Liverpool, Chelsea notch EPL wins
LONDON, England (AP) — Liverpool’s 11-year wait for an English Premier League victory at Arsenal ended yesterday, and Chelsea fought back against West Bromwich Albion to give Andre Villas-Boas his first win in charge.
Luis Suarez and Raul Meireles came off the bench to inspire Liverpool to a 2-0 win, two late goals coming after the sending off of Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong.
Aaron Ramsey inadvertently deflected in Liverpool’s opener and Suarez netted the second in stoppage time.
Across London, Chelsea beat West Brom 2-1 after Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka scored in the second half to wipe out Shane Long’s fourth-minute goal.
In the northeast derby, Newcastle won 1-0 at Sunderland, while Alex McLeish’s first home game as Aston Villa manager ended in a 3-1 victory over Blackburn.
Two newly promoted sides picked up their first points, with Queens Park Rangers winning 1-0 at Everton and Swansea drawing 0-0 against Wigan.
Liverpool now have their first victory after being held by Sunderland in the opener. The turning point at the Emirates Stadium was Frimpong’s second booking for a rash challenge on Lucas Leiva.
Liverpool shook up their attack and were piling the pressure on Arsenal when Ignasi Miquel’s attempted clearance from Suarez’s pullback came off Ramsey and looped into his own net.
Suarez swept the ball into the net for the second after latching onto a cross from Meireles.
Arsenal, who drew their opening match at Newcastle, now travel to Italy for Wednesday’s second leg of their Champions League playoff against Udinese, protecting a slender 1-0 lead with a shortage of players.
Already reeling from injuries and suspensions to key players, Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny is set to miss two matches after coming off with a back problem after 15 minutes, forcing Wenger to hand the 18-year-old Miquel his league debut.
It is even worse for West Brom, who have no points after two matches despite getting off to a perfect start at Stamford Bridge.
Jose Bosingwa’s pass put Alex under pressure and the Brazil defender was dispossessed by Long, who held him off and sidefooted past Hilario to score his second goal in as many games.
But at the start of the second half, Lampard teed up Anelka, who cut inside and unleashed a shot that deflected off Jonas Olsson’ heel before landing in the far corner of the net.
Malouda powered in the winner in the 83rd minute after latching onto a cross from Jose Bosingwa, who had skipped between James Morrison and Nicky Shorey on the right flank.
At Sunderland, Ryan Taylor’s second-half free-kick for Newcastle secured the win over their fierce local rival.
Taylor’s inswinging delivery from the left evaded everyone in the box, sailing over Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s outstretched arm and into the top corner.
Sunderland had defender Phil Bardsley sent off late on after receiving a second yellow card for a two-footed tackle on Fabricio Coloccini.
At Goodison Park, QPR celebrated their takeover by Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes in style by winning their first match in the topflight in 15 years.
