Date:14/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/14/stories/2004091407611800.htm

Sport - Football

Arsenal's unbeaten run continues

LONDON, SEPT. 13. Arsenal stretched its unbeaten run in the English Premier League to 45 games, while Real Madrid and FC Barcelona stayed perfect in the Spanish league and AC Milan and Inter Milan began their Serie A campaigns with identical 2-2 draws.

The defending English champion got two goals from Freddie Ljungberg and another from Jose Antonio Reyes to beat Fulham 3-0 on Saturday.

Arsenal is now 5-0, and leads second-place Chelsea by two points.

Madrid got a trademark free kick by David Beckham to help beat Numancia 1-0.

Chelsea held

Last year's runner-up Chelsea saw its perfect record soiled in a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa, while Manchester United continued its sputtering start, settling for a 2-2 draw at Bolton to fall nine points behind leader Arsenal after only five matches.

Injury-plagued United, which has only one win from its first five Premier League matches, was lucky to earn the draw. Alan Smith got an injury-time equaliser, just seconds after Les Ferdinand gave Bolton a late 2-1 lead.

Gabriel Heinze also struck for Manchester United.

Arsenal leads the league with 15 points.Manchester United has just six points.

Barcelona on top

Defending Spanish champion Valencia came back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Athletic Bilbao and drop two points behind the leaders.

Former Spain international Ismael Urzaiz and Andoni Iraola scored to give Bilbao a 2-0 lead, but Marco Di Vaio and Miguel Angel Angulo struck back to earn the draw. Barcelona leads Madrid on goal difference, both with six points. Valencia has four points.

Easy for Juventus

Juventus opened the Italian season with an easy 3-0 win over Brescia, getting goals from Pavel Nedved, David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Lazio also won, topping 10-man Sampdoria 1-0 on Paolo Di Canio's strike. — AP