Arsenal roar on, Real flop again

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October 04, 2004 10:18 IST

Round-up of the weekend's action in the major European leagues:

ENGLAND

Champions Arsenal were at their dismissive best, brushing aside Charlton Athletic 4-0 at Highbury with Thierry Henry scoring twice, one a cheeky back heel.

Arsenal, who stretched their record unbeaten league run to 48 games, have 22 points from eight matches, two ahead of Chelsea who kept tabs on them with a 1-0 win over Liverpool courtesy of a second-half goal from substitute Joe Cole.

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney came back down to earth after his virtuoso debut in midweek when the teenager hit a Champions League hat-trick.

Rooney was booked in a subdued performance as fourth-placed United were held to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford to drop nine points behind Arsenal.

Everton stayed third despite a 1-0 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur, who jumped to fifth, while West Bromwich Albion became the first of the three promoted clubs to win this season after beating Bolton Wanderers 2-1.

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ITALY

Juventus stayed top of Serie A as a second-half header from Uruguayan substitute Marcelo Zalayeta earned them a 1-0 win at Udinese -- their fourth victory in five league matches.

Early season surprise package Messina continued their impressive form with a 4-1 win over Siena to move second, two points behind Juve. Arturo Di Napoli grabbed two of the goals.

Juventus have 13 points, three ahead of champions AC Milan who sit in third place after in-form Andriy Shevchenko scored twice in their 3-1 victory over Reggina.

Juventus, without injured Alessandro Del Piero, received a further blow after France striker David Trezeguet aggravated a shoulder injury and could face surgery.

AS Roma, with new coach Luigi Del Neri in charge for the first time, recovered a two-goal deficit in an entertaining 3-3 draw with Inter Milan. Roma captain Francesco Totti claimed his 100th Serie A goal with a magnificent curling free-kick.

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SPAIN

Barcelona continued their fine start to go top of the Primera Liga but Real Madrid's woes continued with a home defeat by Deportivo Coruna.

Sweden striker Henrik Larsson continued the fine start to his career in Spain, scoring 20 minutes from time to send Barca two points clear after a 1-0 win over Numancia at the Nou Camp.

Frank Rijkaard's unbeaten side are top with 16 points from six games, two points ahead of champions Valencia who drew 1-1 at Real Betis.

Italian Marco Di Vaio gave still unbeaten Valencia an early lead but Claudio Ranieri's side wasted a host of chances and Edu's goal handed Betis a point.

Real Madrid slipped to 10th place on nine points after Albert Luque's brilliant strike in the final minute of the first half proved enough to give Deportivo victory at the Bernabeu.

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GERMANY

Surprise pacesetters VfL Wolfsburg held on to top spot by one point after winning their sixth game out of seven -- a 2-1 success over Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Goals from defender Markus Babbel and Brazilian striker Cacau fired second-placed VfB Stuttgart, the only undefeated team after seven games, to a 2-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.

In the weekend's top game, Bayern Munich beat champions Werder Bremen 2-1 as goals from Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger moved the Bavarian giants up to third on 14 points.

Ten-man Schalke 04 gave new coach Ralf Rangnick a first league win by claiming the spoils with the 3-2 defeat of VfL Bochum in the Ruhr Valley derby.

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FRANCE

Young substitute striker Matt Moussilou headed the only goal as Lille went top with a 1-0 win at Stade Rennes on Sunday.

Northerners Lille, who have not conceded a goal in their last five games, lead the table with 19 points, the same as champions Olympique Lyon who trail on goal difference.

Lyon remained unbeaten by winning a thrilling derby 3-2 at St Etienne, French international Sidney Govou netting the winner in the 90th minute.

Monaco, who were top going into the weekend's fixtures, slipped to third after losing a thrilling Riviera derby 4-3 against visiting Nice.

Former Nigeria striker Victor Agali, who began the season without a club and signed for Nice after meeting coach Gernot Ruhr at an airport, scored a hat-trick in 10 minutes and set up another as Nice completed an astonishing recovery from 0-3 down.

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