Liverpool move three points clear at top
Liverpool moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League
after they thrashed Newcastle United 5-1 away and second-placed Chelsea
were held to a 2-2 draw at neighbours Fulham on Sunday.
Arsenal ended a run of three successive draws to beat Portsmouth 1-0
at the Emirates Stadium after a late goal from William Gallas to pull
level on points with Aston Villa and Manchester United, neither of whom
were playing.
Liverpool lead the standings with 45 points from 20 matches, three
ahead of Chelsea, followed by United, Villa and Arsenal, all on 35
points, although United have three games in hand on the leaders.
Liverpool assistant manager Sammy Lee told the BBC he was delighted
with the performance, adding: "I hope we have not seen the best of
Liverpool yet as we try to improve on each and every training session
and each and every game.
"We are not conceited about anything we do, we do not blow our own
trumpet - but we are looking to improve between now and the end of the
season." Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear said his plans were wrecked by
the absence of several key players, but told the BBC: "You have to take
your hat off to Liverpool, they were far superior to us on the day. I
think Steven Gerrard was just magnificent, he was the outstanding player
on the pitch and it was a very difficult afternoon for us." At the other
end of the table, West Bromwich Albion beat 10-man Tottenham Hotspur 2-0
with late goals to briefly move off the bottom until Blackburn Rovers
later drew 2-2 with Manchester City, who scored twice in the last six
minutes at Ewood Park.
Wigan Athletic won 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers, Everton beat Sunderland
3-0 at Goodison Park and West Ham United won at home for the first time
in seven league games with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Stoke
City who had Ricardo Fuller sent off for slapping his team mate Andy
Griffin.
Biggest win
Liverpool's win at St James' Park was their biggest this season and
followed a 3-0 demolition of Bolton on Friday.
Gerrard scored twice with Sami Hyypia, Ryan Babel and Xabi Alonso
(penalty) adding the others as Liverpool maintained their drive for
their first title success since 1990.
After Gerrard and Hyypia had broken early Newcastle resistance to put
Liverpool 2-0 up, the home side pulled one back in stoppage time at the
end of the first half when David Edgar headed in from a corner.
However Babel restored Liverpool's two-goal advantage early in the
second half before Gerrard added the fourth after 66 minutes. Alonso
made it 5-1 in the 76th minute after Edgar fouled David Ngog.
There was a thrilling derby at Craven Cottage where Fulham took an
early lead through Clint Dempsey before two goals from Frank Lampard put
Chelsea ahead with 17 minutes to play.
But under coach Roy Hodgson Fulham have become hard to beat and the
home side stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches when Dempsey
scored their equaliser in the dying minutes.
While Chelsea's title hopes were dented by a late goal, Arsenal's
were kept alive by one with Gallas heading the only goal nine minutes
from the end against Portsmouth who hit the woodwork in the first half
through Peter Crouch.
Arsenal, who had drawn their last three games, held on for a victory
as the visitors, now coached by former Arsenal skipper and hero Tony
Adams, lost for the fourth straight league match.
LONDON, Monday (Reuters)
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