Mersey misery

Dimitar Berbatov foiled a 2 goal Gerrard comeback for Liverpool when he claimed his first hat-trick for Manchester United to give the home side all 3 points while the blue side of Mersey also suffered as Everton lost 1-0 at home to Newcastle. Sunderland scored a last gasp equalizer against Arsenal who had missed a penalty at the Stadium of Light while West Ham picked up their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Stoke, and Bolton earned a point at Aston Villa also with a 1-1 draw as did Fulham at Blackburn. WBA and Tottenham enjoyed 3-1 home wins against Birmingham and Wolves respectively, and Manchester City won 2-0 at Wigan while Chelsea remain at the top of the Premier League after brushing Blackpool aside 4-0 at the Bridge.
The Carling Cup put paid to the hopes of several big names with Chelsea losing a thriller 4-3 to Newcastle at Stamford Bridge and Manchester City going out 2-1 at West Bromwich Albion. Everton were stung on penalties at Brentford and a bad week at Merseyside was completed when Liverpool needed a goal late in extra time to draw 2-2 with Northampton at Anfield before losing to the Cobblers on penalties. Arsenal scored 3 times in first-half extra time at Tottenham to secure a place in the next round with a 4-1 victory and Manchester United proved too strong for Scunthorpe United as they rallied to a 5-2 win over their hosts.

The Power of London

Manchester United are looking up to see Chelsea and Arsenal above them in the Premier League table after letting a 3-1 lead at Everton turn into a draw in stoppage time while Chelsea returned from West Ham with a 3-1 win and Arsenal swept Bolton aside 4-1 at the Emirates. Blackpool are in 4th place after their 2-0 win at Newcastle, followed by Birmingham who played out a goalless draw at home to Liverpool. Moussa Dembele scored both goals for Fulham as they beat the travelling Wolves 2-1 and Stoke came from behind with 2 late goals to defeat Aston Villa by the same score line at the Britannia on Monday evening.
In Spain Hercules celebrated a memorable 2-0 victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou, and in Italy the most noteworthy result was the 5-1 roasting of Roma at Gagliari.
The Champion’s League group stage got underway in midweek with Rangers holding Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford while Tottenham drew 2-2 at Werder Bremen having taken an early 2 goal lead, and Barcelona bounced back from their league defeat to outplay Panathinaikos 5-1 at the Camp Nou. Champions Inter drew 2-2 at Twente Enschede while on Wednesday the top London teams were easy winners with Chelsea cruising to a 4-1 win over Zilina in Slovakia and Arsenal outclassing Portugal’s Braga 6-0 at the Emirates.
David Ngog scored twice in the Europa League as Liverpool put Steaua to the sword 4-1 at Anfield while Lech Poznan shared a 6 goal thriller with Juventus in Italy and Manchester City won 2-0 at Salzburg.
The English women qualified for next year’s World Cup in Germany after winning their 2nd leg play-off match 3-2 away to Switzerland.

Big three on top

After only 3 weeks the top of the Premier League has a familiar look with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United leading the way. Chelsea maintained their perfect record with a 2-0 home win over Stoke while Manchester United defeated West Ham 3-0 at Old Trafford and Arsenal returned from their tricky trip to Blackburn with a 2-1 win to their name. Tottenham lost 1-0 at home to Wigan while Fulham shared 4 goals with their hosts Blackpool and Carroll scored again for Newcastle to earn a 1-1 draw at Wolves. On Sunday a last minute Darren Bent penalty gave Sunderland a 1-0 win over visiting Manchester City while Aston Villa earned the same scoreline at home to Everton and a single goal from Torres at Anfiled gave Liverpool the edge over West Bromwich Albion. Bolton came from 2 down at home to share the points with Birmingham.
In Spain Barcelona picked up a 3-0 win at Racing Club de Santander while Real Madrid drew blanks at Real Mallorca.