LONDON, 13 August 2007 — Marcus Hahnemann made five top saves and Reading held defending champion Manchester United to a 0-0 draw in the Premier League yeserday.
The United States goalkeeper defied the Red Devils at Old Trafford from beginning its new campaign with a victory.
In yesterday’s other games, Arsenal scored two goals in the last seven minutes to beat Fulham 2-1 and make up for an embarrassing blunder by goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
Chelsea also conceded an early goal against Birmingham but hit back to win 3-2 and set a record 64 games unbeaten at home, moving ahead of the Liverpool team that went 63 unbeaten from 1978-81.
Ferguson didn’t start either of his four new signings — Owen Hargreaves, Carlos Tevez, Nani and Anderson — as United began its defense with a familiar lineup. The Red Devils lost Wayne Rooney with an injured left foot at halftime, and the team struggled to break down Reading’s well-organized defense.
Hahnemann made saves from John O’Shea and Michael Carrick and, after Reading was reduced to 10 men following the 73rd-minute sending off of Dave Kitson for a lunge at Patrice Evra, he made three more standout blocks.
He dived to his right to parry a 25-meter free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo and then recovered to save Paul Scholes’ header. In injury time, he dived to his left to block a low shot from Carrick.
At the Emirates Stadium, the match was only 52 seconds old when Lehmann gave Fulham a goal.
The Germany goalkeeper collected a back pass from Gael Clichy and failed to control the ball as he tried to pass it to the left back. The ball rolled to David Healy and he stabbed the ball into the net.
Fulham continued to stifle Arsenal’s talented midfield, but the Gunners finally equalized when Carlos Bocanegra blocked Kolo Toure and conceded a penalty. Robin van Persie hit the spot kick into the roof of the net.
There was a flare-up as Arsenal tried to retrieve the ball quickly from the back of the net and three players — Fulham’s Tony Warner and Papa Bouba Diop and Arsenal’s Mathieu Flamini — were shown the yellow card.
Warner was only on the field because Fulham’s first-choice goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, injured his hand during the warm-up.
Arsenal chased the winner and it came from Alexander Hleb’s 12-meter shot in the final minute.
Former Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell gave Birmingham the lead at Stamford Bridge in the 15th. The Finn’s header sent Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech the wrong way after Liam Ridgewell had flicked on a free kick by Gary McSheffrey. Signed from Bayern Munich, Peru striker Claudio Pizarro equalized in the 17th with a low shot from Shaun Wright-Phillips’ cross despite Birmingham goalkeeper Colin Doyle getting both hands to the ball.
Florent Malouda, another of manager Jose Mourinho’s new signings, made it 2-1 in the 31st after Salomon Kalou put him clear of the defense. But Birmingham leveled five minutes later when Olivier Kapo easily beat Glenn Johnson and cut inside to hit a powerful rising shot inside the far post.
Michael Essien made it 3-2 with a 20-meter shot in the 50th, although Doyle was again at fault. Back from injury, Didier Drogba replaced Pizarro midway through the second half and almost scored an amazing fourth goal. With Doyle caught well out of his area after a poor clearance, the Chelsea striker tried a shot from just inside the Birmingham half but the ball sailed wide.
