September 25, 2007	Tuesday	Ramazan 12, 1428

LONDON, Sept 24: A superb header from Carlos Tevez and a late penalty by Louis Saha sent 10-man Chelsea crashing to a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday in Avram Grant’s first match as Chelsea’s coach.

Chelsea, playing after last week’s sudden departure of Jose Mourinho, endured a miserable afternoon in the rain at Old Trafford and played with 10 men after John Obi Mikel was controversially sent off by referee Mike Dean after 32 minutes for a lunge on Patrice Evra.

Saha wrapped up the points for United with an 89th minute penalty after the French substitute was fouled by defender Tal Ben Haim.

The victory moved United into second place on 14 points from seven matches, two behind leaders Arsenal who crushed Derby County 5-0 on Saturday. Chelsea, who have not scored a goal for three successive league matches, slipped to sixth.

Newcastle United moved up from ninth to fifth after their 3-1 win over West Ham United at St James’ Park but England striker Michael Owen was substituted for the second successive match.

Owen, who has returned to Newcastle and England after missing most of last season due to injury, was replaced after 51 minutes by Obafemi Martins. He will undergo a second scan on an injured groin later in the week.

He also came off early in the second half of Newcastle’s defeat at Derby County on Monday.

Newcastle won thanks to two goals from Mark Viduka and one from Charles N’Zogbia. Dean Ashton scored for West Ham.

At the other end of the table, Bolton Wanderers moved off the bottom after a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, who stayed in 18th place.

Robbie Keane put Spurs ahead after 34 minutes before Ivan Campo equalised five minutes later with a header from a free-kick.

Portsmouth won 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers while Aston Villa beat Everton 2-0 in Sunday’s other matches.

Results:

Played on Sunday:

Aston Villa 2 Everton 0

Blackburn Rovers 0 Portsmouth 1

Bolton Wanderers 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

Manchester United 2 Chelsea 0

Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 1

Played on Saturday:

Arsenal 5 Derby County 0

Fulham 3 Manchester City 3

Liverpool 0 Birmingham City 0

Middlesbrough 2 Sunderland 2

Reading 2 Wigan Athletic 1

—Reuters