The Hindu : Sport / Football : Manchester United beats Chelsea

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Monday, Sep 24, 2007
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Manchester United beats Chelsea

LONDON: Manchester United took over second place in the Premier League on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Chelsea in the London club’s first match since the departure of manager Jose Mourinho.

Carlos Tevez scored his first goal for United in first-half injury time and Louis Saha hit a late penalty to extend Chelsea’s winless streak to four matches in all competitions and hand Avram Grant a defeat in his first game in charge of the Blues.

United’s fourth win lifted it to 14 points, two fewer than leader Arsenal, which routed Derby 5-0 on Saturday to maintain its unbeaten start to the season.

Chelsea, which looked like the underdog even before John Obi Mikel was sent off in the 32nd minute for a two-footed tackle, struggled to create chances at Old Trafford even with Andriy Shevchenko back in the starting team.

United paired Tevez and Wayne Rooney in attack for the first time and was already dominating possession when Mikel was given a red card for his challenge on Patrice Evra.

Mikel and his teammates protested that his challenge had not been dangerous, but referee Mike Dean ejected the midfielder for leading with his studs.

United captain Ryan Giggs then set up Tevez for the opening goal, curling in a cross from the right with the outside of his left boot. Tevez dived in front of goalkeeper Petr Cech to head the ball into the net. Saha replaced Tevez 12 minutes before the end and earned a penalty kick in the 90th when he fell just inside the area after a slight tap from Tal Ben Haim. The France striker took the kick himself, driving it into the middle of the goal and just clipping Cech’s legs on its way into the net.

Newcastle beat West Ham 3-1 to mark its best start to a Premier League season in six years, but its win was marred by another injury to Michael Owen. Everton missed the chance to climb to third when it lost 2-0 at Aston Villa, which joined Everton with 10 points. John Carew put the hosts ahead in the 14th with a low shot before Gabriel Agbonlahor placed the ball past goalkeeper Stefan Wessels in the 60th for his third goal in four games against Everton.

The results: EPL: Aston Villa 2 (Carew 14, Agbonlahor 60) bt Everton 0; Blackburn 0 lost to Portsmouth 1 (Kanu 25); Bolton 1 (Campo 39) drew with Tottenham 1 (Keane 34); Manchester Utd 2 (Tevez 45, Saha 90-pen) bt Chelsea 0; Newcastle 3 (Viduka 2, 41, N’Zogbia 76) bt West Ham 1 (Ashton 32).

Spanish Primera Liga: Barcelona 2 (Messi 73, 79-pen) bt Sevilla 1 (Kanoute 90); Recreativo Huelva 2 (Javi Guerrero 54, 59) bt Espanyol 1 (Riera 5).

Italian Serie ‘A’: Udinese 2 (Di Natale 6, 62) bt Reggina 0; AC Milan 1 (Seedorf 44) drew with Parma 1 (Pisanu 73).

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