Gunners batter Rams roundup

Arsenal 5-0 Derby. Derby suffered another big away defeat, this time at the hands of table topping Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Elsewhere, Liverpool dropped points in their Premiership chase as they drew 0-0 with Birmingham.

Despite gaining their first three points of the season on Monday night against Newcastle, Billy Davies’ side were put to the sword five times by a relentless Arsenal side.

A stunning 30 yard strike from Abou Diaby put the Gunners ahead after ten minutes before the irrepressible Ces Fabregas turned the screw yet again, setting up Emmanuel Adebayor to double Arsenal’s advantage. It remained 2-0 at half time before Adebayor grabbed a second for him from the penalty spot before Fabregas added to his growing reputation with another long range strike to make it 4-0.

But it was Adebayor that rightly stole the show, gaining his first Arsenal hat trick to make it 5-0 and condemn Billy Davies and his struggling side to another humiliation and keep Arsene Wenger’s side at the top of the table.

Liverpool 0-0 Birmingham

Birmingham’s tremendous unbeaten record in four games against Liverpool continued with a solid performance to frustrate the Reds at Anfield.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez took a risk by dropping Fernando Torres from the starting eleven, and it proved to be a big mistake as his misfiring side drew their third consecutive game and gave City a second straight clean sheet.

Middlesbrough 2-2 Sunderland

Gareth Southgate’s side came from a goal down only to draw this North East derby at the Riverside Stadium.

It was Roy Keane’s side that took the lead after just two minutes when Grant Leadbitter was fortunate to give Sunderland the lead before Julio Arca returned to haunt his former club and equalise for Boro. Stewart Downing then gave the home side the lead to send the Boro fans crazy, putting them 2-1 up.

But yet again, Sunderland scored in stoppage time to get a share of the spoils. This time it was Liam Miller, once dubbed the next Roy Keane who fired their late equaliser to finish the match without a winner.

Reading 2-1 Wigan

Reading’s stuttering start to the season ended here with a hard earned victory over an equally hard working Wigan at the Madjeski Stadium.

James Harper fired a late, late winner for Steve Coppell’s side to give them a valuable three points. It was man of the match Dave Kitson who put Reading in front before setting Harper up for the late winner.

Marcus Bent, on his debut equalised in between for Wigan, and that was only after a controversial penalty decision was then changed to a free kick after the referee consulted with his linesman. Jason Koumas was furious, but it appears that he was outside on the box when the foul took place. To make matters worse, he hit the cross bar from the resulting free kick, and Harper’s late goal rubbed salt into the wounds of Chris Hutchings’ side.