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur suffered their first defeat under caretaker boss David Pleat, losing 1-0 at home to Bolton Wanderers.
Wigan Go Top in First Division
Wigan Athletic regained top spot in the first division in fine style yesterday with a crushing 5-0 home win over Crystal Palace.
West Bromwich Albion dropped to second after they were held 0-0 at home by Sunderland, who stayed fifth despite failing to score for the third successive match.
Wigan have 33 points from 17 games, West Brom have 32 from 16 while Norwich City, who won 3-1 at Walsall, have 31 from 16.
Two goals apiece from Andy Liddell and Nathan Ellington and one for Geoff Horsfield gave Wigan the points in style at their JJB Stadium. Fourth-placed Sheffield United trailed 2-0 at Stoke City but battled back to take a point with goals from Robert Kozluk and a last-minute penalty from Jack Lester.
West Ham United, in sixth place, kept tabs on the leaders after a 1-1 draw at Coventry City.
Kuranyi Double Helps Stuttgart Back to the Top
In Berlin, two goals from Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi helped VfB Stuttgart jump back to the top of the Bundesliga with a 4-1 victory over SC Freiburg yesterday while champions Bayern Munich slumped to defeat. Substitute forward Christian Tiffert and Belarus midfielder Alexander Gleb also struck for the southerners, who scored three goals within three minutes to move two points clear of leaders Bayer Leverkusen, visiting Kaiserslautern today.
Stuttgart, surprise runners-up last term, are the only team undefeated 11 games into the season. Champions Bayern Munich continued their mediocre start by crashing to a 2-0 defeat by Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen.
Bayern, who needed a shootout to move past second division Nuremberg in a German Cup tie on Tuesday, remain in fourth place but drop six points off the pace.
Sutton Hat Trick Keeps Celtic Five Points Clear
In London, Chris Sutton hit a hat trick and leaders Celtic chalked up their 10th successive league win by demolishing Kilmarnock 5-0 to stay five points clear of Rangers yesterday.
Champions Rangers defeated bottom club Partick Thistle 3-1 at Ibrox with two goals from Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta.
After 11 matches, Celtic have 31 points while Rangers have 26. Hearts, who beat Livingston 3-1 at home, are third on 20 points. It was a triumphant return to Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park for Sutton, who was hit with a four-match ban for receiving two red cards for abusing the match officials in the aftermath of Celtic’s 4-0 win on the final day of last season. Sutton’s first came from a 20th minute penalty after a foul on Stilian Petrov but Celtic had to wait until the 70th minute to double their lead through John Hartson’s header.
Sutton then added his second and after substitute Shaun Maloney had hit a fourth, the striker completed his hat trick in the 90th minute to take his tally to nine for the season. Manager Martin O’Neill was delighted with his side’s form ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match with Anderlecht, who beat Celtic 1-0 in Belgium a fortnight ago.
