LONDON, 3 February 2008 — Arsenal swapped places with champions Manchester United at the top of the Premier League yesterday after a 3-1 victory at Manchester City preceded United’s 1-1 draw away at Tottenham Hotspur.
Two goals for Emmanuel Adebayor and one for Eduardo de Silva made Arsenal the first team to win at City in the league this season and put them on 60 points.
United, who could have returned to the summit with three points in a later kickoff at White Hart Lane, trailed to Dimitar Berbatov’s first half effort but leveled three minutes into stoppage time with a close-range Carlos Tevez volley that went in off Tottenham defender Michael Dawson.
Liverpool claimed their first Premier League victory since December as three second half goals clinched a 3-0 win over Sunderland to lift the gathering gloom around Rafa Benitez’s team.
With Liverpool’s hopes of competing for their first title in 18 years long since receded, the five-time European champions have targeted a fourth-placed finish as the best they can possibly achieve.
But, for nearly an hour at Anfield, Sunderland’s disciplined and hard-working performance made it appear that Liverpool would lose ground on even this modest target.
Ultimately, they were rescued by Peter Crouch and Fernando Torres, each of whom scored within the space of 13 minutes to allow Liverpool to coast to just their fifth home league win in 12 attempts this season. In the 56th minute, a Liverpool attack broke down with the ball finding its way to Jamie Carragher on the right wing.
United are two points behind, while third-placed Chelsea are six adrift after drawing 1-1 at Portsmouth for whom deadline day signing Jermain Defoe scored on his debut. Everton stayed fourth after a 0-0 draw at Blackburn Rovers while at the bottom end of the table there were important victories for Wigan Athletic against West Ham United and Bolton Wanderers over Reading. Bottom club Derby County drew 1-1 away with Birmingham City. Arsenal were seconds away from a three-point lead but United minimized the damage of a below-par performance with virtually the last kick of the game at White Hart Lane to deny Spurs a first win over them since 2001. With virtually every player on the pitch inside the Spurs area for a late corner, including United keeper Edwin Van der Sarr, Tevez connected at the near post. Tottenham, beaten 3-1 by United in the FA Cup last week, were good value for their lead, given to them in the 21st minute by Bulgarian Berbatov after Van der Sarr failed to hold a low cross from Aaron Lennon.
Earlier, the prolific Adebayor took his league tally this season for Arsenal to 18. He opened the scoring after nine minutes, then turned provider after 26, heading down Gael Clichy’s cross to Eduardo who chested down and volleyed in.
Hamburg Lose Ground After
Draw With Hanover
In Berlin, Hamburg SV dropped to fourth place yesterday when they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Hanover 96 in their first game back after the Bundesliga’s six-week break.
Hamburg, looking creaky in defense and hesitant going forward, fell behind in the 40th minute when Hungarian midfielder Szabolcs Huszti converted a penalty.
The home side grabbed the equalizer through Ivica Olic with 20 minutes still to go but they could do nothing to avoid a fourth successive league match without a win.
The result meant Hamburg slipped six points behind Bayern Munich, who strengthened their position on Friday when they won 2-1 at Hansa Rostock with goals from Franck Ribery and Luca Toni.
Bayern lead the table with 39 points from 18 games. Werder Bremen, with 36 from 17, will draw level once again if they win their home match against Bochum today. Bayer Leverkusen moved up to third on 33 points, ahead of Hamburg on goal difference, after coming from behind to win 3-2 away to Energie Cottbus.
Celtic Coast to 5-1 Scottish FA Cup Win
In Glasgow, Scott McDonald grabbed two goals as holders Celtic coasted to a 5-1 Scottish FA Cup fifth round win at Kilmarnock yesterday.
Zander Diamond score the only goal in Aberdeen’s 1-0 win over second division Hamilton Academicals, while St. Mirren and Dundee United slugged out a goalless draw.
McDonald blasted the opener for Celtic in the 22nd minute from a couple of meters as he ran in to meet a low cross from Paul Caddis on the right. Celtic eased into a 2-0 lead in the second half when Gary Caldwell headed home in the 52nd minute after Italian Massimo Donati flicked on a corner by Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.
In other matches featuring second division teams, Livingston drew 0-0 with Partick Thistle, while Morton slumped to a 2-0 home defeat by Queen of the South with a header from Sean O’Connor in the 46th minute and a late strike from substitute John Stewart.
