Title race thrown wide open in England

Posted Monday, November 15, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (AP)—Premier League leader Chelsea was thrashed 3-0 at home by Sunderland on Sunday to throw the title race wide open in England.

United States goalkeeper Tim Howard allowed a goal in each half as Arsenal beat Everton 2-1 to move into second place and within two points of Chelsea, the reigning champion. Manchester United is third, another point back, after scoring two late goals to draw 2-2 at Aston Villa on Saturday, when fourth-place Manchester City managed a 0-0 draw against Birmingham.

United States midfielder Stuart Holden was on target for Bolton on Saturday in its 3-2 win at Wolves that put the northwest team in fifth place.

Chelsea’s perfect home record ended after a solo effort by Nedum Onuoha and second-half goals by Asamoah Gyan and Danny Welbeck earned Sunderland a deserved victory at Stamford Bridge. They were the first goals the Blues have conceded at home this season.

“Everything went wrong,” manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “We didn’t play well or how we wanted. Sunderland played with fantastic spirit, fantastic pressure.”

It was Chelsea’s worst home defeat since April 2002 and its second loss in three league matches, having been defeated 2-0 by Liverpool last Sunday.

Bacary Sagna and Cesc Fabregas managed to score against Howard, while Tim Cahill’s 89th-minute goal came too late to rescue Everton against Arsenal.

“We’ve had two difficult away games (this week), against Wolverhampton and Everton, but we have got six points and that puts us in a good situation. The team has shown great spirit,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

MADRID—Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain’s second-half goal earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win at Sporting Gijon that kept Jose Mourinho’s side unbeaten this season.

Barcelona beat third-place Villarreal 3-1 on Saturday to give the two-time defending Spanish champions 28 points, but Madrid’s win moved it back ahead by a point.

Alvaro Negredo’s last-minute goal gave Sevilla a 2-1 win at Zaragoza to move into fourth, while Hercules rallied to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 on goals by David Trezeguet and Royston Drenthe, and Malaga beat Levante 1-0 after a goal from Eliseu.

ROME—Lazio moved ahead of Serie A—at least ahead of Sunday’s Milan derby — by beating Napoli 2-0 on goals by Mauro Zarate and Sergio Floccari.

Lazio lost the league lead after dropping its previous two matches, but was in control throughout the game with Zarate opening the scoring in the 15th minute and Floccari doubling the lead from Zarate’s pass in the 61st.

“We trust in our quality and know what we are capable of,” Floccari said. “It has been a tough three days and a with the midweek loss it made it a bad week for us.”

Antonio Di Natale had a first-half hat trick to help Udinese to a 4-0 win over Lecce, with Antonio Floro Flores scoring the host’s fourth after halftime. Javier Pastore also found the net three times as Palermo beat Catania 3-1 in the Sicilian derby.

Sampdoria’s problems in front of goal continued in the Genoa-based club’s 0-0 draw at home to Chievo Verona, Bari remains at the bottom of the standings after losing 1-0 to Parma, Bologna beat Brescia 1-0 and Cagliari lost 1-0 at home to Genoa.

FRANKFURT, Germany—Germany striker Mario Gomez scored twice and France winger Franck Ribery assisted on a goal in his return from injury as Bayern Munich beat Nuremberg 3-0.

Gomez found the net in the 10th and 75th minutes and Philipp Lahm added a penalty in the 57th to help Bayern bounce back from its draw last week at Borussia Moenchengladbach and rise to sixth place in the Bundesliga.

Bayern has 19 points, 12 behind leader Borussia Dortmund—which beat Hamburg 2-0 on Friday—and five back from second-place Bayer Leverkusen and No. 3 Mainz.

Bayern is two points behind fourth-place Freiburg, which has 21 after beating Hoffenheim 1-0 on the road when Papiss Demba Cisse scored his 10th goal of the season in stoppage time.

PARIS—Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Lorient on Sunday to climb into fourth place in the French league above Rennes, which lost 2-1 at Auxerre.

Nene found the net in the last minute to salvage a point for PSG, which had fallen behind to Lorient forward Lynel Kitambala’s first-half goal

Julien Quercia scored the winner for Auxerre from a tight angle in the 86th minute to leave his team four points behind league leader Brest, which was held 1-1 by Sochaux on Saturday. Lille is second after beating Caen 5-2 on Saturday.

AMSTERDAM—Ajax slipped to a second straight defeat in the Dutch league when it lost 2-0 to AZ Alkmaar on Sunday, leaving the Amsterdam club six points behind leader PSV Eindhoven.

Pontus Wernbloom and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scored for AZ Alkmaar, which moves up to sixth.

PSV Eindhoven returned to the top of the league with a 4-2 win over Excelsior Rotterdam on Saturday, when second-place FC Twente, the defending champion, fell to its first loss of the season by succumbing to a 2-1 defeat at NAC Breda.