London: Liverpool’s English Premier League title hopes suffered a huge setback as they lost 3-1 away to Fulham yesterday and finished the match at Craven Cottage down to nine men.
Liverpool’s sixth loss in seven matches left them nine points off the top of the table and undid much of the good work achieved by last week’s win over champions Manchester United.
In all eight red cards were flashed in Saturday’s matches - a record for one day in the Premier League.
Table-toppers Chelsea extended their lead over United with a 4-0 win away over Bolton Wanderers.
Victory, their second 4-0 success over Wanderers this week, left Chelsea five points in front of United ahead of the title-holders late kick-off Saturday against Blackburn Rovers at Old Trafford.
Earlier, Arsenal enjoyed bragging rights in north London after a 3-0 derby win over Tottenham Hotspur.
At the other end of the table, basement club Portsmouth won in the league for only the second time this season, beating Wigan 4-0 at Fratton Park with Aruna Dindane scoring a hat-trick.
Second-bottom West Ham drew 2-2 with Sunderland, also the scoreline in Stoke’s match against Wolves. Everton and Aston Villa, who both had a player sent-off, drew 1-1 at Goodison Park.
Burnley added to the pressure on Hull manager Phil Brown with a 2-0 victory over the relegation candidates at Turf Moor.
At Craven Cottage, Fulham went ahead against the run of play when striker Bobby Zamora turned in a Damien Duff cross in the 24th minute.
But before half-time Liverpool were level with Spain’s Fernando Torres pouncing after Andriy Voronin’s header came back off Aaron Hughes.
However, Fulham regained the lead when Norway’s Erik Nevland struck from close range in the 73rd minute.
Worse followed for the Reds with defenders Phillip Degen and Jamie Carrragher sent-off for fouls on Clint Dempsey and Zamora respectively.
And Fulham wrapped up the match when Dempsey netted three minutes from time.
Chelsea, who thrashed Bolton 4-0 in the League Cup on Wednesday, took the lead on the stroke of half-time through a Frank Lampard penalty after Bolton’s J Lloyd Samuel was sent-off for a foul on Didier Drogba.
And Chelsea doubled their lead after Deco scored in the 61st minute following good work by Nicolas Anelka. Zat Knight’s own goal and Drogba’s late effort made it 4-0.
Earlier, Robin van Persie scored twice as Arsenal put Tottenham’s title aspirations in perspective.
The Dutchman put the Gunners ahead in the 42nd minute when he turned in Bacary Sagna’s cross at the near-post.
Tottenham were still recovering from that blow when Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas stole possession from the re-start and surged through the visitors’ defence before sliding his shot past Heurelho Gomes.
Van Persie piled on the misery for Harry Redknapp’s team in the 60th minute.
Portsmouth, beset by financial problems and a transfer ban, put their off-field worries to one side with a first league win at Fratton Park this term just days after thrashing Stoke 4-0 in the League Cup.
Dindane scored his first Premier League goal in the 35th minute when he ran on to Michael Brown’s through ball and shot over Chris Kirkland.
Pompey doubled their lead just before the break after Frederic Piquionne after Dindane turned provider.
And the previously misfiring Dindane grabbed two more goals to complete a hat-trick.
Graham Alexander marked his 100th appearance for Burnley by putting the Clarets ahead from the penalty spot in the 20th minute.
Geovanni’s free-kick found the back of the net for Hull but his effort was ruled out for a foul in the box. The Brazilian was then sent-off and Alexander grabbed his second with a superb long-range strike.
\45th minute before substitute John Carew drew Villa level.
Bilyaletdinov then saw red for a wild tackle on Stiliyan Petrov before, moments later, Villa’s Carlos Cuellar was sent-off for a second yellow card. - AFP |
