Cole, Beckham keep United on top, Leeds win a thriller

Cole, Beckham keep United on top, Leeds win a thriller
Agencies

london, november 5 : Manchester United stayed top of the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at Coventry City on Saturday, just hours after Mark Viduka scored all four goals in Leeds United's pulsating 4-3 win over Liverpool.

Andy Cole and David Beckham struck for United, who stayed top on 27 points and led Arsenal, who needed a Thierry Henry penalty to beat 10-man Middlesbrough 1-0, on goal difference.

Leicester City leap-frogged over Liverpool into third place on 22 points with a 1-0 victory at Manchester City. Robbie Savage was the scorer. Newcastle United moved fifth on 19 points after a 2-1 win over Ipswich Town, while there was a welcome 2-1 triumph over Sunderland for embattled Tottenham Hotspur manager George Graham and a surprise 3-2 defeat for Chelsea at Southampton.

Lazio closes in MILAN: Defending champions Lazio stepped up to the top of the Serie A league on Saturday with a convincing 2-0 win against guests Bologna and cleared worries about possible negative effects of coach Sven Goran Eriksson's transfer to England next year.

Lazio took the lead in the 10th minute when Chilean Marcelo Salas burst through Bologna's defence and fed Czech Pavel Nedved, who shot a right-footer that grazed the post before landing in the net. Argentine Hernan Crespo scored the second goal in the 64th with a swift ball sent past goalie Gianluca Pagliuca. Perugia upset hosts Fiorentina 4-3 in an earlier game.

Hertha builds lead
BERLIN: Hertha BSC Berlin thrashed Werder Bremen 4-1 to build on their lead in Germany's first football division on Saturday while Kaiserslautern won a thrilling come-from-behind match against Schalke 04.

But Kaiserslautern's fourth win in a row earned them second place in the Bundesliga for only a few hours before Saturday's game saw Bayern Munich put six goals past Dortmund in an eight-goal thriller.

Berlin, playing before 40,000 fans at home, got a pair of goals from michael Preetz (45th and 49th), in addition to one each by Brazilian striker Alex Alves (12th) and Stefan Beinlich (79th).

In between, Bremen's Italian striker Claudio Pizarro converted a penalty (71st) for the visitors' only score. Bayern's 6-2 home win over Dortmund was just the tonic the team needed after their humiliating departure from the German cup at the hands of lowly Magdeburg three days ago. After falling behind early on (Herrlich in the second minute), Bayern came surging back with goals from Salihamidzic, Elber, Scholl (two) and Sergio. Addo put away Dortmund's second before Salihamidzic added to his own tally to put Bayern within two points' reach of Hertha at the top of the league.

Barcelona gain ground
BARCELONA:Barcelona won 1-0 at Las Palmas to gain important ground in the Spanish First Division on Saturday, as their three leading title rivals all suffered surprise away defeats.

Victory for Barcelona, which came through a brilliant finish from Rivaldo at the start of the second half, took them back up to third place.

Meanwhile, league leaders Valencia, champions Deportivo la Coruna and title favourites Real Madrid all had off days. Valencia went down 1-0 at Espanyol to a Manuel Serrano goal 12 minutes from time, Deportivo conceded a last minute winner to Villarreal in a 3-2 thriller, while Real Madrid were outgunned 3-1 at Numancia, with Romanian Laurentiu Rosu claiming a hat-trick.

After nine games, Valencia retain the league leadership with 19 points, still two points clear of Deportivo.

Barcelona climb to third on 16, ahead of Celta Vigo on goal difference after their 1-0 win at home to Malaga.