Arsenal bounced back from two successive Premier League defeats in emphatic style by thrashing Wigan Athletic 4-0 at the Emirates on
Belgian centerback Thomas Vermaelen got two for Arsenal in a one-sided affair, while Fernando Torres grabbed a double as Liverpool overcame a West Ham side who twice came from behind.
Aston Villa also gained ground on the leaders with a 2-0 home win over Portsmouth, who are still without a point after six games.
PHOTO: EPA
Promoted Burnley’s good start continued when they beat Sunderland 3-1, with two goals on debut from on-loan striker David Nugent. Birmingham City beat Hull City 1-0 away, while Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City drew 1-1.
Arsenal began the day nine points behind leaders Chelsea, but were back to their imperious best on home soil against Wigan Athletic.
Their early control was rewarded after 25 minutes when Vermaelen headed in a corner.
Vermaelen, already looking an astute summer signing, doubled the lead with a superbly taken left footed curler four minutes into the second half.
Emmanuel Eboue got the third on the hour when he diverted an Eduardo Da Silva shot after the Croatian’s initial effort came back off a post.
Cesc Fabrega backheeled the fourth in the last minute.
Liverpool went ahead after 20 minutes when Fernando Torres burst through in the area, but West Ham United, with only one win over the Reds in nine years, equalized with an Alessandro Diamanti penalty after Zavon Hines, who hit a post early on, was brought down by Jamie Carragher.
Dirk Kuyt restored their lead after 41 minutes when he diverted a Steven Gerrard header into the net, only for Carlton Cole to level again at the end of the half.
Liverpool gradually exerted more pressure and took the points when Torres nodded in Ryan Babel’s cross after 75 minutes.
Yesterday’s early kick-off:
• Manchester U 4, Manchester C 3
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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