LONDON, 15 October 2006 — Premier League leaders Manchester United put the pressure on champions Chelsea by coming from a goal down to trounce Wigan Athletic 3-1 yesterday.
With Chelsea playing Reading in the day’s late kickoff, United set the pace by moving three points clear of both Portsmouth and Jose Mourinho’s men with an impressive second half display.
Goals by Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, French striker Louis Saha and Norwegian forward Ole Gunnar Solskjaer turned the game around after Wigan left back Leighton Baines had opened the scoring with a 25-meter piledriver.
Arsenal captain Thierry Henry scored one and made another as they beat Watford 3-0, while Liverpool were spared defeat against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield by a Craig Bellamy equalizer against his old club in a 1-1 draw.
Aston Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel missed a penalty and scored an own goal in the space of three minutes in their 1-1 draw with 10-man Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth beat struggling West Ham United 2-0 and Middlesbrough edged Everton 2-1.
The day’s early action at the JJB Stadium was only four minutes old when Baines crashed home his shot from a free kick, giving United keeper Edwin Van Der Sar no chance.
Though United took charge of the game, they had to wait until the 62nd minute before equalizing through Vidic, heading home a Ryan Giggs corner. Solskjaer wrapped up the points in stoppage time to make United look good value for their place at the top. West Ham’s defeat left them in the relegation zone, above Watford and Charlton Athletic, while Sheffield United earned a point with a 0-0 draw at Manchester City.
Bayern Knock Hertha
Off Top; Werder Score Six
In Berlin, Bayern Munich knocked Hertha Berlin off the top of Bundesliga table with a 4-2 home victory yesterday while Werder Bremen moved to first with an easy 6-0 win at VfL Bochum. Germany striker Lukas Podolski scored his first Bundesliga goal for Bayern and Roy Makaay, Claudio Pizarro and Willy Sagnol added scores for the champions, who had struggled with just seven goals and 10 points in their first six matches.
Werder now lead on 13 points, ahead of Bayern and Schalke 04, 2-1 winners at Hamburg, on goal difference. Werder are at home to Bayern next Saturday.
Nakamura Hat Trick Sparks
Celtic; Rangers Lose
In Glasgow, Celtic opened a six-point lead in the Scottish Premier League with an emphatic 4-1 defeat of Dundee United yesterday.
The champions are also 10 points clear of archrivals Rangers who went down to a shock 1-0 home defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle.Midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura hit a hat-trick as Celtic moved to 25 points from 10 games. Second-placed Hearts, who have 19, play Hibernian today.
Rangers are third on 15 points, level with Kilmarnock, who beat Aberdeen 1-0, and one point ahead of Caley and St. Mirren.
Dundee United took a shock lead after six minutes when Noel Hunt lashed in a low shot from just inside the box. They then passed up a great chance to make it 2-0 when Barry Robson screwed a 10-meter shot wide from a cut back by Trinidad and Tobago forward Collin Samuel after 18 minutes.
Juninho Makes Amends
With Late Winner for Lyon
In Paris, a last-minute strike by Juninho, who had missed a penalty a few minutes earlier, gave Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyon a 2-1 victory over archrivals St. Etienne in a thrilling derby at Gerland stadium yesterday.
The influential playmaker netted the winner from close-range to give the French champions their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions. The hosts had taken the lead when midfielder Tiago flicked home from six meters to beat goalkeeper Jeremie Janot in the 65th minute. But St. Etienne hit back three minutes later through midfielder Yohan Hautcoeur who had his shot from 20 meters deflected into the net by defender Eric Abidal.
