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| Saturday, November 2, 2002 15:09 EST |
Owen scores twice; Man United rallies for win
[Reuters]
LONDON -- Liverpool stormed seven points
clear of champions Arsenal in the English premier league title
race Saturday when Michael Owen struck twice in its 2-0 win over outclassed West Ham United at Anfield.
It was Liverpool's seventh successive league win,
maintaining its unbeaten league record and moving them to
30 points from 12 matches -- seven clear of Arsenal, which plays at
Fulham on Sunday.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy, right, and Manchester United are now in third place in the Premiership. |
Manchester United, which needed a late goal from substitute Diego Forlan to beat Southampton 2-1 at Old Trafford, moved up to third place on 22 points, three ahead of Chelsea and
Tottenham Hotspur, which meet at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
In the other two matches Saturday, Manchester City beat
West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at The Hawthorns to climb from 16th to
14th, and Birmingham City defeated Bolton Wanderers 3-1 at St. Andrews. Birmingham rose to 12th, while Bolton stayed nailed to the bottom of the table without a win for seven matches.
Bolton's miserable day was completed with the 67th-minute
dismissal of Riccardo Gardner for his second yellow card.
The rest of the program will be completed on Sunday and Monday.
Liverpool was looking for a morale-boosting victory after
losing to Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday and Owen
set them on their way with two superb goals.
Although he made a slow start to the season, he has now
scored 11 goals in his last 10 matches for Liverpool and
England, striking his first against West Ham after 28 minutes.
He eluded tackles from Ian Pearce and Thomas Repka, got a
slight deflection off Christian Dailly and then lifted the ball
over former Liverpool team mate David James to the delight of
the home fans.
His second could hardly have been more different, sliding
home from the edge of the penalty area after beating James to
the ball some 20 meters out.
Collecting a long pass from Vladimir Smicer, Owen failed to
connect properly and the ball seemed to take an age on the wet
surface to cross the line with Dailly sliding in after it and
into the net.
While Liverpool were cruising to victory at Anfield,
Manchester United was made to work extremely hard for its 2-1
win over Southampton, who had won its last three league
matches.
Phil Neville broke from his defensive midfield position to
give United the lead after 15 minutes with a rare goal -- only
his sixth in 279 appearances for the club -- but Fabrice
Fernandes put the Saints level with a left-foot curler three
minutes later.
With the game heading for a draw, United manager Alex
Ferguson threw in Forlan, who scored his first premier league
goal in last week's 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa.
The Uruguayan striker, who failed to score in his first 26
appearances for United before a late penalty in their first
Champions League match against Maccabi Haifa in September,
struck the winner with a 20-metre screamer that flew into the
roof of Anti Niemi's net.
He then took his shirt off in celebration -- and because of
his wet body, the damp material and the double-lining in
United's shirts, he needed help to put it back on again after
two minutes of trying himself.
Manchester City made it a rare weekend victory double for
the city with a 2-1 win at West Bromwich who remained in the
relegation zone.
Unselfish work from Eyal Berkovic set up striker Nicolas
Anelka for City's first after 51 minutes and while Neil Clement
equalized for the home side nine minutes later, Shaun Goater
wrapped up the points with his first goal of the season with 19
minutes to play.
Birmingham kept Bolton at the bottom of the table with a 3-1
win at St. Andrews, where Bolton was reduced to 10 men when
Gardner was sent off for a second yellow card midway through the
half.
Goals from Darren Purse (61), Robbie Savage (72) and
substitute Geoff Horsfield (83) gave the Blues the points, while
Jay-Jay Okocha (72) scored his first for Bolton.
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