Sports

Arsenal are still firmly in the title race after a thrilling win over Manchester United, Robbie Keane was off the mark for Liverpool and Tony Adams picked up his first win as Portsmouth boss.

Bolton Wanderers climbed out of the relegation zone and into the top 10, Everton came from behind to stun West Ham United at Upton Park, while Stoke City made it three games unbeaten after a battling draw at Wigan Athletic.

Arsenal served up the perfect response at the end of a difficult week after a thrilling 2-1 win over champions Manchester United at Emirates Stadium.

An absorbing end-to-end encounter in North London could have gone either way and it was a contest neither side deserved to lose.

After overcoming a shaky start, which saw Manuel Almunia handle a Mikael Silvestre backpass and Dimitar Berbatov have a goal ruled out for offside, Arsenal took the lead on 22 minutes.

Berbatov could only clear a free-kick out to Samir Nasri on the edge of the box and the French youngster's crisp shot took a decisive deflection off Gary Neville and flew past Edwin van der Sar.

If there was an element of fortune about Arsenal's opener, Nasri's second had class written all over it as he thumped a shot beyond Van der Sar three minutes after half-time following a wonderfully intricate build-up from the hosts.

Cristiano Ronaldo wasted a golden chance to pull a goal back almost immediately and, though substitute Rafael da Silva fired a volley beyond substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski in the last minute, United were unable to conjure up an equaliser in six minutes of injury-time.

Robbie Keane grabbed his first Premier League goals for Liverpool as the title hopefuls eased to a 3-0 home win over West Bromwich Albion.

Irish ace Keane has endured a frustrating time of things in front of goal since his summer move from Tottenham Hospur, but displayed his killer instinct to see off the Baggies at Anfield.

The breakthrough came on 34 minutes when Reds skipper Steven Gerrard's pass picked out Keane's angled run into the box and he deftly lifted his shot over the onrushing Carson.

And, just like buses, another one soon followed as Liverpool hit West Brom on the break, with Fabio Aurelio releasing Keane to round Carson and slide into an empty net.

Fernando Torres was brought on to replace Keane for his comeback and Alvaro Arbeloa curled home a sumptuous third in injury-time to finish off an outclassed Baggies side.

Hull City slipped to a third consecutive defeat after going down 1-0 at home to Phil Brown's former club Bolton.

In a hard-fought first half, Hull came closest to breaking the deadlock when Marlon King's improvised effort on 18 minutes looped on to the crossbar.

Bolton made the breakthrough five minutes into the second period when Matthew Taylor squeezed his volley just inside the post after Hull had only partially cleared a corner to the edge of the area.

Visiting keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was then in inspired form as he denied Geovanni and King with superb saves as the Trotters moved out of the bottom three.

Portsmouth came from behind to record a last-gasp 2-1 win at Sunderland as Jermain Defoe stroked home an injury-time penalty.

Sunderland enjoyed a dream start by taking the lead after four minutes when a long ball sent Djibril Cisse clear and the French striker slotted his shot through David James' legs.

The hosts created further chances before the break, but Pompey came out for the second half a rejuvenated team and levelled on 51 minutes through Nadir Belhadj's well-struck shot from 25 yards.

In the final minute, Pompey snatched a winner from the penalty spot through Defoe's clinical strike after Glen Johnson had been brought down by El Hadji Diouf's clumsy challenge.

West Ham were torn apart by a crazy four-minute spell late in the game as Everton came away with an impressive 3-1 triumph.

Freddie Sears was given a chance in the Hammers' starting line-up and he almost repaid Gianfranco Zola's faith when he clipped his shot against the bar following good work by Craig Bellamy on the half-hour mark.

Sears was involved in the opening goal on 63 minutes when he started the move which resulted in fellow youngster Jack Collison curling a superb shot inside the far post.

Everton then stunned the Hammers with a triple late blast as the unmarked Joleon Lescott headed home an equaliser on 83 minutes from Louis Saha's cross.

Saha then put Everton in front just two minutes later as his right-footed effort from Victor Anichebe's pass into the area took a deflection on its way past Robert Green.

And, on 87 minutes, Saha scored again as Everton pounced on a poor pass out of defence and the French striker smashed a shot beyond Green from 25 yards.

Wigan failed to make their second-half dominance count after being held to a 0-0 draw at home by Stoke.

The visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen for denying Wilson Palacios and Titus Bramble late on in a match full of effort, but short on quality.

Anelka blasts Blues back on top

Contd. from back page

caused Anelka to fall inside the 18-yard area.

However, justice was done on 39 minutes when Scolari - who was celebrating his 60th birthday - saw his team take the lead as Anelka deflected a Jose Bosingwa effort past Robinson.

Despite the torrential downpour of the first 45 minutes, conditions were deemed acceptable to continue and home manager Paul Ince clearly demanded an improved performance from his men during the interval.

Rovers raised their game, but Anelka netted his 10th league goal of the season in cute fashion with 22 minutes remaining to ease Chelsea to victory.

Victory was achieved without Didier Drogba even making the trip, and question-marks remain over his long-term future at the club, especially now Anelka has established himself as the manager's favourite.

Blackburn must have hoped the pouring rain would be in their favour but Chelsea took to the conditions like ducks to water.

Disaster

Disaster nearly struck early on for the home side when Keith Andrews' awful back-pass was intercepted by Anelka, who appeared to be felled by the sliding Robinson, but referee Chris Foy ignored the shouts for a penalty.

Blackburn put their faith in hard work but again were nearly undone by lapses of concentration. Anelka was completely unmarked when Bosingwa sent over a straightforward cross and Robinson was forced to save his downward header with his feet.

After John Terry had landed a header on the roof of the net, Robinson was forced to save again with his feet to deny John Obi Mikel from close range.

Florent Malouda was the next Chelsea player to be wasteful, slicing wide from 15 yards after a poor clearance, before Robinson was in action again, this time pushing aside a low drive from Frank Lampard.

United boss worried by results against other members of big four

Sir Alex Ferguson admits Manchester United's results against their title rivals are a 'big concern'.

United have played all three of the remaining so-called 'big four' away from home already this season, but have only collected one point.

After losing 2-1 at Liverpool, United drew 1-1 at Chelsea the following week before succumbing to a 2-1 loss at Arsenal on Saturday.

The Premier League champions gained four points from the corresponding fixtures last season and Ferguson is worried by the current situation.

The defeat at Emirates Stadium also leaves United eight points behind leaders Liverpool and Ferguson feels it was a blow to his team's title hopes.Big blow "It is a big blow to us," he said. "We needed to win the game.

"Our results against the other big clubs is a big concern. It is a complete opposite to last year, when we lost at Chelsea and drew at Arsenal but won the rest.

"We have got to get above 85 points to have a chance of winning the league, so we must keep going for it."

While the industry of his side's performance meant it could not be used as an excuse, Ferguson once again questioned how the fixtures have fallen for United.

In the first half of the season they play the entire top eight from last term away from home, while every UEFA Champions League group game, such as last week's trip to Celtic, is followed by United getting on their travels in domestic combat.

"They say the league is not handicapped - I am not so sure," he said.

"Having every game away from home following a European tie is not easy. Going from Celtic on Wednesday to play at Arsenal the following Saturday lunchtime is hard, although funnily enough, I did not think it was a problem today."

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