Birmingham, Apr 06: Arsenal's lead at the top of the English premiership shrank to goal difference when they drew 1-1 away to Aston Villa and Manchester United beat Liverpool 4-0.
Arsenal failed to make the most of what chances they had in the first half at Villa Park on Saturday (April 5), but the second half was considerably livelier. Thierry Henry crossed for Freddie Ljungberg and the Dane just failed to connect properly, so the ball went wide. Shortly afterwards Ljungberg had another chance when Gilberto Silva's shot was parried by Villa goalkeeper Peter Enckelman and this time he made certain of a goal. Villa manager Graham Taylor wasn't too happy, but his mood was improved when Thomas Hitzlesperger hit a cracking shot that Arsenal goalkeeper Stuart Taylor just tipped over the bar. Villa then got a corner and in a goalmouth scramble Arsenal's Kolo Toure managed to put the ball into his own net. The draw left Arsenal level on 67 points with Manchester United at the top of the table, but ahead on goal difference.


Aston Villa 1 - Kolo Toure 71og Arsenal 1 - Freddie Ljungberg 56 Halftime: 0-0; Attendance: 42,602


English league soccer standings after matches played on Saturday: Premier league P W D L F A Pts 1. Arsenal 32 20 7 5 67 34 67 2. Manchester United 32 20 7 5 55 27 67 3. Newcastle United 31 19 4 8 54 35 61 4. Chelsea 32 16 9 7 59 32 57 5. Liverpool 32 14 10 8 47 35 52 6. Everton 31 14 8 9 39 36 50 7. Blackburn Rovers 31 12 10 9 38 37 46 8. Tottenham Hotspur 32 13 7 12 45 45 46 9. Charlton Athletic 32 13 7 12 41 45 46 10. Middlesbrough 32 12 9 11 42 35 45 11. Southampton 32 11 12 9 35 33 45 12. Manchester City 32 12 5 15 40 51 41 13. Fulham 31 10 8 13 35 40 38 14. Leeds United 32 11 4 17 44 46 37 15. Aston Villa 32 10 7 15 34 38 37 16. Bolton Wanderers 32 8 11 13 36 47 35 17. Birmingham City 32 9 8 15 29 44 35 18. West Ham United 32 7 10 15 35 54 31 19. West Bromwich Albion 32 5 6 21 21 50 21 20. Sunderland 32 4 7 21 20 52 19


Bureau Report