Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Arsenal loses at Tottenham; Chelsea routs Bolton

Bacary Sagna, Gareth Bale

updated 5:14 p.m. ET Oct. 2, 2011

LONDON - Arsenal crashed to its fourth loss in the Premier League at Tottenham while Frank Lampard's hat trick helped Chelsea rout Bolton on Sunday.

Rafael van der Vaart and Kyle Walker secured Tottenham's 2-1 derby victory over Arsenal, which is just two points above the relegation zone after seven matches.

Chelsea is third in the standings after Lampard proved his enduring value to the club in a 5-1 victory at bottom-place Bolton, having regained his place in the team.

There was also a hat trick at Fulham for Andy Johnson, and American midfielder Clint Dempsey scored his second goal of the season and fourth overall as the Cottagers routed Queens Park Rangers 6-0. Promoted Swansea beat Stoke 2-0 in Sunday's other game.

The weekend ended with Manchester still in control of the league, with United ahead of City on goal difference after they both won on Saturday.

And after seven games, Arsenal is already 12 points behind United and City, languishing just two points above the relegation zone.

"To say today we will win the league is not realistic," Arsene Wenger said a day after marking 15th years as Arsenal manager. "If we get in a better position (maybe)."

Also Sunday, Steve McClaren resigned from Nottingham Forest after just 10 matches in charge, ending his brief return to management in England.

The former England coach quit shortly after a 3-1 home loss to Birmingham left the second-tier team two points off the bottom of the standings.

It is almost four years since McClaren was fired as England coach after his side failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.

McClaren joined Forest on a three-year contract in the offseason after rehabilitating his managerial reputation on the continent with FC Twente.

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MADRID (AP) ? Adriano's 12th-minute goal gave Barcelona a 1-0 at bottom-place Sporting Gijon on Sunday to return to the top of the Spanish league standings.

Victory moved Barcelona to 14 points from six games, with a better goal difference than Levante, which continued its fine start to the season with a 1-0 win at Real Betis.

Real Madrid can pull within a point of the leaders in Sunday's late match at Espanyol.

Also Sunday, Sevilla drew 0-0 at Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Real Sociedad for its first league victory of the season.

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ROME (AP) ? Claudio Marchisio scored two late goals to give Juventus a 2-0 win over 10-man AC Milan on Sunday to reclaim the Serie A lead.

Having dominated from the start, Juventus finally broke the deadlock when Marchisio finished off an exchange of passes inside the box in the 87th minute. The Italy midfielder doubled the lead with a long shot in injury time after Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng was sent off in the 89th.

Juventus is level with Udinese, which beat last-place Bologna 2-0, but holds the edge on goals scored.

Playing in its new stadium, Juventus kept up a high pace throughout, with Mirko Vucinic hitting the crossbar in the 36th, and injury-depleted Milan struggled to keep up.

Earlier, Udinese took a 2-0 win over last-place Bologna on Sunday.

Morocco defender Mehdi Benatia scored following a corner kick and captain Antonio Di Natale ? who has led Serie A in goals scored the past two seasons ? converted a penalty at the Friuli stadium in Udine.

With 11 points, Udinese has one more than Napoli, Palermo and Cagliari.

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BERLIN (AP) ? Klaas Jan Huntelaar's stylish double gave Schalke coach Huub Stevens a winning return to the Bundesliga with a 2-1 victory over Hamburger SV on Sunday.

Huntelaar opened the scoring with a header and sealed the win with a back heel volley after Mladen Petric pulled one back for Hamburg.

Stevens took over on Tuesday after Ralf Rangnick stepped down, and his side is now fourth in the table.

Schalke is ahead on goal difference from Hannover, which earlier beat second-place Werder Bremen 3-2 in the northern derby. Bremen, which finished the match with 10 men, missed the chance to go level on points with leader Bayern Munich.

Hamburg ? which is still looking for a coach following the sacking of Michael Oenning ? remains rooted to the bottom of the table with four points from eight games.

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PARIS (AP) ? Defending champion Lille beat Rennes 2-0 in the French league on Sunday to make up ground in the title race.

Senegal striker Moussa Sow pounced on a loose ball to put Lille ahead and Florent Balmont doubled the lead by diverting a free kick from Eden Hazard.

Lille pulled within a point of leaders Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon, who played late Sunday for the top spot.

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AMSTERDAM (AP) ? AZ Alkmaar opened a four-point lead in the Dutch league Sunday with a 3-1 victory at VVV Venlo.

Ajax, which started the day third, had its unbeaten start to the season ended with a 1-0 defeat at FC Groningen while second-placed FC Twente was held to a 2-2 draw by bottom side Excelsior Rotterdam.

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GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) ? Celtic was stunned by Hearts on Sunday, slumping to a 2-0 loss that left champion Rangers nine points ahead of Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League.

Rudi Skacel and Ryan Stevenson scored either side of Celtic having Kris Commons sent off for a challenge on Adrian Mrowiec.

Celtic is third, 10 points behind SPL leader Rangers, albeit with one game in hand.

Motherwell is second ? a point ahead of Celtic ? after winning 3-1 at Dundee United on Saturday when Rangers beat Hibernian 1-0.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44749935/ns/sports-soccer/

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