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| November 24, 2002 | Sunday | Ramazan 18, 1423 |
Arsenal and Liverpool beaten as United win
LONDON, Nov 23: League leaders Arsenal and Liverpool were both beaten 3-2 while a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat trick fired Manchester United to a 5-3 victory over Newcastle United in a Premier League goal bonanza Saturday.
Arsenal came unstuck at St Mary’s, where Southampton have not been beaten all season, and also had England defender Sol Campbell sent off for a foul which cost them a penalty.
Second-placed Liverpool went down at Loftus Road to Fulham after two goals from the hosts’ Argentine striker Facundo Sava, while Chelsea snatched a 1-1 draw at Bolton Wanderers.
Everton clocked up their sixth consecutive league win by beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0, but there were more goals galore in Aston Villa’s 4-1 win over struggling West Ham United.
Paul Scholes, commanding the midfield, put Manchester United ahead in the 25th minute when he stole forward to volley home Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s cross from the left into the roof of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Solskjaer, a striker playing well in an unaccustomed right midfield position, scored the fifth in the 55th after van Nistelrooy had taken his tally to 50 by completing a 15-minute hat-trick two minutes earlier.
The Dutchman’s first two goals, a close-range header from a Mickael Silvestre cross and a stoppage time tap-in from Diego Forlan’s low shot, gave Manchester United a 3-1 halftime lead.
Newcastle scored a surprise equaliser in the 35th minute when Olivier Bernard crossed from the left and the ball sailed over Fabien Barthez and in off the far post. Barthez took a step forward first as he misjudged the flight of the ball.
Alan Shearer appeared to have put the visiting back into the match when he scored his 100th premier league goal for Newcastle with a shot into the top corner from a tapped Gary Speed free kick.
But the Manchester side restored their two-goal lead with van Nistelrooy, apparently lucky not to be pulled back for offside, racing into the box to meet Forlan’s pull-back close to Shay Given’s right-hand post with a crisp header.
Craig Bellamy headed Newcastle’s third past three static United defenders after Shearer had headed Nolberto Solano’s corner into the middle 15 minutes from time.
The victory temporarily lifted United into fourth to within six points of leaders Arsenal and five of second-placed Liverpool, who were away at Southampton and Fulham respectively later in the day.
Results:
Aston Villa 4 West Ham United 1
Bolton Wanderers 1 Chelsea 1
Everton 1 West Bromwich 0
Fulham 3 Liverpool 2
Manchester United 5 Newcastle United 3
Middlesbrough 3 Manchester City 1
Southampton 3 Arsenal 2
Sunderland 0 Birmingham City 1
Bayern increase lead
BERLIN: Bayern Munich increased their Bundesliga lead by winning 2-0 at Kaiserslautern in a clash of extremes Saturday, pushing the four-times German champions deeper into crisis.
First-half goals from playmaker Michael Ballack and Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz lifted Bayern six points clear at the top and left Kaiserslautern at the bottom of the table with just one win from 14 games.
Werder Bremen moved into second place by winning 1-0 at Hertha Berlin courtesy of an early effort from Brazilian striker Ailton.
Champions Borussia Dortmund dropped two spots down to fourth by losing 2-0 at VfL Wolfsburg, Argentine forward Diego Klimowicz scoring twice to inflict on the Ruhr Valley side their second league defeat of the season.
Dortmund are now eight points off the pace, level with third-placed VfB Stuttgart, who crushed Hanover 96 3-0 and have a better goal difference than the 1997 European champions.
German first division results
Hertha Berlin 0 Werder Bremen 1
VfL Wolfsburg 2 Borussia Dortmund 0
Arminia Bielefeld 2 Bayer Leverkusen 2
Borussia M’bach 2 VfL Bochum 2
Schalke 04 2 Hansa Rostock 2
VfB Stuttgart 3 Hanover 96 0
Kaiserslautern 0 Bayern Munich 2
—Reuters
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