1 JANUARY 2003

Arsenal (1) 3 (Desailly (og) 9, Van Bronckhorst 81, Henry 82)
Chelsea (0) 2 (Stanic 85, Petit 86)

Arsenal survived a dramatic late comeback to see off Chelsea at Highbury and
maintain their five point lead at the top. Marcel Desailly diverted an Ashley
Cole cross into his own net to give the Gunners an early lead which they held
until a frantic last nine minutes when four goals went in. Firstly Giovanni van
Bronckhorst drilled in from 30 yards after being found by Thierry Henry and then
the Frenchman added a third with a fine solo run and shot which somehow dribbled
under Carlo Cudicini. Mario Stanic pulled a goal back when his close range
header found the net after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink nodded back an Emmanuel
Petit corner, and then Petit made it two for the visitors, capitalising on a mistake
by David Seaman to tap the ball into an empty net.


Aston Villa (1) 2 (Dublin 8, Vassell 80)
Bolton (0) 0

Villa continue to pull themselves away from the drop zone after a victory
against Bolton, who remain firmly in trouble near the foot of the table. Dion
Dublin opened the scoring, slotting in a cross from Alan Wright and the points
were secured when Darius Vassell robbed Gudni Bergsson on the goalline before
scoring from a tight angle.


Blackburn (0) 1 (Yorke 57)
Middlesbrough (0) 0

Blackburn remain in touch of the European spots as Middlesbrough's drab away
form continues. The only goal at Ewood Park came as Boro failed to deal with a
Keith Gillespie cross, leaving Andy Cole to set up Dwight Yorke to fire home.


Charlton v West Ham - Match Postponed

Everton (1) 2 (Watson 6, Radzinski 90)
Man City (1) 2 (Anelka 33, Foe 82)

A last minute equaliser from Tomasz Radzinski earned Everton a vital point at
home to Man City. The hosts took an early lead when Wayne Rooney sent Steve
Watson clear to fire into the bottom corner, however Nik Anelka levelled matters
when he was presented with a tap in after Richard Wright dropped an Ali Benarbia
cross. Marc Viven Foe then headed home for City after a fine cross by Sun Jihai,
however two minutes into a stoppage time, Radzinski reached a long ball from
Watson to nod past Schmeichel.


Fulham v West Brom - Match Postponed

Leeds (1) 2 (Bakke 6, Viduka 67)
Birmingham (0) 0

Four wins in five games for Leeds who now sit respectably in mid table. They
took an early lead against Birmingham when Gary Kelly's cross was headed back
by Mark Viduka for Eirik Bakke to head home from close range. The second was
similar as Kelly survived a handball appeal to cross for Viduka to finish well
with a header.


Man United (0) 2 (Beckham 82, Scholes 90)
Sunderland (1) 1 (Veron (og) 4)

Man United left it late to beat Sunderland, netting twice in the final eight
minutes to come from behind. Sunderland took an early lead when Fabien Barthez,
who later went off injured, only half cleared a cross to Gavin McCann on the
edge of the area. His attempted chip toward goal took two defelctions, the
second of which came off the head of Juan Veron and nestled into the net. United
dominated possession and almost levelled matters straight away when a Paul
Scholes shot struck both posts before bouncing into the arms of keeper Jurgen
Macho. United registered over 30 attempts at goal, but it needed the simplest
build up of the game to finally get them level in the final ten minutes. Macho's
kick forward was punted back by Rio Ferdinand and sent David Beckham clear to
slot past the Austrian keeper. Having lost in stoppage time on Saturday, the
same fate then happened again to Sunderland as Wes Brown's deep cross was
hooked back by Mikael Silvestre for Paul Scholes to nod home ahead of the
keeper.


Newcastle (1) 1 (Robert 13)
Liverpool (0) 0
RED CARD : Diao (Liverpool) 66

Nine home wins on the bounce for Newcastle as Liverpool fell at St James Park,
their tenth league game without a win. The only goal came early as a Laurent
Robert free kick on the right edge of the area, took a wicked deflection off of
the broken wall and beat Chris Kirkland at his near post. Midway through the
second half, Salif Diao was shown a second yellow card, and subsequent red, for
a late lunge on Andy Griffin.


Southampton (0) 1 (Beattie 82)
Spurs (0) 0

Southampton rode their luck against Spurs at St Marys and then won it late
thanks to another James Beattie goal. Robbie Keane and Teddy Sheringham
missed golden chances for Spurs before Beattie latched onto a long ball,
turned past Dean Richards and slotted into the bottom corner. The clubs
meet again on Saturday in the FA Cup.


Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list
Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it
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