Man. United storms back to the top of Premiership
By Vic Mills
LONDON (JP): There were contrasting fortunes for the Premiership challengers at the weekend as Manchester United stormed back to the top with a virtuoso attacking display, while Arsenal was again dogged by disciplinary problems.
Any thought that United would take the easy option after its midweek exertions in the Champions' League were soon dispelled as Andy Cole fired a 28th minute first half hat trick and Ryan Giggs added another to leave the champions 4-0 up against Barnsley at the interval.
The visitors were allowed custody of the ball for long periods but were largely reduced to shuffling sideways across midfield. United, in contrast, tore forward, the ball moving from player to player almost too quickly for the naked eye.
Forgoing the sensible option of locking themselves in the dressing room at half time, Barnsley returned only for the torment to continue with Giggs, Paul Scholes and Karel Poborsky adding further goals.
Needing to beat Aston Villa on Sunday to return to the top, Arsenal forced the early pace. The visitors use of three center backs and two wing backs, however, left Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp closely shackled.
Harassed in midfield and held in attack, Arsenal grew increasingly disillusioned. It was Villa in fact who came closest to breaking the deadlock with Julian Joachim twice evading his marker only for David Seaman to save at close range.
The frustration bubbled over late in the game when the impressive Emmanuel Petit was sent off for pushing the referee. On an afternoon of ill-disciplined challenges, there were further bookings for Seaman, Steve Bould and Patrik Vieira.
Yellow was the dominant color on Tyneside, too, where the referee booked eight, six from Blackburn Rovers, in a dour 1-1 draw against Newcastle United.
Unable to field a center forward or, indeed, anyone who remotely resembled the part, Kenny Dalglish opted for caution. Left home alone, Keith Gillespie, made the most of a solitary afternoon up front to volley Newcastle into a 27th minute lead.
Chris Sutton fared little better, although he did manage to lose his markers in the 57th minute and craft a superb equalizer for Rovers. The limited ambition of the two sides saw fans leaving long before the final whistle.
Liverpool
On the fringe of the title race and having lost heavily to Strasbourg in the UEFA Cup, Liverpool knows all about early departures. Yet two goals from Robbie Fowler and one apiece for Oyvind Leonhardsen and Steve McManaman in the win over Derby County suggests a return to form. Results, however, can be deceptive.
For as well as they played, Liverpool still looked edgy. A defense that appeared solid for 70 minutes became nervous and vulnerable as soon as the visitors applied sustained pressure. And Michael Own, for all his promise, spoiled too much possession by failing to understand what was developing around him. Fowler, in particular, suffered, with a number of his runs going unrewarded by the youngster.
While Liverpool manager, Roy Evans, may have silenced his critics (for the moment) the same cannot be said of David Pleat. Indeed, the chants of "Pleat out" were ringing around Hillsborough with the game barely an hour old on Saturday. A side without passion, method or conviction, Sheffield not so much lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace on Wednesday as surrendered.
Having escaped Hillsborough, center forward David Hirst is experiencing a new lease of life with Southampton. A fact he emphasized with two second-half goals in the hard fought 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Dell.
Elsewhere, goals were at a premium. A solitary Dean Holdsworth strike gave Bolton the points against Chelsea; a disputed 28th minute penalty by Wimbledon's Neil Ardley was enough to beat Leeds United; Coventry and Everton played a goalless draw; and in the Monday night match, Leicester City moved back into fourth place with goals from Emile Heskey and Ian Marshall in the 2-1 home win over West Ham United.
With the Italian domestic program canceled due to World Cup commitments, all eyes turned to Holland at the weekend as Ajax made it 11 wins out of 11 with an emphatic 4-0 victory over arch- rival Feyenoord.
The Amsterdam club celebrated captain Danny Blind's 500th league match with goals from Jari Litmanen, Shota Arveladze, Dani and Ronald de Boer.
PSV Eindhoven
Despite winning 5-0 at home to MVV Maastricht, second place PSV Eindhoven remains five points off the top; Heerenveen stands a further points behind after its 2-1 win at Graafschap Doetinchem on Friday night.
In Germany, a 21st minute Olaf Marschall winner for Kaiserslautern at home to Duisburg enabled the newly promoted club to retain its four point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, while a goal either side of the interval by Cartsen Jancker and Mario Basler gave second place Bayern Munich the points at home to Werder Bremen.
Paris St. Germain increased its lead to three points at the top of the French first division on Sunday with goals from Bruno N'Gotty and the Brazilian Rai in the 2-0 win over Lens.
A 75th minute goal by Montpellier's Mahouve sent Metz tumbling to its fourth defeat in five games. The long-time leader drops to third with Bordeaux moving second following its 1-1 draw at home to Nantes.
Finally to Spain, where Barcelona confirmed it would travel to Madrid next weekend for the meeting with Real as leaders of the Spanish first division after beating Racing Santander 2-0 at home with goals form Oscar Garcia and Luis Enrique.