EPL: Arsenal back on top despite draw at Liverpool
LONDON: Arsenal moved back to the top of the English Premier League after a late goal from Cesc Fabregas ensured a thrilling 1-1 draw at Liverpool, reports Xinhua.
Fabregas fired home the equalizer ten minutes from time on Sunday to cancel out Steven Gerrard's first-half free kick and give the London club a deserved one point.
Arsenal are tied with champions Manchester United, which beat Middlesbrough 4-1 on Saturday, on 26 points and with the same goal difference, but lead the table having scored more goals.
At White Hart Lane, Juande Ramos' presence failed to have the desired impact as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager watched Christopher Samba snatch an injury-time winner in Blackburn Rovers' 2-1 victory.
Elsewhere, Bolton Wanderers had to settle for a home 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in their first match under new manager Gary Megson, while Everton returned to winning ways in the Premiership by beating Derby County 2-0 at Pride Park.
Liverpool, recovering from a damaging 1-2 UEFA Champions League defeat by Besiktas Wednesday, made a great start as Gerrard's brilliant free kick from just outside the area flew through a hole in the Arsenal wall into the bottom left corner after just seven minutes.
Arsenal dominated possession thereafter but the hosts were lucky enough to lead for 80 minutes.
The equaliser came after a great play between Alexander Hleb and Fabregas. Hleb delayed his pass to perfection to find Fabregas's run and the Spaniard toe-poked the ball past Jose Reina in goal.
It could easily have been a win for Arsenal but Fabregas saw his side-foot from 20-yards smash against the post.
"It was a big test today but we have shown tremendous quality," said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. "Overall it was a great football game. We had enough chances to win the game."
The Gunners squandered a number of opportunities while Reina was made busy as he saved from Emmanuel Adebayor and Tomas Rosicky's lob was cleared off the line midway through the first half.
Arsenal almost equalised in the 54th minute when Adebayor surged into space on the right to crack a shot against the foot of a post and Fabregas put the rebound wide facing nobody.
Liverpool was also dealt a double injury blow as Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres were both forced off with recurrences of their recent injury problems.
Alonso limped off his first return game with more damage to his metatarsal and Torres was replaced at half time with a thigh problem clearly still bothering him. |
發表於 2007-10-30 10:21 AM
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