Top English teams miss chances in premiership

By Vic Mills

LONDON (JP): It was a weekend of missed opportunities in the English Premiership as Arsenal and Manchester United both drew, while Leicester, Liverpool and Newcastle all lost.

Arsenal remains a point clear at the top after an undistinguished goalless draw at Crystal Palace; but for how long? Against a limited Palace side, they showed precious little flair in midfield. And with Dennis Bergkamp now set for a three- match suspension following his fifth booking, life will become increasingly hard for Ian Wright.

Blackburn Rovers know all about hard times; for a year it was bottom of the league and in trouble. On Saturday, it moved second in goal difference from Manchester United courtesy of a 25th minute winner from Tim Sherwood against Southampton.

With Sherwood dictating midfield, and a fit again Stuart Ripley's menacing out wide, the puzzle is that Rovers scored only one goal. But then its ability to win when short of its best earned them the championship under Kenny Daglish.

This capacity to conjure something out of nothing has made Manchester United the team of the decade. It was again in evidence at Derby County as it fought back from two down to steal a point.

Derby overran the champion in the first half as Paulo Wanchope tore the United defense apart. The elusive Costa Rican made the first for Francesco Baiano then left international class defenders trailing to score a superb individual goal.

Teddy Sheringham made amends for missing a first half penalty by heading United back into game six minutes after the restart, and Andy Cole capitalized on the waning self-belief of the home side to hit the equalizer late in the game.

It was thus left to Merseyside to provide the shock result of the weekend as Everton overcame its more illustrious neighbors to take the points with a Neil Ruddock own goal and another opportunist strike from 18 year-old Danny Cadamarteri.

Shot on commitment and passion, Liverpool was simply outfought in midfield. The damage was compounded by an alarming defensive fallibility. Unless manager Roy Evans can remedy the situation quickly by purchasing a center half, the trophy room will remain empty for another season.

The quest for honors remains firmly on course at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea beat a defensive Leicester City side with a glorious 30-yard drive from Frank Leboeuf two minutes from time.

Composed and classy against a visiting team devoid of ambition, Chelsea's winning margin should have been more had not Tor Andre Flo and Celestine Babayaro wasted several chances.

Enterprise

Newcastle United was another to pay for a lack of enterprise as it went down 4-1 to Leeds United with goals from Bruno Ribero, Harry Kewell, David Wetherall and an own goal from John Beresford.

A Newcastle side managed by Kevin Keegan would probably have reversed the result.

As it was, a difficult afternoon for the Tyneside fans was lightened only by the rumors that Andy Cole and Paul Gascoigne would soon be rejoining the club.

Back in the capital, John Hartson demonstrated again his worth with two goals, making him top scorer in the Premiership with 12, in West Ham United's comfortable 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers.

Elsewhere, Wimbledon beat lackluster Aston Villa 2-1 with goals from Robbie Erale and Carl Cort; first-half strikes from Jose Domingues, Chris Armstrong and David Ginola saw Tottenham home 3-2 in a nail-biting finish Wednesday against Sheffield; and on Monday night, goals from Ashley Ward and Neil Redfearn in the 2-0 win over Coventry City lifted Barnsley off the bottom.

On the European scene, speculation continues to grow over the future of AC Milan coach Fabio Capello as his side lost 2-1 at home to bottom club Lecce. To add insult to injured pride, another contestant at the San Siro, Internazionale, preserved its two point lead at the top of Serie A with a 2-0 win at Napoli.

Reigning champion, Juventus, moves second on goal difference from Parma with two goals from Zinedine Zidane in its 6-0 thrashing of Bari. A first goal of the season for Enrico Chiesa and another for Dino Baggio kept Parma in contention with a 2-0 home win over Bologna.

Paris St. Germain heads the standings in France for the first time this season thanks to goals from Franck Gava and Florian Maurice in its 2-0 win at Toulouse. Long-time leader Metz lost 2- 0 to fourth-place Marseille with Fabrizio Ravanelli marking his home debut with a goal. Bordeaux remains third after its 1-0 win at Guingamp.

There is no change at the top of the Bundesliga where leader Kaiserslautern remains four points clear thanks to a late equalizer from Juergen Rische in its 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen. It was a similar story for second place Bayern Munich who was reliant on a late goal from Michael Tarnat to share the points of Karlsruhe.

In Holland, PSV Eindhoven closed the gap on Ajax to five points with a 4-0 win over Nijmegen at the weekend. The reigning champion made full use of the Amsterdam club's weekend off with two goals form Luc Nilis and others from Ernst Faber and Gilles de Bilde.

Finally to Spain, where Barcelona dropped its first points of the season in a 2-2 draw with Compostela. Trailing 2-0, the leader grabbed a point with two goals in four minutes from Oscar Garcia and Brazilian ace Rivaldo.

Champion Real Madrid moved to within two points of the top with goals from Fernando Morientes, Predag Mijatovic and Clarence Seedord in its win over Tenerife. It was left to an Italian to steal the headlines, however, as Christian Vieri scored a hat trick as third place Athletico Madrid humbled Real Zaragoza 6-1.