Leaders Manchester United can stretch their one-point advantage when they visit Aston Villa later (1730 GMT) given second-placed Chelsea and Manchester City, in third, host Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur respectively on Sunday.

Former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam’s first goal for Stoke City sealed a 1-0 home win over Queens Park Rangers who plunged to the bottom of the table after Southampton leapfrogged the Londoners with a 1-1 draw against Swansea City.

Reading and Norwich City drew 0-0 in a dour game.

Arsenal have stuttered all season and lost at Manchester United in the league last weekend after an insipid performance followed by a Champions League draw at Schalke 04 which complicated their qualification hopes.

Arsene Wenger’s men got off to the perfect start against Fulham when close-season signing Giroud finally began to show some of the might which helped him win the French title last term with Montpellier.

EASY FINISH

The tall striker netted with a powerful header on 11 minutes after a corner from the recalled Theo Walcott and the hosts were soon 2-0 up and cruising when Arteta set up Germany’s Lukas Podolski for an easy finish midway through the first half.

Fulham were down to 10 men at the time after an injury to Kieran Richardson.

The unmarked Berbatov, a nemesis of Arsenal as a Manchester United player, pulled one back on the half hour when he headed in a corner as the home team again flattered to deceive.

The laidback Bulgarian then set up substitute Alex Kacaniklic in his own inimitable style as Fulham equalised five minutes before the break.

Berbatov put Fulham 3-2 in front to the gasps of the Arsenal crowd, who had booed their team off at the break, when he converted the coolest of penalties after Bryan Ruiz was pulled back by Arteta in the 67th minute.

Giroud then took another small step in his quest to replace former Arsenal talisman and now United hero Robin van Persie by producing another good header from a Walcott cross two minutes later after the Frenchman had first hit the post.

Arsenal were awarded a stoppage-time penalty for a harsh-looking handball but Mark Schwarzer saved Arteta’s spot kick to seal a 3-3 draw, the latest high-scoring game to grace the upper echelons of English football.

Fulham stayed eighth and level on points with Arsenal whose fans are getting increasingly restless and putting Wenger under pressure like never before.

Everton have been in great form but looked to be heading for defeat against Sunderland when Adam Johnson netted on the stroke of halftime to become the first player other than Steven Fletcher to score for the visitors in the league this term.

No one has epitomised Everton’s drive this season more than Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini and he fittingly grabbed the equaliser by drilling the ball home on 76 minutes.

Three minutes later Fellaini played in Nikica Jelavic for the winner.

The victory marked David Moyes’s 400th Premier League match as a manager as he joined a select group containing Alex Ferguson, Wenger and Harry Redknapp to reach the milestone.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

 

JUARA baru Piala Carling, Liverpool tersungkur di gelanggang sendiri selepas dua jaringan Robin Van Persie memberikan kemenangan 2-1 buat Arsenal pada pertemuan Liga Perdana Inggeris di Anfield, malam tadi.

Petanda malang Liverpool sudah terbayang pada minit ke-19 apabila sepakan penalti Dirk Kuyt berjaya diselamatkan dengan baik oleh penjaga gol Arsenal, Wojciech Szczesny.

Namun Liverpool berjaya juga mendahului pada minit ke-23 apabila pemain pertahanan Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny tertolak masuk bola ke gawang sendiri ketika cuba mengeluarkan hantaran lintang Jordan Henderson.

Ia bagaimanapun tidak memudarkan semangat melawan Arsenal yang akhirnya berjaya membawa pulang tiga mata penuh menerusi dua jaringan Van Persie pada minit ke-31 dan masa kecederaan babak kedua.

“Ia sungguh bermakna. Dapat menjaringkan gol di Anfield sesuatu yang boleh dianggap besar kerana Anfield merupakan gelanggang yang hebat. Saya cukup bangga tetapi lebih bangga dapat membantu Arsenal meraih kemenangan di sini.

“Secara jujurnya saya tak rasa kami patut menang kerana Liverpool beraksi lebih baik. Tapi ini tetap kemenangan besar buat kami,” kata Van Persie.

Leaders Manchester United can stretch their one-point advantage when they visit Aston Villa later (1730 GMT) given second-placed Chelsea and Manchester City, in third, host Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur respectively on Sunday.

Former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam’s first goal for Stoke City sealed a 1-0 home win over Queens Park Rangers who plunged to the bottom of the table after Southampton leapfrogged the Londoners with a 1-1 draw against Swansea City.

Reading and Norwich City drew 0-0 in a dour game.

Arsenal have stuttered all season and lost at Manchester United in the league last weekend after an insipid performance followed by a Champions League draw at Schalke 04 which complicated their qualification hopes.

Arsene Wenger’s men got off to the perfect start against Fulham when close-season signing Giroud finally began to show some of the might which helped him win the French title last term with Montpellier.

EASY FINISH

The tall striker netted with a powerful header on 11 minutes after a corner from the recalled Theo Walcott and the hosts were soon 2-0 up and cruising when Arteta set up Germany’s Lukas Podolski for an easy finish midway through the first half.

Fulham were down to 10 men at the time after an injury to Kieran Richardson.

The unmarked Berbatov, a nemesis of Arsenal as a Manchester United player, pulled one back on the half hour when he headed in a corner as the home team again flattered to deceive.

The laidback Bulgarian then set up substitute Alex Kacaniklic in his own inimitable style as Fulham equalised five minutes before the break.

Berbatov put Fulham 3-2 in front to the gasps of the Arsenal crowd, who had booed their team off at the break, when he converted the coolest of penalties after Bryan Ruiz was pulled back by Arteta in the 67th minute.

Giroud then took another small step in his quest to replace former Arsenal talisman and now United hero Robin van Persie by producing another good header from a Walcott cross two minutes later after the Frenchman had first hit the post.

Arsenal were awarded a stoppage-time penalty for a harsh-looking handball but Mark Schwarzer saved Arteta’s spot kick to seal a 3-3 draw, the latest high-scoring game to grace the upper echelons of English football.

Fulham stayed eighth and level on points with Arsenal whose fans are getting increasingly restless and putting Wenger under pressure like never before.

Everton have been in great form but looked to be heading for defeat against Sunderland when Adam Johnson netted on the stroke of halftime to become the first player other than Steven Fletcher to score for the visitors in the league this term.

No one has epitomised Everton’s drive this season more than Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini and he fittingly grabbed the equaliser by drilling the ball home on 76 minutes.

Three minutes later Fellaini played in Nikica Jelavic for the winner.

The victory marked David Moyes’s 400th Premier League match as a manager as he joined a select group containing Alex Ferguson, Wenger and Harry Redknapp to reach the milestone.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

 

JUARA baru Piala Carling, Liverpool tersungkur di gelanggang sendiri selepas dua jaringan Robin Van Persie memberikan kemenangan 2-1 buat Arsenal pada pertemuan Liga Perdana Inggeris di Anfield, malam tadi.

Petanda malang Liverpool sudah terbayang pada minit ke-19 apabila sepakan penalti Dirk Kuyt berjaya diselamatkan dengan baik oleh penjaga gol Arsenal, Wojciech Szczesny.

Namun Liverpool berjaya juga mendahului pada minit ke-23 apabila pemain pertahanan Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny tertolak masuk bola ke gawang sendiri ketika cuba mengeluarkan hantaran lintang Jordan Henderson.

Ia bagaimanapun tidak memudarkan semangat melawan Arsenal yang akhirnya berjaya membawa pulang tiga mata penuh menerusi dua jaringan Van Persie pada minit ke-31 dan masa kecederaan babak kedua.

“Ia sungguh bermakna. Dapat menjaringkan gol di Anfield sesuatu yang boleh dianggap besar kerana Anfield merupakan gelanggang yang hebat. Saya cukup bangga tetapi lebih bangga dapat membantu Arsenal meraih kemenangan di sini.

“Secara jujurnya saya tak rasa kami patut menang kerana Liverpool beraksi lebih baik. Tapi ini tetap kemenangan besar buat kami,” kata Van Persie.