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English Premier League Wrap [Sat Aug 27th, 2005]
On a day of thrills and controversy in the English Premiership, champions Chelsea extended their unbeaten streak against Tottenham Hotspur to 33 games, winning 2-0 with goals from Ansier el Horno (39) and Damien Duff (71).
Spurs were reduced to 10 men early on when Mido raised an arm against del Horno and was shown a straight red by referee Rob Styles.
Milan Baros made an immediate impact for new club Aston Villa. The Czech star, who moved from Liverpool in midweek, scored for his new club after just 11 minutes. He might have a couple more, too, but his strike was enough to take Villa to a 1-0 home win against Blackburn Rovers.
Referee Steve Bennett awarded Wigan a penalty after just 45 seconds against Sunderland. Jason Roberts, who had been fouled by Gary Breen converted it to give Wigan their first ever Premiership win and condemn Sunderland to a fourth consecutive defeat – and a 19th successive reverse in the top flight.
Manchester City’s superb start to the season continued. Stuart Pearce’s extended their unbeaten run to 12 matches, coming from behind to defeat Portsmouth 2-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium. Pompey took the lead through John Viafara after 52 minutes. But City hit back with goals from Claudio Reyna (66) and Andrew Cole (70).
Fulham secured a welcome victory, inflicting more misery on Everton who were controversially eliminated from the UEFA Champions League in midweek. The match-winner was ex-Evertonian Brian McBride. The American’s 57th-minute goal gave Chris Coleman’s side a 1-0 win in a game that saw Phil Neville sent off in the last minute.
In the midday West Midlands derby, Birmingham beat West Brom 3-2 at The Hawthorns. Emile Heskey scored twice and Jiri Jarusik once for the Blues, whose ex-player Geoff Horsfield netted a brace.
Bolton Wanderers grabbed a valuable 2-1 away win at West Ham, for whom veteran Teddy Sheringham netted a 90th-minute penalty. But it was a late consolation – by then Kevin Nolan (59) and Ivan Campo (85) had put Bolton in the driving seat.
News headlines from around the world.