Manchester United joined the ranks of Arsenal and Manchester City as title contenders stymied at the Stadium of Light, being held to a scoreless draw Saturday by Sunderland.
English Premier League, Saturday Round-Up: Manchester United Latest Titan Stymied At Sunderland
A match delayed by twenty minutes because of a water main break in Sunderland gave on-lookers little reward for their patience, seeing Frederico Macheda and Michael Owen in Alex Ferguson's starting lineup. With that duo, it was little surprise that United rarely threatened Sunderland. Even after Dimitar Berbatov (at halftime, for Owen), Javier Hernández (later, for Macheda), and league debutante Bebe came-on, United rarely threatened.
A draw was probably the fair result, through Sunderland looked the silghtly better side, much as they did for portions of their matches against Arsenal and City.
Rafael van der Vaart had a brace at White Hart Lane, downing Aston Villa after the visitors took an early lead through Marc Albrighton. Despite that goal, Spurs looked the slightly superior side throughout, preventing Villa from building on the momentum of Gerard Houllier's debut win. If anything, this match showed the questions that emerged during the Kevin McDonald era may remain unanswered, with Villa still showing signs of being a mid-table side.
Fulham's sixth draw in seven matches will go down as a missed opportunity, losing the lead Clint Dempsey gave them when Frederique Piquionne, with his second goal in as many matches, drew the Cottagers late. The match ended 1-1.
By the same score, Bolton went to The Hawthorns and got a result against West Bromwich Albion, with Brom using a late James Morrison goal to equalize Johan Elmander's second half opener.
Stoke won the battle of the blunt at the Britannia, a 1-0 victory over Blackburn settled by Jon Walters’ 49th minute goal.
Everton got their first victory of the season, a 2-0 win at St. Andrew's that will play into growing fears that Birmingham City, one season off the mid-table finish that triumphed their return to the Premier League, may be in for a relegation battle. The goal-starved Toffees got help from a Roger Johnson own goal, with Tim Cahill providing stoppage time insurance.
Karl Henry volunteered Wolves to play down a man for eighty minutes, letting Jordi Gomez and Hugo Rodallega tallies pull Wigan out of the drop, push Wolves in.
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