Manchester and Liverpool in hunt for English title
By Vic Mills
LONDON (JP): With both Arsenal and Newcastle United dropping points at the weekend, the title race in England is now a straight fight between Manchester United and Liverpool.
United currently hold a three point lead with seven games remaining. The two meet at Anfield on April 19.
Having booked a place in next month's European Cup semifinals, Manchester United returned to domestic duty with a determined 2-0 win at Everton on an afternoon of contrasting fortunes for the goalkeepers.
An error by Everton's Paul Gerrard enabled Ole Solskjaer to open the scoring with a left-foot drive outside the box in the 35th minute. The goalkeeper was again at fault eleven minutes from time when he failed to cut a David Beckham cross leaving Eric Cantona a simple tap in.
At the other end, United's Danish international Peter Schmeichel was in commanding form, climbing massively to deny Duncan Ferguson heading opportunities and saving instinctively when the action moved to his goal line.
A goalkeeping error set Liverpool on its way at Highbury Monday night as David Seaman failed to hold a Stig Bjornebye shot enabling Stan Collymore to pounce and put Liverpool ahead.
Seaman atoned in the second-half by saving a Robbie Fowler penalty, but could not prevent Jason McAteer following up to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead. Ian Wright halved the deficit in the 78th minute, but Liverpool held on to win and effectively put an end to Arsenal's title challenge.
Dream
It was a similar story at Selhurst Park where Wimbledon and Newcastle United were left to dream of what might have been after drawing 1-1. A goal from Norwegian Oyvind Leonhardsen was the only highlight of a disappointing first-half as he profited from poor Newcastle defense.
The visitors, cheered on by thousands of its traveling supporters, equalized seven minutes into the second-half when Colombian Faustino Asprilla curled a 25 yard free kick over the wall and into the top corner.
Aston Villa continued its quest for a UEFA Cup place with an impressive 2-0 win at Blackburn Rovers. Second-half goals by substitute Tommy Johnson and Dwight Yorke were enough to inflict Rovers first home league defeat since October and move Villa into fifth place.
The European ambitions of Sheffield Wednesday took a knock at the weekend as they were held 2-2 at home by neighbor Leeds United. An Andy Booth goal in the 51st minute tied the scores after Lee Sharpe and Rod Wallace had given Leeds a 2-1 interval lead. David Hirst had earlier leveled the score for Wednesday.
Relegation
Elsewhere around the Premiership, the dominant theme was that of relegation. Thus Middlesbrough, as if life was not difficult enough already, was forced to play two games in three days due to fixture backlog.
Undaunted, the Teesiders rose magnificently to the challenge beating Chelsea 1-0 with a Juninho goal Saturday and coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Nottingham Forest Monday night thanks to a Mikkel Beck goal.
Out of the bottom three for the first time since January, Middlesbrough could move higher today should the Football Association reverse its earlier decision to deduct three points for the postponed game against Blackburn in December.
A late equalizer by Des Lytlle for Nottingham Forest denied Sunderland the points at Roker Park Saturday. The Wearsiders, who included new signing Chris Waddle in its line up, had earlier gone ahead through a Kevin Ball volley in the 61st minute.
In yet another relegation battle, West Ham United won 3-1 at Coventry City. Having taken the lead with a Marc Reiper goal, Coventry gifted the Londoners the game with two goals for John Hartson and another for Rio Ferdinand.
In other games, Derby County eased five points clear of the drop zone with a hard fought 4-2 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur, while Leicester City shared four goals and the points with Southampton who remain three points adrift at the foot of the table.
The weekend in Europe was dominated by events off the pitch in Holland. One fan died and dozens were injured in a pre-arranged battle between supporters of Ajax and Feyenoord. The clash was organized via the Internet, but the venue - Beverwijk market - was known too late for police to take action.
The battle that ensued saw hundreds of fans armed with baseball bats, hammers and knives. Shocked government ministers condemned the incident, calling for a renewed police clampdown. The last death in such clashes was three years ago.
On the pitch, Feyenoord drew level with PSV Eindhoven at the top after a 2-0 away win against AZ Alkmaar, PSV stay top on goal difference despite a surprise 1-0 home defeat by Heerenveen.
There was another change at the top of the Bundesliga in Germany over the weekend with Bayern Munich going two points clear of VfB Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen after a 2-0 win at Karlsruhe. The defending champion Borussia Dortmund stands a further point behind.
Juventus
In Italy, league leader Juventus extended its lead in Serie A despite being held to a goalless draw at Napoli. Its nearest rivals Palma is now six points behind after going down a Lilian Thuram goal at Fiorentina. Internazionale moved to third place after a hard fought 2-1 home victory over Verona.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, stays nine points clear in Spain thanks to two first-half strikes from Fernanado Hiero in the 2-0 win over Zaragoza. Barcelona stands second on goal difference from Real Betis with Ronaldo, Juan Pizzi, Luis Enrique and Oscar Garcia scoring in the 4-0 rout of Sevilla.
Finally to France, where a 3-1 home win over Bastia preserved AC Monaco's seven point lead at the top of the first division. Paris St Germain stay in second place with Patrice Loko scoring both goals in the 2-0 win over Metz.