EPL 2009-10 season: Record English Premier League wins

2009/11/24
Tottenham’s Peter Crouch heads the ball past Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland to score his club’s opening goal in their Premier League match at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Tottenham won 9-1 with Jermain Defoe netting five goals. — AFPpic

LONDON: Tottenham Hotspur's 9-1 rout of Wigan Athletic on Sunday was one of the most lopsided Premier League victories.

The greatest winning margins in the EPL are as follows:

March 1995: Manchester United 9 Ipswich Town 0 -- England striker Andy Cole scored five goals and current Manchester City manager Mark Hughes two, with Paul Ince and Roy Keane also netting against an Ipswich side who would finish bottom of the table that season.

November 2009: Tottenham Hotspur 9 Wigan Athletic 1 -- England striker Jermain Defoe scored five goals, all in the second half, including a hat-trick in seven minutes, as Spurs ran riot at White Hart Lane.

Peter Crouch and Aaron Lennon were also on target before Chris Kirkland's own-goal and Niko Kranjcar's last minute effort rounded off victory.

September 1999: Newcastle 8 Sheffield Wednesday 0 -- Newcastle great Alan Shearer scored five times, including two penalties, as relegation-bound Wednesday were walloped at St James' Park. Aaron Hughes opened the scoring while Kieron Dyer and Gary Speed both scored in the second half.

February 1999: Nottingham Forest 1 Manchester United 8 -- Supersub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came off the bench to score four goals in the last 10 minutes against Forest.

Strikers Cole and Dwight Yorke both grabbed two goals apiece, with Forest's Alan Rogers briefly drawing the hosts level.

May 2005: Arsenal 7 Everton 0 -- Dutch maestro Dennis Bergkamp scored one and helped create three others as Everton were swept aside. Robert Pires (2), Robin van Persie, Patrick Vieira, Mathieu Flamini and Edu (penalty) were the Gunners' other goalscorers.

November 1995: Blackburn 7 Nottingham Forest 0 -- Shearer's hat-trick was the centrepiece of this win with Lars Bohinen (two), Mike Newell and Graeme le Saux piling on the agony for Forest.

October 1997: Manchester United 7 Barnsley 0 -- Cole's first half hat-trick helped United go 4-0 up in what was Barnsley's one and only Premier League season to date. Ryan Giggs (2), Paul Scholes and Karel Poborsky also netted.

January 2006: Arsenal 7 Middlesbrough 0 -- Thierry Henry grabbed a hat-trick in a match where Philippe Senderos, Robert Pires, Gilberto Silva and Alexander Hleb found the back of the net as well. -- AFP

Nadal's nemesis Soderling strikes again

2009/11/24

LONDON: Rafael Nadal was beaten in straight sets by Robin Soderling in his opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals yesterday, the Swede repeating his shock French Open win over the Spaniard.

Soderling saw off defending champion Nadal 6-4, 6-4 inside an hour and 38 minutes at London's O2 Arena in their Group B match at the season-ending tournament of the world's top players.

Four-time French Open defending champion Nadal had had his 31-match winning streak there broken in May by Soderling, who in becoming the only man to beat Nadal at Roland Garros, went on to reach the final.

And the Swede repeated the upset with a tidy performance at the former Millennium Dome, at times giving the Australian Open champion the run-around on the medium-paced court.

"It was so nice. I was very nervous at the start but I got off to a great start," Soderling said.

"I managed to play really well on the important points and I really served well when I needed to.

"Winning against the world number two is not bad."

In-form Soderling, the world No 9, broke into the top 10 just over a month ago and was the first reserve for this tournament. He was called up after US Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick withdrew due to a lingering knee injury.

The 25-year-old Monte Carlo resident has won only one tournament this year, the Bastad clay court title in his native Sweden.

Soderling took the first set within 40 minutes, breaking Nadal twice, including in the crucial final game when the Spaniard's unforced errors handed the Swede the set.

Nadal won the toss and chose to receive but the left-hander found himself 3-0 down within 10 minutes.

Soderling held serve then broke when Nadal sent a shot into the net. The Swede then won the next game to love, sealing it with an ace.

Nadal won his first game to pull it back to 3-1 then broke Soderling back when the Swede fired wide after a rally. The Mallorcan levelled the scores by taking the next game to love, finishing with an ace.

After Soderling held serve, two consecutive line call challenges saw the serving Nadal 0-30 down but he recovered to take the game.

The Swede won the next game to love, leaving Nadal needing to hold serve to stay in the set. Soderling took him to deuce, gained the advantage when Nadal hit the net and took the set when his opponent fired long.


Soderling held serve in the first game of the second set but Nadal held serve to love and broke the Swede with a rare foray to the net to finish a rally.

However, Soderling was in fighting spirit and took a 0-40 lead next game, winning it by challenging a baseline call.

The fifth game went to seven deuces, with Soderling finally converting an advantage at the sixth attempt.

The next three games went with serve to make it 4-4. Soderling then fought off a deuce to leave Nadal serving to stay in the match.

Soderling took the Spaniard to deuce and gained a first match point when Nadal hit a shot narrowly wide. But Soderling shot just long to take it back to deuce.

The Swede went to match point again with a cross-court shot and won the contest when Nadal fired long.

Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko are also in Group B, from which two go through to the semi-finals. -- AFP

Milan, Juve keep Inter in sight

2009/11/24

ROME: AC Milan edged Cagliari in a 4-3 thriller and Juventus laboured to a 1-0 home win over Udinese on Sunday as both Italian giants kept leaders Inter Milan within their sights.

The champions, who won 3-1 at Bologna on Saturday, lead Juve by five points with Milan a further two behind.

The main excitement of the day came at the San Siro as Milan coach Leonardo's continued gamble in playing an attacking 4-3-3 formation paid off as his increasingly exciting team edged a wonderful game full of free-flowing action.

One of the main protagonists, Ronaldinho, who looked close to the form he showed during his halcyon Barcelona days, said Inter were not on their city rivals' minds.

"We're just thinking about ourselves at the moment, Inter are a great team and they have a big lead," he said.

"I've had some good weeks of work behind me, physically I feel good and what's more I'm playing in my best position (on the left of a three-man attack) where I spent many years playing for Barcelona."
Udinese defender Andrea Coda (left) challenges Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero in their Serie A match on Sunday. Juventus won 1-0. — AFPpic
Udinese defender Andrea Coda (left) challenges Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero in their Serie A match on Sunday. Juventus won 1-0. — AFPpic

Leonardo was delighted with his forwards but dismayed by his team's defending.

"Even if we lacked a bit of balance, this team are amazing. They make things a bit difficult but I'm delighted," said the amiable Brazilian.

"The whole defence played badly but in attack we put on an incredible show. Pato scored a stunner, (Marco) Borriello had a great game, (Clarence) Seedorf was a great help at the beginning and Ronaldinho is getting back to his best."

In Turin chances were at a premium for much of a dull game but Diego stung Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic's hands early on.

Amauri then failed to turn home a ball on the edge of the six yard box as the first half ended goalless.

But six minutes after the break Christian Poulsen lofted the ball into the area and right-back Martin Caceres crossed for left-back Fabio Grosso to stab home from close range.

Moments later both Alessandro Del Piero and Momo Sissoko made their injury returns to boost the Italians ahead of their crucial trip to Bordeaux in the Champions League in midweek.

"We won a very difficult match and these are three very important points and so I'm very satisfied," said Juve coach Ciro Ferrara. "It was good to get Sissoko and Del Piero on."

In other games, Francesco Totti made a welcome injury return for Roma, scoring a hat-trick in the first half hour as the struggling capital-based side beat Bari 3-1.


And Sampdoria moved back into the top four with a 2-1 home win over 10-man Chievo. -- AFP