Manchester United made amends for their humbling by Burnley as Wayne Rooney’s double and Michael Owen’s first goal for the Premier League champions inspired a 5-0 win at Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
Sir Alex Ferguson reacted to Wednesday’s shock 1-0 loss at newly-promoted Burnley by making seven changes and the United manager was rewarded with a superb second-half display.
It took the revamped United line-up a while to find their rhythm, but after a goalless first half, Rooney struck in the 56th minute when he met a cross from former Wigan winger Antonio Valenica with a perfect header.
PHOTO: REUTERS
That was Rooney’s 100th goal for United and it opened the floodgates.
Dimitar Berbatov put United in complete control in the 58th minute. The Bulgarian finished a flowing move by chipping over Chris Kirkland and shooting into an empty net.
Rooney ended any doubts about the result in the 65th minute when his shot deflected off Mario Melchiot and flashed past the wrong-footed Kirkland.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Owen, signed from Newcastle United in the close-season, came off the bench to score for the first time since Janaury with a sublime clipped finish.
Nani, who set up Owen’s goal, got on the score sheet himself in the 90th minute.
“You have to react to a defeat, that’s always the challenge,” Ferguson said. “We got a reaction, I thought our performance was really good. It’s great for Wayne to get 100 goals. He’s only a young lad and there are players who have been here longer who have got nowhere near that total. I’m pleased for Michael as well. He needed a goal, but he’s one of the best finishers our country has had.”
Arsenal maintained their impressive start to the season with a 4-1 victory over struggling Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had confounded critics who wrote off their title hopes by thrashing Everton 6-1 last weekend, then winning at Celtic in the Champions League in midweek.
Wenger still made four changes to the side that beat Celtic, but it proved a successful move as French midfielder Abou Diaby, brought into the team for his 100th Arsenal appearance, opened the scoring in the 18th minute from Eduardo’s pass.
Diaby converted Emmanuel Eboue’s cross for his second goal three minutes later, but Portsmouth reduced the deficit when Younes Kaboul, out-jumping keeper Manuel Almunia, headed home in the 37th minute.
Any hopes of a fightback from Paul Hart’s team were ended in the 51st minute through William Gallas’ scrambled effort.
Aaron Ramsey confirmed Portsmouth’s third successive defeat in the 68th minute with his first league goal for Wenger’s team.
Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor repaid another slice of his £25 million (US$41 million) transfer fee as the Togo star’s cool finish sealed a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Eastlands.
City handed Carlos Tevez his full debut and the former Manchester United forward’s cushioned 17th-minute pass picked out Adebayor, who drove in his second goal in two games since joining City from Arsenal.
Trinidad and Tobago forward Kenwyne Jones fired Sunderland to a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers.
Sam Allardyce’s Rovers, without defender Stephen Warnock as rumors of a move to Aston Villa gathered momentum, took the lead in the 21st minute when French defender Gael Givet smashed a long-range effort past Marton Fulop.
Sunderland, however, equalized after 32 minutes when Jones took advantage of a slip by Christopher Samba to slot home.
Jones wasn’t finished there. In the 53rd minute he met Lee Cattermole’s cross with a bullet header to seal the points for Steve Bruce’s team.
Hull City won for the first time in 13 league matches as Algeria striker Kamel Ghilas’ first goal for the club earned a 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at the KC Stadium.
Ghilas was making his first start for the Tigers after signing from Spanish club Celta Vigo earlier this month.
He marked the occasion in the 61st minute with a blistering volley from Jozy Altidore’s pass.
Stoke City recovered from their midweek thrashing by Liverpool by grinding out a 0-0 draw at Birmingham City.
Tony Pulis’ side went down 4-0 at Anfield, but they were far more resilient in a scrappy encounter against newly-promoted City.
Result from yesterday’s early English Premier League kick-off:
• West Ham 1, Tottenham 2
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
RSS