The Hindu : Sport / Football : Gerrard keeps Liverpool on top

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Gerrard keeps Liverpool on top

LONDON: Steven Gerrard converted a penalty to protect Liverpool’s three-point English Premier League football lead, but the north London derby provided Wednesday’s most dramatic moments with Tottenham salvaging a 4-4 draw at Arsenal.

Liverpool took 76 minutes to break Portsmouth’s resolve with Gerrard’s spot-kick inflicting a 1-0 loss on Tony Adams’s new side.

In his second game in charge, Harry Redknapp continued his quest to lift Spurs off the bottom of the league, with two goals in the last five minutes clinching a point at Arsenal. Substitute Aaron Lennon levelled in the fourth minute of injury time.

Cristiano Ronaldo silenced his critics by scoring both goals in defending champion Manchester United’s 2-0 victory over West Ham.

Liverpool tops the standings with 26 points, with Chelsea three points off the pace. Arsenal and Villa are three points further adrift on 20 points.

Liverpool looked destined to squander the advantage gained by Sunday’s first victory at Chelsea in four years until the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Portsmouth midfielder Bouba Diop used his hands to block Sami Hyypia’s goal-bound header from Fabio Aurelio’s corner.

Pompey goalkeeper David James dived correctly but couldn’t stop Gerrard’s penalty ending up in the bottom corner.

Stunning goal

Returning to Arsenal for the first time as a Spurs player, David Bentley silenced jeers at the Emirates Stadium with a stunning opening strike.

Bentley received the ball from Jermaine Jenas and controlled it on his chest before unleashing a dipping volley from 39 yards over Manuel Almunia.

Bentley’s good work was undone in the 37th by Tottenham’s shaky goalkeeping.

Racing off his line to punch Robin van Persie’s corner clear, Heurelho Gomes made contact with Jenas’s head while Mikael Silvestre leapt to nod home.

The second half wasn’t even a minute old when Arsenal went ahead from another setpiece delivered by Van Persie and sent past Gomes with a glancing header from William Gallas.

Gomes gifted Arsene Wenger’s side its third in the 64th when the onrushing goalkeeper was chipped by Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor helped the ball over the line.

Tottenham’s hopes of a comeback seemed to be wiped out inside a minute when Van Persie made it 4-2 from an acute angle. — until the late recovery.

With a minute remaining, Jenas tapped the ball around Silvestre and Almunia was helpless to block the fierce shot.

Then Lennon scored from a rebound after Luka Modric hit the post to maintain Redknapp’s unbeaten start since replacing Juande Ramos on Sunday as Spurs manager.

The results:

On Wednesday: Arsenal 4 (Silvestre 37, Gallas 46, Adebayor 64, Van Persie 68) drew with Tottenham 4 (Bentley 13, Bent 67, Jenas 89, Lennon 90); Aston Villa 3 (L.Young 45, Barry 65, Agbonlahor 87) bt Blackburn 2 (Warnock 30, Emerton 90); Bolton 0 lost to Everton 1 (Fellaini 90); Fulham 2 (Johnson 11, 60) bt Wigan 0; Hull 0 lost to Chelsea 3 (Lampard 3, Anelka 50, Malouda 75); Liverpool 1 (Gerrard 76-pen) bt Portsmouth 0; Manchester United 2 (Ronaldo 14, 30) bt West Ham 0; Middlesbrough 2 (Alves 53-pen, O’Neil 90) bt Manchester City 0; Stoke 1 (Fuller 73) bt Sunderland 0. — Agencies

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