LONDON -- Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo scored late
goals for Manchester United, which beat Reading 2-0 on Saturday and
stayed in first place in the Premier League.
Arsenal kept pace with the Red Devils with a 3-0 win at London
rival Fulham behind two goals from Emmanuel Adebayor. Both teams
have 54 points, with United ahead on goal difference. Chelsea
remained four points from the leaders with a 1-0 win at Birmingham.
Delighted Newcastle fans welcomed back Kevin Keegan as manager
after an 11-year absence, but his patched-up team struggled in a
drab 0-0 draw with Bolton.
On Sunday, Manchester City hosts West Ham and Everton is at
Wigan. Liverpool hosts Aston Villa on Monday.
Rooney took a cross from Carlos Tevez in the 77th minute to poke
the ball past Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hanhemann, who had kept out
numerous attempts. Ronaldo made it 2-0 on a counter attack in the
90th, for his 17th league goal this season.
Arsenal has not lost a game this season when Adebayor has scored
and the Togo striker put the Gunners ahead 2-0 by halftime. He
headed in his first goal after taking a cross from Gael Clichy in
the 19th minute and took a cross from Aleksandr Hleb to head in his
second goal -- and 15th in the Premier League this season -- in the
38th. Tomas Rosicky volleyed in Arsenal's third in the 81st.
Chelsea didn't break through the Birmingham defense until the
80th minute, when a corner from Juliano Belletti was headed in by
Claudio Pizzaro.
In other games, it was: Blackburn 1, Middlesbrough 1; Portsmouth
3, Derby 1; and Tottenham 2, Sunderland 0.
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MILAN, Italy -- Adrian Mutu and Christian Vieri scored on
penalty kicks to give Fiorentina a 2-1 victory over visiting Torino
in Serie A.
Vieri put Fiorentina ahead as first-half injury time expired,
after Mutu was fouled in the penalty area. Torino's Vince Grella
tied it with a low shot in the 57th, but Mutu earned the second
penalty in the 76th and converted it himself. The goal was his 12th
of the season and puts him one behind league leader David Trezeguet
of Juventus.
In Saturday's other game, Marco Borriello and Luciano Figueroa
scored to rally Genoa to a 2-1 win over visiting Atalanta.
Cristiano Doni had given Atalanta the lead on a penalty kick in
the 68th minute before Borriello tied it five minutes later for his
11th goal of the season. Figueroa scored the winner in the 84th,
heading in a corner after just missing a chance moments earlier on
another header.
Genoa has 25 points while Atalanta stays at 22 points, with a
game in hand. Inter leads the league with 46 points followed by AS
Roma with 39 and Juventus with 36.
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MADRID, Spain -- Robert Pires, Joan Capdevila and Nihat
Kahveci scored to lead Villarreal to a 3-0 victory over Valencia in
the Spanish league.
Villarreal improved to third in the standings with 38 points
after repeating the same scoreline from its previous derby against
Valencia this season. Valencia -- which hasn't won in eight games
and has just one victory since the arrival of coach Ronald Koeman --
stayed on 27 points.
Also, substitute Cosmin Contra headed in the winner two minutes
into injury time to give Getafe a 3-2 win over Sevilla.
The Romanian defender leapt to meet Jaime Gamilan's curling
cross, after Ivica Dragutinovic seemed to have earned Sevilla a
draw in the 89th with a header off a corner kick.
Getafe improved to 24 points while Sevilla stayed at 26 after a
second straight loss.
On Sunday, league leader Real Madrid travels across town to play
Atletico Madrid, while FC Barcelona faces Racing Santander.
Real has 47 points, followed by Barcelona (40) and Atletico (37)
and Espanyol (36).
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PARIS -- Fernando Cavenaghi and Fernando scored to give
10-man Bordeaux a 2-1 win over Le Mans, keeping the pressure on
first-place Lyon in the French league.
Cavenaghi gave Bordeaux the lead in the 13th minute, chipping
the ball over goalkeeper Yohann Pele. Fernando made it 2-0 with a
powerful strike under the crossbar in the 21st.
Le Mans pulled one back in the 35th through Martin Douillard,
but couldn't capitalize on Bordeaux defender Franck Jurietti being
sent off in the 44th for slapping Douillard in the face. Le Mans
was also down to 10 men in the 74th after Gregory Cerdan tripped
Geraldo Wendel.
Bordeaux is in second place with 39 points from 21 matches,
three points behind six-time defending champion Lyon. yon takes on
Lens on Sunday while third-place Nancy visits Nice, which is
undefeated at home.
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GLASGOW, Scotland -- Celtic needed an own-goal to beat
Kilmarnock 1-0 in the Scottish Premier League and keep pace with
first-place Rangers.
Celtic was kept from scoring by Kilmarnock goalkeeper Alan Combe
until the 63rd minute. Defender Martyn Corrigan then deflected a
shot from Celtic's Scott Brown into the net.
Celtic has 46 points and is one behind Rangers, which plays at
Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday. Dundee United is in third
place with 35 points after a 3-0 win over Aberdeen.
Hearts defeated Edinburgh rival Hibernian 1-0 on a 20th-minute
goal by Andrius Velicka. Also, it was: Gretna 2 Falkirk 0; Hearts
1, Hibernian 0; and St. Mirren 3, Motherwell 1.