Title chumps hand it to Arsenal

13 April 2012

Arsenal sat back, doing nothing last night as the bookies made them odds-on favourites for the Premier League title - and we're only into the second week of September.

Arsene Wenger's Double- winning Gunners went 10-11 with William Hill to retain their championship, staying on top thanks to rivals slipping up alarmingly.

Manchester United lost 1-0 at home to Bolton, Liverpool were held 2-2 at home to Birmingham and Newcastle's St James' Park fortress was breached 2-0 by Leeds.

The biggest laugh of all for Highbury fans? Their bitter north London rivals Tottenham blew a 2-0 lead to get beaten 3-2 by Fulham - so failing to go back to the top themselves. And Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle somehow left £7million signing Robbie Keane on the bench.

Hoddle, who saw his team lead Manchester United by three goals at home last season only to lose, was left wondering what had gone wrong at Loftus Road.

He said: 'The most alarming thing was that our first-half performance was good - but in the second we conceded three, and it could have been five.'

Goals from Dean Richards and Teddy Sheringham had Spurs in cruise control, only for Junichi Inamoto, substitute Steed Malbranque, with a penalty, and Sylvain Legwinski to give Fulham a famous victory.

Hoddle added: 'We were poor defensively and we didn't have the ability to hold on to the ball. I don't think it was complacency - just a lack of ability.

It proves what a lot of hard work has to be done to achieve anything. A result like this sets you back and now we have to bounce back against West Ham on Sunday.'

Fulham assistant manager Christian Damiano said: 'We have fantastic spirit in the squad and we never stopped believing we could win. This is a fantastic win for us against a very strong team.'

England captain David Beckham took the full blame for Manchester United's defeat when he appeared to slip, allowing Kevin Nolan to hit Bolton's unlikely winner. Nolan was not considered good enough for the England Under 21 squad last week but was the hero for Sam Allardyce's men as they repeated last season's staggering win.

Beckham told MUTV: 'It's all my fault.' Former Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison shocked Liverpool as he struck with two Birmingham goals to snatch an unlikely point. Liverpool were cruising 2-0 after goals from Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard. Morrison is still trying to live down his criticism two years ago of Michael Owen's scoring ability. Now he can hold his head up.

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce said: 'We have had a tough start at places like Arsenal and here and against Leeds. But we have come through it. We just didn't give up and if we keep going like that we will be OK this season.'

West Ham boss Glenn Roeder is starting to feel the pressure as his rock bottom side stayed there after a 1- 0 home defeat by West Bromwich.

Hammers have made their usual poor start but this time it looks more serious and Roeder said: 'The fans, on the whole, reacted as any fans around the country would, watching their team lose at home. If there is a message for them, we're doing all we can - we just need a break.'

Chelsea capped a great night for west London with a 3-2 win at Blackburn, Gianfranco Zola scoring twice.

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Dean Richards

Title chumps hand it to Arsenal

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