The Hindu : Sport : Ten-man Gunners live to fight another day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 30, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

Ten-man Gunners live to fight another day

LONDON: Ten-man Arsenal battled back from two goals down to beat Bolton 3-2 and keep its Premier League title quest alive on Saturday.

A last-minute own goal by J. Lloyd Samuel enabled the Gunners to end a five-match winless run in the league on a day when Derby was condemned to relegation from the top flight.

Birmingham’s 3-1 win over Manchester City ensured there was no longer any mathematical chance of survival for Derby, which could only draw 2-2 at home with Fulham, which looks increasingly likely to join it in the Championship next season.

Bad start

Arsenal’s afternoon got off to bad start when Matt Taylor headed Gretar Steinsson’s superb cross past Manuel Almunia.

Midfielder Abou Diaby was then shown a straight red card for a studs-up challenge on Steinsson before Taylor claimed his second goal two minutes before half-time with a long-range strike that found the net with the help of a deflection off William Gallas.

The Arsenal captain made amends by firing his side back into the contest with half an hour left and Robin Van Persie equalised from the spot six minutes later after Garry Cahill had pulled down Alexander Hleb.

Dramatic finale

That set the stage for a dramatic finale and Arsenal’s commitment to all-out attack paid off when Samuel deflected the ball into his own net after Cesc Fabregas had sent a Hleb cross goalwards.

It was a hammer blow for Bolton, which now find itself four points adrift of safety as a result of the win for Birmingham.

The results: Premier League: Birmingham 3 bt Manchester City 1, Bolton 2 lost to Arsenal 3, Derby 2 drew with Fulham 2, Portsmouth 2 bt Wigan 0, Reading 0 drew with Blackburn 0, Sunderland 2 bt West Ham 1. — AFP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport