Rooney ends Arsenal run

By Nic Evans  

Rooney ends Arsenal run

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Teams

  • Arsenal
  • Birmingham City

Players

  • Olivier Tebily
  • Fredrik Ljungberg

ARSENAL scored in their 49th consecutive game but lost their unbeaten record as Wayne Rooney's late goal gave Everton an impressive 2-1 win, whilst West Ham United moved off the bottom of the table with a 1-0 win in Howard Wilkinson's first match in charge of Sunderland.

The Black Country derby between West Brom and Birmingham ended 1-1 as two goals in the last five minutes lifted The Hawthorns' crowd while Blackburn went goal crazy over a Newcastle United side that were down to ten men from the second minute.

Kevin Keegan's Manchester City continued their downward spiral, losing 3-0 at home to Chelsea whilst The Blues' neighbours United travelled to Fulham and came away with a point, with Steed Malbranque missing a chance for all three points from the spot.

At Goodison Park it was Rooney, who impressed against Manchester United in a brief stint off the bench went one better this time in front of his home crowd as he came on as a substitute and curled in a delightful 22 yard shot to win the game.

Fredrik Ljungberg put Arsenal in front in the ninth minute as he picked up a loose ball to blast it into the net.

The home side equalised when Lee Carsley ran past a couple of defenders before seeing his shot cannon back off the post.  The lurking Tomasz Radsinski crashed in the equaliser in the 23rd minute.

Both sides had chances to win it but Rooney was Everton's hero with his first Premiership goal and in the process ended Arsenal's 33 game unbeaten streak and left Merseyside rivals Liverpool a point clear at the top.

At the Hawthorns a bad tackle on Paul Devlin by Neil Clement was only punished by a booking, yet Birmingham's Oliver Tebily was less fortunate picking up two yellow cards and being sent off with ten minutes to go.

A bizarre own goal with Russel Hoult missing a cross into the box that saw the ball hit the post, then Darren Moore and go in gave Birmingham an 85th minute opener.

Yet Jason Roberts showed his striking prowess sixty seconds later as he curled in a superb equaliser.

Paolo Di Canio played his part in West Ham's 1-0 win over Sunderland.

His superb long range pass found Trevor Sinclair who hammered in a fine volley in the 22nd minute for the only goal of the game.

The Black Cats were unfortunate in front of goal, hitting the woodwork on a couple of occasions but are mired in the bottom three.

Sir Bobby Robson's side were down to ten men within two minutes as Shay Given dropped the ball allowing Dwight Yorke a free shot at an open goal.

Greek defender Nikos Dabizas saved the ball with his arm and was sent off for deliberate handball, whilst David Dunn opened the scoring from the spot in just the third minute.

The pace did not abate as Keith Gillespie's square ball to Dunn saw the midfielder score his second in just the eighth minute.  The visitors threatened a comeback as Alan Shearer crashed in Newcastle's first penalty of the season then equalised in the 48th minute with a thundering header from a corner his 300th and 301st domestic goals of a glittering career.

A fortuitous deflection gave Martin Taylor the chance to make it 3-2 in the 55th minute and he took it and Newcastle's day went from bad to worse as Given saved Gillespie's header but saw the ball rebound into the net off Andy Griffin.

Craig Bellamy, Wales' midweek hero, saw an effort cleared off the line, but Taylor had the final say as poor marking allowed him to head home from a corner with a quarter of an hour to go.

Fulham went into the break against Manchester United a goal to the good, with Stephane Marlet getting firing in from close range as The Cottagers threatened something of an upset.

Just after the hour Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hit a powerful effort from a tight angle that suprised Edwin van der Sar to make it 1-1.

It appeared the home side were on the way to all three points when Marlet took on Laurent Blanc for pace and had his run blocked.  The penalty award appeared harsh, but Fabian Barthez's antics earned him a booking in the arguing that followed.

However, it appeared to work for the French keeper as he saved fellow countryman Steed Malbranque's spot-kick.  Either side could have won the game but a point appeared a fair result.

Keegan's City side were put to the sword by a resurgent Chelsea side despite dominating for long periods of time.

It appeared it was only a matter of time before City scored but it was the visitors that went ahead in the 68th minute when Emmanuel Petit flicked on for Gianfranco Zola to hit home at the back post.

Zola made it two with four minutes to go and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink held off a couple of challenges for his first goal from open play with time running down.

Click below for more information on the games:

Premiership:
Blackburn v Newcastle
Everton v Arsenal
Fulham v Manchester United
Leeds United v Liverpool
Manchester City v Chelsea
Sunderland v West Ham
West Brom v Birmingham

Click here for the updated Premiership table