Manchester, Sep 01: Arsenal conceded a comical early own goal -- and almost another late one -- but recovered to win 2-1 at Manchester City on Sunday and maintain their 100 percent start to the premier league season. Cameroon defender Lauren, under pressure from Trevor Sinclair as he ran towards his own goal, sliced the ball past a bemused Jens Lehmann to give City a 10th-minute lead but French forward Sylvain Wiltord scrambled an equaliser three minutes after the break. Lehmann saved twice in a minute to deny Antoine Sibierski and Nicolas Anelka during a lively City spell midway through the second half but a defensive mix-up between China's Sun Jihai and former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman allowed Freddie Ljungberg to poke the visitors ahead after 72 minutes. Martin Keown then deflected the ball against his own crossbar in the 88th minute but Arsenal survived to stay top on 12 points from four games, three ahead of champions Manchester United, who lost 1-0 at Southampton earlier on Sunday. Seaman, who shook hands with his former teammates in the tunnel before the game, had hardly a thing to do until late in the first half. After only 11 minutes he was celebrating the Lauren own goal, but did have one save to make before the breakl when forcing a Freddie Ljungberg shot over the bar.


City could have made it two by halftime, but for an excellent diving save from Jens Lehmann to foil Nicolas Anelka.


Standings: P W D L F A Pts 1. Arsenal 4 4 0 0 10 2 12 2. Manchester United 4 3 0 1 7 2 9 3. Portsmouth 4 2 2 0 7 2 8 4. Manchester City 4 2 1 1 8 5 7 5. Chelsea 3 2 1 0 6 4 7 6. Birmingham City 3 2 1 0 2 0 7 7. Fulham 3 2 0 1 7 5 6 8. Southampton 4 1 3 0 3 2 6 9. Blackburn Rovers 4 1 2 1 11 8 5 10. Liverpool 4 1 2 1 4 2 5 11. Charlton Athletic 4 1 2 1 6 5 5 12. Leeds United 4 1 2 1 6 6 5 13. Aston Villa 4 1 1 2 4 5 4 14. Everton 4 1 1 2 6 8 4 15. Tottenham Hotspur 4 1 1 2 2 5 4 16. Leicester City 4 0 2 2 4 7 2 17. Bolton Wanderers 4 0 2 2 2 10 2 18. Newcastle United 3 0 1 2 3 5 1 19. Middlesbrough 4 0 1 3 4 10 1 20. Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 0 1 3 1 10 1


Bureau Report