Man United thrashed West Bromwich, EPL roundup

Wayne Rooney continued his remarkable goalscoring run as Manchester United kept the pressure on Chelsea and Liverpool with a 4-0 victory over West Bromwich at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov and Nani were also on the mark for United as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came up with the perfect response to victories from leaders Chelsea and second placed Liverpool earlier in the day.
Rooney, so impressive in England’s World Cup victories over Kazakhstan
and Belarus last week, also had what appeared a perfectly valid first half strike ruled out by referee Mark Halsey.
But that hardly mattered when the United forward extended his extraordinary scoring sequence to eight goals in the last six games for club and country.
A golden period of three goals in 15 minutes started in the 56th minute when United broke out of defence, Berbatov sprung Rooney with a pass from the halfway line and the forward powered into Albion territory, easily sidestepping Ryan Donk, before beating the keeper with an unstoppable near post shot.
In the 69th minute, any lingering hope Albion had of rescuing a point from their visit disappeared when Ronaldo doubled the home team’s lead.
Again, the goal showcased United at their most devastating and lethal best, hitting Albion on the counter-attack with Darren Fletcher's short pass beinghelped into the path of Ronaldo by Rooney and the Portugal winger easily scored the goal.
Two minutes further on, and Berbatov netted a goal, nonchalantly turning in the ball at the far post after Jonas Olsson had failed to deal with Nani’s low cross. Nani completed the rout on the stroke of normal time, turning in Rooney’s far post cross after Ryan Giggs and Berbatov had launched another flowing attack.
On Sunday, Hull City gatecrashed the Premier League’s top four again with a 1-0 home defeat of West Ham United thanks to Michael Turner’s 51st minute goal.

EPL results for 18th, 19th, 20th October'08

Saturday 18th October

Chelsea 5 - 0 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 3 - 1 Everton
Liverpool 3 - 2 Wigan Athletic
Manchester United 4 -0 West Bromwich Albion
Aston Villa 0 - 0 Portsmouth
Bolton Wanderers 0 - 0 Blackburn Rovers
Fulham 0 - 0 Sunderland

Sunday 19th October

Hull City 1 - 0 West Ham United
Stoke City 2 - 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Monday 20th October

New Castle United 2 - 2 Manchester City

Torres double strike helps a thrilling comeback win for Liverpool against Man City in EPL

Liverpool 3 (Torres 55' 73', Kuyt 90') Man City 2(Ireland 18', Garrido 41')

Liverpool went through ecstasy and agony against Man City - celebrating a fabulous fightback but losing Martin Skrtel with a serious knee injury.

After being two goals down at City, Dirk Kuyt's last-gasp goal sealed their best comeback win since the Champions League Final in Istanbul.

But Skrtel (right) - hurt making a superb tackle to deny Ched Evans with the score at 2-2 - will be out for months with ligament damage.

Seconds after the defender was taken off on a stretcher, Kuyt stabbed in the winner.

City were flying when Stephen Ireland opened the scoring and Javier Garrido doubled the lead just before half-time.

But Fernando Torres pulled a goal back for the visitors and City then had Pablo Zabaleta sent off on 67 minutes for a stupid lunge at Xabi Alonso.

City were fuming when Skrtel got away with a kick to Jo's back which disrupted their plans by forcing him off. Gelson Fernandes came on to replace him.

Liverpool were soon level through Torres's second goal of the game and completed their turnaround when Kuyt struck in injury time.

Other matches in EPL:

Tottenham 0-1 Hull City

Blackburn 0-2 Manchester United

West Brom 1-0 Fulham

Wigan 0-1 Middlesbrough

Everton 2-2 New Castle

West Ham 1-3 Bolton

Chelsea 2-0 Aston Villa

Portsmouth 2-1 Stoke City

Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal

Man Utd manage to Draw with Tevez's late equalizer

London: Carlos Tevez equalised two minutes from the end for Manchester United to draw 1-1 at Blackburn and stay three points ahead of Chelsea in the Premier League title race. Roque Santa Cruz put Blackburn ahead in the 21st minute at Ewood Park and Rovers threatened to throw the title race wide open. After Rovers goalkeeper Brad Friedel had made a series of top quality saves, Tevez leveled in the 88th minute when he headed home a flick-on from Paul Scholes. United now have 81 points and Chelsea 78 with the two teams meeting at Stamford Bridge next Saturday. United have a far superior goal difference of 54 against Chelsea’s 36. Chelsea were idle after beating Everton 1-0 Thursday. Blackburn unsettled United’s defence and was rewarded with Santa Cruz’s 20th goal of the season. Both Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic missed the ball as Morten Gamst Pedersen’s throw in found its way to Santa Cruz’s feet. Nani released Wayne Rooney in the 86th only for Friedel to divert the shot wide. After Friedel produced another save to deny John O’Shea’s header,Tevez nodded home at the far post to level after Scholes flicked on Nani’s corner. In Saturday’s other games, fourth place Liverpool won 2-0 at Fulham to push the cottagers closer to relegation.

English Premier League round up

Brian McBride scored the lone goal in Fulham’s 1-0 win over visiting Everton, giving the struggling club their first victory in the Premier League in more than a month. Fulham’s attempt to climb out of the relegation zone was also helped by fellow struggling club Bolton’s 1-0 loss to 10-man Wigan on Sunday. Bolton have 25 points and are in 18th place, with Fulham one place and two points behind. Only five points separate 14thplace Reading from Fulham in 19th. Manchester City rallied to beat Tottenham 2-1 with goals from Nedum Onuoh and Stephen Ireland. McBride scored his second goal of the season in the 67th minute in windy, rainy conditions at Craven Cottage. Simon Davies crossed the ball into the box after a run down the left, and Joseph Yobo’s failed clearance fell to McBride, who headed it in. Eddie Johnson, one of five American players on Fulham’s team in the game, came close to doubling the lead in the 88th when he sent a powerful shot just over the bar. Everton beat Fulham 3-0 at Goodison Park in December, but the Toffees still haven’t won at Craven Cottage since 1966. Everton lost to Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup on Wednesday on penalty kicks. It was Fulham’s first win since a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa on February 3 — and only their fourth this season.