Henry’s hat trick puts champions Arsenal into second place
LONDON, April 2: Manchester United’s hopes winning the title was virtually blown away as they were held to a goalless draw by lowly Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford as Premiership champions Arsenal leapfrogged Sir Alex Ferguson’s side into second place on Saturday.
Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Norwich at Highbury saw Arsene Wenger’s side move to within ten points of leaders Chelsea, who play Southampton in Saturday’s late game.
Manchester United dominated the game against Rovers with Roy Keane’s rasping drive off the post on 40 minutes being the closest they came to scoring in the first half.
A hat trick from Thierry Henry helped Arsenal to their big win over Norwich at Highbury to maintain their slim Premiership chances.
He slotted twice past Robert Green from the edge of the box before Darren Huckerby brought the strugglers back into it with a fine 33rd-minute strike. Freddie Ljungberg’s header on 50 minutes made sure of the points before Henry completed the rout on 66 minutes.
Newcastle had three men sent off as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat against Aston Villa at St James Park.
Juan Pablo Angel blasted past Shay Given to open the scoring on six minutes before two second-half penalties from Gareth Barry, the first after Steven Taylor was sent off for deliberate handball, made sure of the points. Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were then dismissed after fighting on the pitch.
Franck Queudrue scored the only goal of the game with a powerful header on 38 minutes as Middlesbrough carved a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Darren Carter earned Birmingham a point after he equalised the opener from Tottenham’s Stephen Kelly as Birmingham and Spurs drew 1- 1 at St Andrew’s. Liverpool snatched a late 1-0 victory over Bolton at Anfield thanks to Igor Biscan’s 86th-minute winner.
In the day’s early kick-off, Chris Perry scored in the second minute of injury time to give Charlton a 2-2 draw against Manchester City at the Valley.
Richard Dunne opened the scoring for City before Shaun Bartlett’s close-range effort equalised. Robbie Fowler’s six-yard finish on 38 minutes looked to have won it for City before defender Perry’s last-gasp leveller.
Results
Arsenal 4 Norwich 1
Birmingham 1 Tottenham 1
Charlton 2 Manchester City 2
Crystal Palace 0 Middlesbrough 1
Liverpool 1 Bolton 0
Manchester United 0 Blackburn 0
Newcastle 0 Aston Villa 3
Playing later:
Southampton v Chelsea (1615 GMT)
Playing Sunday
Fulham v Portsmouth (1230 GMT)
West Brom v Everton (1505 GMT)
Bayern stay top
BERLIN: Bayern Munich will be without Peru striker Claudio Pizarro for their Champions League quarterfinal first leg showdown with Chelsea after he was injured in Saturday’s 3-0 win at VfL Wolfsburg.
The victory, Bayern’s fifth in their last six league matches, kept them top of the German Bundesliga but it came at a price with Pizarro suffering a thigh injury in the sixth minute. He is expected to be sidelined for 10 to 12 days, ruling him out of Wednesday’s first leg against the English league leaders in London and possibly the return leg in Munich on April 12.
Schalke 04, who trail Bayern on goal difference, also won easily, beating FC Nuremberg 4-1. Bayern, chasing their 19th Bundesliga title, and Schalke, who have not won it since 1958, both have 56 points with seven matches left.
Schalke went top three weeks ago after beating Bayern but lost the leadership a week later after losing to Mainz.
