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LONDON, Dec 11 - Brief match reports from Premier
League matches played at the weekend: - - - Played on Sunday: MANCHESTER UNITED 1 EVERTON 1 United spurned the chance to return to second place after
being held to a home draw by lowly Everton. James McFadden beat United keeper Edwin van der Sar at his
near post with a venomous left-foot drive after seven minutes.
Ryan Giggs guided home the equaliser nine minutes later after a
delightful pass over the Everton defence by Paul Scholes. United remain third with 31 points from 15 matches while
Everton climb two places to 15th. - - - Played on Saturday: BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 FULHAM 0 Birmingham, who had previously only taken one point out of
18 at home this season, notched up their first win at St Andrews
thanks to midfielder Nicky Butt's 84th-minute goal from striker
Emile Heskey's downward header in a combination of former
England players. It was Butt's second goal since joining Birmingham on loan
from Newcastle United in August. Birmingham had last won at home
when they beat Arsenal 2-1 in their final game of last season in
May. - - - BLACKBURN ROVERS 3 WEST HAM UNITED 2 Rovers came from behind with two goals in two minutes from
striker Paul Dickov, the first a lucky penalty in the 56th
minute for a harsh handball decision against West Ham defender
Tomas Repka. Bobby Zamora, who had put Hammers in front in first-half
injury time from Marlon Harewood's right cross, returned the
compliment by laying on the burly striker's equaliser just past
the hour. Rovers striker Shefki Kuqi had the last word with the winner
14 minutes from time when he shot home after a misunderstanding
in defence by Repka and Anton Ferdinand. - - - BOLTON WANDERERS 1 ASTON VILLA 1 Colombia's Juan Pablo Angel scored his first goal of the
season in his 15th match, equalising for Villa two minutes from
time from Luke Moore's left cross. It gave Villa, humiliated 3-0 by third division Doncaster
Rovers in the League Cup last week, their fourth game unbeaten
in the league. El Hadji Diouf had put Bolton in front six minutes earlier
from Ricardo Vaz Te's pass. - - - CHARLTON ATHLETIC 2 SUNDERLAND 0 Charlton ended a run of six defeats since they beat Chelsea
on penalties in the third round of the League Cup in October. They scored twice in seven minutes either side of halftime
with goals from the two Darrens, Bent with a ball from Danny
Murphy in the 42nd minute and Ambrose, who turned in Luke
Young's right cross. Sunderland, who have only won once this season, chalked up
their ninth league defeat in a row and 10th counting the League
Cup and are now five points adrift at the bottom of the
standings. - - - CHELSEA 1 WIGAN ATHLETIC 0 The champions continued their relentless progress towards
retaining the title with a narrow home win against the promoted
side that gave them a scare on the opening day of the season
before going down by the same score. Central defender John Terry headed home his England team
mate Frank Lampard's out-swinging corner from the right in the
67th minute. The Chelsea defence kept a sixth consecutive clean sheet in
all competitions. - - - - LIVERPOOL 2 MIDDLESBROUGH 0 Two second-half goals from Spanish striker Fernando
Morientes gave the European champions a seventh consecutive
league win, hoisting them up to second in the table. Morientes broke the deadlock after 71 minutes when Luis
Garcia crossed from the right, skipper Steven Gerrard dummied
and the Spaniard beat Mark Schwarzer from close range. Six
minutes later, a misdirected header by Boro's French defender
Franck Queudrue gave Morientes a simple lob over the keeper.
Boro's faint hopes of a comeback were dashed when Chris Riggott
was red-carded for a second bookable offence in the 84th minute. - - - NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 ARSENAL 0 Nolberto Solano scored his first goal in more than two years
for Newcastle eight minutes from time to hand Graeme Souness's
side a much-needed 1-0 home win over 10-man Arsenal. The
Peruvian, who returned to Newcastle from seven months at Aston
Villa in August, drove Alan Shearer's pass low across goal from
the right inside the far post past diving keeper Jens Lehmann. Newcastle, who had taken only one point from their previous
three league games, were lucky not to go behind in the first
half of an ill-tempered match when Shay Given made a superb save
to keep out Thierry Henry's volley. Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva was sent off
shortly before the hour after a second bookable foul. - - - WEST BROMWICH ALBION 2 MANCHESTER CITY 0 West Brom extended their unbeaten run in the league to four
matches with Diomansy Kamara's early opening goal from Junichi
Inamoto's ball up the left channel and Kevin Campbell's header
past the hour from the middle of the box. City's frustration resulted in a red card for striker Andy
Cole in the 87th minute for two bookings for fouls in three
minutes. - - - Playing on Monday: Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth (2000)
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