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| September 25, 2005 | Sunday | Sha'aban 20, 1426 |
Lampard fires Chelsea as United stumble
LONDON, Sept 24: Chelsea conceded a goal for the first time this season but a Frank Lampard double allowed the champions to recover and stretch their winning start to the Premiership campaign to seven matches. A 2-1 win over Aston Villa kept Jose Mourinho’s men six points clear of second-placed Charlton, who won 2-1 at West Brom.
More importantly, it extended their advantage over title rivals Manchester United to ten points after Alex Ferguson’s side slumped to a shock home defeat by Blackburn.
Arsenal also lost ground on the leaders after being forced to settle for a point in a goalless draw at West Ham.
Villa striker Luke Moore had the honour of becoming the first player to breach Chelsea’s defence this season, latching on to Juan Pablo Angel’s flick-on to fire past Petr Cech just before the break.
It was the first goal Chelsea had conceded in 641 minutes of Premiership football and it earned Moore a 10,000-pound reward put up by The Sun newspaper.
His celebrations were curtailed however as the champions took barely a minute to get back on level terms.
Michael Essien won a free-kick on the edge of Villa’s area and Frank Lampard curled the dead ball over the wall and into the net.
Lampard then sealed the victory for the champions with a textbook penalty conversion 15 minutes from time after Olof Mellberg was adjudged to have fouled Didier Drogba inside the area.
Two goals from Morten Gamst Pedersen gave Blackburn a 2-1 win at Old Trafford that dealt a huge blow to United’s chances of reclaiming the title.
The Norwegian winger’s opener in the 33rd minute was a little freakish, a free-kick from the right of the area skimming over the top of a packed penalty area and somehow creeping into the far corner of the net.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s sixth goal of the season — a tap-in after Brad Friedel spilled a shot from substitute Wayne Rooney — got United back on level terms only for Pedersen to snatch a winner against the run of play nine minutes from time.
West Ham and Arsenal’s meeting had been billed as a contest between the two most entertaining sides in the league. But it never really ignited and both sides appeared happy to settle for a draw that keeps the Hammers above their London rivals in the table.
Danny Murphy claimed a first-half double as Charlton held on to second place at West Brom.
Murphy’s first came from the penalty spot after Steve Watson pulled down Jerome Thomas as he broke into the box.
The second was a tap-in from Dennis Rommedahl’s cross after the pacy Danish winger had burst clear on the right.
Defender Curtis Davies pulled one back for the Baggies six minutes after the restart but Bryan Robson’s side could not convert a late siege into an equaliser.
Birmingham teenager Neil Kilkenny was sent off on his Premiership debut as Liverpool grabbed a late equaliser in a dramatic 2-2 draw at St Andrews.
Kilkenny, 19, received a straight red card after punching Jamie Carragher’s goal-bound header off the line with eight minutes left, conceding a penalty that Djibril Cisse converted to earn the European champions their fourth draw from five Premiership matches this season.
A Stephen Warnock own goal and Walter Pandiani’s first of the season — a tap-in following a blunder by Liverpool keeper Jose Reina — had put Birmingham on track for all three points after Luis Garcia had come off the bench to give Liverpool the lead.
Everton’s early season woes intensified with a home defeat at the hands of Wigan. Former Norwich striker condemned David Moyes’s side to their fifth defeat in six matches with a 46th-minute strike.
Michael Owen scored for the second week in a row to earn Newcastle a 1-0 win over Manchester City in front of a delighted St James’s Park.
The 18th-minute strike was a typical Owen effort, Lee Bowyer’s pass allowing him to spring the offside trap and finish with a toe-poke past David James.
Results
Birmingham City 2 Liverpool 2
Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 1
Everton 0 Wigan Athletic 1
Manchester United 1 Blackburn Rovers 2
Newcastle United 1 Manchester City 0
W. Bromwich Albion 1 Charlton Athletic 2
West Ham United 0 Arsenal 0
Hearts show credentials
EDINBURGH: Hearts won their eighth straight victory in the Scottish Premier League with a 1-0 home win over last season’s champions Rangers.
Czech Republic striker Roman Bednar’s early goal was enough to give George Burley’s side victory and put them an amazing 11 points ahead of the Ibrox club with only eight games played.
Rangers had settled quickest and created the first opening in the ninth minute. Dado Prso’s cross from the right found French left-back Olivier Bernard unmarked at the back post, but his downward header bounced harmlessly wide.
Results:
Aberdeen 0 Livingston 0
Celtic 2 Inverness CT 1
Dunfermline 2 Dundee Utd 1
Hearts 1 Rangers 0
Kilmarnock 1 Falkirk 1
Motherwell 1 Hibernian 3
Bundesliga results
Arminia Bielefeld 0 Borussia M’bach 2
Mainz 1 Borussia Dortmund 1
Hamburg SV 2 Bayern Munich 0
MSV Duisburg 1 Nuremberg 0
Schalke 04 2 Hanover 96 0
VfL Wolfsburg 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 0
Werder Bremen 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1
—Agencies
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