English football littered by red and yellow cards

By Vic Mills

LONDON (JP): The dark side of English football surfaced at the weekend as the brutal overshadowed the beautiful in a Premiership program littered with red and yellow cards.

Gary Pallister and Nathan Blake were sent off in the 34th minute and six other players received yellow cards as Manchester United's lead at the top was cut two points after a nil-all draw at Bolton Wanderers.

What began as an entertaining game soon deteriorated into a series of late tackles and petulant exchanges. A crude challenge from behind by Blake brought the altercation that lead to the red cards.

There were four bookings and a sending off in a bad-tempered game at Stamford Bridge where Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-2 to move second in the Premiership. The main casualty, other than sportmanship, was Chelsea defender, Michael Duberry, who was taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle.

It was always that sort of match -- a trial of strength as much as skill, a game that was decided as much by the feuding in midfield as it was in attack, where Dennis Bergkamp took his goal tally to 7 in seven games.

Chelsea struck first in the 40th minute through Gustavo Poyet, but ended the half level as Bergkamp guided home the equalizer, the sides exchanged goals on the hour as the Dutch international gave Arsenal the lead, only for Gianfranco Zola to level.

The dismissal of Frank Leboeuf for a second bookable offense in the 67th minute gave Arsenal the edge; a dipping left-foot shot from 25 yards by Nigel Winterburn in the 89th minute won them the points.

Desperate defense by third place Blackburn Rovers in the nil- all draw at Tottenham saw the fourth red card of the weekend with Patrick Valery sent off in the 79th minute for a second bookable offense. There yellow cards, too, for teammates Gary Flitcroft and Tim Sherwood.

The desperation was caused by David Ginola, who ran Blackburn ragged. Whether casually chesting down difficult balls, hitting long, cross-field passes or surging past defenders, Ginola was outstanding.

Urged on by their effervescent manager, Martin O'Neill, Leicester City shrugged off the disappointment of mid-week UEFA Cup defeat against Athletico Madrid to beat Leeds United with a 32nd minute Steve Walsh goal to move fourth in the Premiership, level on points with Blackburn.

The departure of Walsh three minutes later with a hamstring injury had little effect on a Leicester defense that stood solid against a Leeds side bereft of ideas and who were jeered off the pitch at the final whistle.

The football was little better at Upton Park where Newcastle United scrambled a win against West Ham United with a John Barnes goal in the 44th minute.

The beautiful game took a battering on the south cast too, where bottom of the table Southampton outplayed Liverpool and, but for poor finishing, should have scored far more than the solitary effort by Kevin Davies to equalize a Karl Heinz Riedle strike.

Liverpool manager, Roy Evans, called his players careless, but could have added listless, sloppy and clumsy. it was that sort of afternoon.

Aston Villa continued its climb to safety with a 2-1 win over Derby County. For three-quarters of the game, Derby clung to Francesco Baiano's early goal. Three second-half minutes changed the course of events as Dwight Yorke hooked in Stan Collymore's nod-down and Julian Joachim stroke in Fernando Nelson's cross.

In other Premiership games, Crystal Palace won the Selhurst derby against Wimbledon with an Attilio Lombardo goal ten minutes from time; poor finishing was the feature of the nil-all draw between Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry City; and two Gary Speed goals consigned Barnsley to its fifth defeat in seven games, 4-2 at Everton.

Serie A

On the European scene, Internazionale remains two points clear at the top of Serie A following its 3-2 win over Fiorentina. In a seesaw match at San Siro, Inter took the lead through Ronaldo, only for the visitors to storm back with goals either side of halftime from Michele Serene and Gabriel Batistuta.

Fiorentina continued to press, but it was Inter who equalized through Francesco Moriero in the 72nd minute. The game was settled somewhat fortuitously in the 81st minute down Youri Djorkaeff ran through to score after being played on-side by a lucky ricochet.

Juventus, meanwhile, moves second ahead of Parma, Roma and Sampdoria on goal difference after its 4-0 win over Brescia courtesy of Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte, Filippo Inzahgi and Alessandro Del Piero. At the other end of the table, AC Milan slipped to 13th after a 2-1 defeat at Udinese.

In Holland, Ajax remains four points clear at the top thanks to goals from Jari Litmanen (2), Sunday Oliseh and Michael Laudrup in its 4-1 win at NEC Nijmegen. Heerenveen, 2-0 winner at Roda JC Kerkrade with goals from El Khattabi and Ebiede, stand second on goal difference from Twente Enschede, who beat MVV Maastricht with a 74th minute goal from Hoogma.

Kaiserslautern stretched its unbeaten run to seven games with a 4-2 win at Karlsruhe on Friday night to remain three points clear at the top of the German Bundesliga. Bayern Munich maintained its challenge with goals from Carsten Jancker, Christian Nerlinger and Mehmet School in 1a 3-1 win at FC Cologne.

Finally, to France where Metz retained its one-point lead at the top of the first division despite drawing 0-0 at third place Bastia. Second place, Paris St Germain, missed its chance to go top after drawing 1-1 at Le Havre.