Sunday, September 13, 2009

Gunners gunned downed by City


Arsenal endured another nightmare visit to the north west as they lost 4-2 to Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League, with former Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor on the scoresheet for the hosts.

Having lost a fortnight ago to bitter rivals Manchester United, Arsenal were looking for a better result at the City of Manchester Stadium.

It started badly for the visitors as a bizarre own-goal gave City the lead when Manuel Almunia pushed Micah Richards' header against the post only for it to bounce back, hit the goalkeeper's head and go into the net.

The Gunners deservedly levelled when Tomas Rosicky fed a superb pass through to Robin van Persie who rifled a perfectly-placed shot into the corner, beyond Shay Given's despairing dive.

However, three goals in 10 minutes gave City the three points.

Craig Bellamy restored his side's lead before Adebayor headed home against his former side and Shaun Wright-Phillips sealed the victory.

Rosicky grabbed a second for Arsenal two minutes from time.

City meet derby rivals Manchester United next Sunday and the Red Devils were behind after a minute and reduced to 10 men but still recorded a 3-1 victory in a pulsating clash at Tottenham.

Jermain Defoe's acrobatic strike opened the scoring but United have a history of comebacks against Spurs - 5-2 last season and 5-3 eight years ago - and they levelled through Ryan Giggs' free-kick.

Anderson drilled home before the break and despite playing the last half-an-hour without Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney sealed victory with a cool finish before the end.

That put United second behind Chelsea, for whom Florent Malouda's stoppage-time winner helped continue their perfect start to the season as they came from behind to secure a 2-1 win over Stoke.

A rare Petr Cech mistake allowed the hosts to take the lead when Abdoulaye Faye's header looped over the Chelsea goalkeeper who was stranded in no-man's land.

But Chelsea's pressure eventually told and Didier Drogba fired across the goalkeeper into the top corner on the stroke of half-time.

It looked like the match was set to end all-square but Malouda smashed the ball home after it had been laid back to him by substitute Nicolas Anelka to snatch all three points for Chelsea.

A Yossi Benayoun hat-trick saw Liverpool down a spirited Burnley side 4-0.

The hosts were always in control and took the lead in the 27th minute when Benayoun ran onto Glen Johnson's pass before sidefooting past Brian Jensen.

They doubled their lead shortly before half-time when Jensen could only parry Benayoun's shot and it fell to Dirk Kuyt, who slotted home.

Benayoun grabbed his second of the game when he tapped in Steven Gerrard's pass after the England midfielder had battled his way past two men in the box.

The Israel striker, who had an earlier effort ruled out for offside, completed his hat-trick late on, tapping home Andriy Voronin's pass.

Blackburn triumphed 3-1 to record their first home win of the campaign with a comfortable victory over Wolves.

El-Hadji Diouf gave them the lead in the 19th minute when he took advantage of a defensive blunder by Michael Mancienne and raced 30 yards before slotting the opener through the legs of Wayne Hennessey.

Another Wolves error saw the hosts double their lead when Gael Givet was left unmarked in the box at David Dunn's corner and his powerful header was deflected past Hennessey.

Rovers wrapped up the victory in the 65th minute when Jason Roberts burst clear and beat the advancing Hennessey before stumbling in front of goal and leaving Dunn to slot home the third.

Stefan Maierhofer grabbed a late consolation for the visitors.

Portsmouth will rue their missed opportunities after a late Gary Cahill goal gave Bolton a 3-2 win at Fratton Park.

The visitors took the lead in the 13th minute when Tamir Cohen lashed in an unstoppable thunderbolt past David James but Pompey levelled matters when Younes Kaboul rose high in the box to head home Jamie O'Hara's corner

Bolton restored their lead with a controversial penalty which Matt Taylor tucked away but the hosts equalised again thanks to debutant Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Pompey looked the likelier to score the winner but Cahill pounced right at the death to snatch the three points for Bolton.

A storming second-half performance gave Sunderland a 4-1 win over Hull.

The hosts took the lead when Craig Fagan blatantly handled Kieran Richardson's corner and Darren Bent stepped up to convert the resulting penalty.

Hull equalised on the stroke of half-time when Kamil Zayatte's header went in off the post but Andy Reid restored Sunderland's lead just after the break and Bent sealed the victory with a second in the 66th minute.

Zayatte's own-goal completed a miserable day for Phil Brown's men.

Elsewhere, Hugo Rodallega's second goal of the season was enough to see Wigan beat West Ham 1-0 at the DW Stadium and ease some of the pressure on manager Roberto Martinez.

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