A round up of the weekend action - 24 November 08
English Premier League
The top two are held at home as Manchester City compound the Gunners’ misery. Manchester City dealt
Lennon (left) in great form for resurgent Spurs
another blow to Arsenal’s fading title hopes as Premier League leaders Chelsea and Liverpool endured frustrating home draws. Manchester United failed to capitalise on stumbles by their title rivals after being held to a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.
Stoke City won the battle of the promoted clubs against West Bromwich Albion, Bolton Wanderers were impressive winners at Middlesbrough and Hull City scrapped for a draw at Portsmouth.
Chelsea’s stuttering home form continued after a stubborn rearguard display from Newcastle United resulted in a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool’s old frailties came back to the surface at Anfield as Fulham battled for a 0-0 draw against the title contenders.
In Sunday’s games, Harry Redknapp’s rejuvenated Tottenham climbed out of the bottom three with a 1-0 home win v Blackburn and London rivals West Ham secured a great away win with the same score at Sunderland.
On Monday night, Wigan beat a below par Everton with a Henry Camara goal to climb out of the bottom three.
In Scotland, Celtic and Rangers continue their annual battle for the honours.
Other European leagues: Barcelona saw their winning streak ended in Spain, but stay top; Inter Milan remain out in front in Italy and Hoffenheim are back on top in Germany.
Spain
Barcelona saw their nine-game winning run in La Liga end with a 1-1 home draw against Getafe with Pep Guardiola’s men forced to come from behind to take a point.
Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster received the club’s public backing last week and his side responded with an important 1-0 victory over Recreativo Huelva to climb into second in the table, three points behind Barca.
Villarreal, who host Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, suffered their first home defeat of the season as they were beaten 3-0 at El Madrigal by Valladolid.
In the second Division, the “derby match” between Las Palmas and Tenerife resulted in a win for CD Tenerife. Alejandro Alfaro scoring for the visitors after 31 minutes.
Scotland
Celtic won their 11th successive SPL game to remain four points ahead of Rangers, who again had in-form striker Kris Boyd on the scoresheet.
Gordon Strachan’s men continue to hold a four-point advantage at the top of the table after their 3-1 triumph away to St Mirren.
And Boyd scored his 13th goal of a productive season for Walter Smith’s side to set the seal on their 2-0 home success against Aberdeen.
