LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal 2-1 in a typically frantic North London derby at White Hart Lane Sunday to move into third place in the Premier League and open up a seven-point gap on its arch-rival in the hunt for a Champions League spot. Both Spurs goals came in a two-minute burst shortly before halftime with man-of-the-moment Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon scoring before Arsenal hit back with a header from Per Mertesacker six minutes into the second half. Bale and Lennon scored after finding huge gaps in the center of Arsenal's defense and both teams had plenty of chances to score in an all-action second half. But Spurs, which stretched its unbeaten league run to 12 matches, held on to move above Chelsea with 54 points from 28 games. Arsenal stayed fifth on 47 points after failing to win at White Hart Lane for the fifth successive season. On Saturday, Luis Suarez netted a hat trick as a rampant Liverpool beat Wigan 4-0, putting the Uruguay forward atop the Premier League scoring list. After Stewart Downing put the visitors ahead in just the second minute, Suarez effectively decided the game by making it 3-0 by the 34th — his second goal coming with a stroke of luck as he slipped when taking a free kick but the ball deflected off the defensive wall and into the net. He then completed his hat trick shortly after the break for his 21st league goal of the season, putting him ahead of Manchester United's Robin van Persie on 19. He joins Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres as the only Liverpool players to score at least 20 goals in a Premier League campaign. The win kept Liverpool in seventh place, while Wigan is only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. Kroenke committed for ‘long term', says Arsenal Arsenal says owner Stan Kroenke has no plans to sell his majority stake after reports in a British newspaper claimed a Middle East consortium was ready to make a bid of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.25 million) for the Premier League club. The Sunday Telegraph said an unidentified group backed by funds from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates wanted to make a cash offer to buy 100 percent of the club, and would make substantial transfer funds available and slash ticket prices. The report said a meeting had been requested with Kroenke, who owns 66.83 percent of Arsenal. Arsenal Communications Director Mark Gonnella said Sunday that "Stan Kroenke is committed to Arsenal for the long term and has no intention of selling his stake." — Agencies
Standings
P W D L F A Pts 1. Man United 28 23 2 3 68 31 71 2. Manchester City 27 16 8 3 50 24 56 3. Hotspur 28 16 6 6 49 33 54 4. Chelsea 28 15 7 6 56 30 52 5. Arsenal 28 13 8 7 53 32 47 6. Everton 28 11 12 5 44 35 45 7. Liverpool 28 11 9 8 53 34 42 8. Swansea City 28 10 10 8 39 34 40 9. West Bromwich 28 12 4 12 38 37 40 10. Fulham 28 8 9 11 39 44 33 11. Stoke City 28 7 12 9 26 33 33 12. West Ham 28 9 6 13 32 41 33 13. Norwich City 28 7 11 10 27 45 32 14. Sunderland 28 7 9 12 31 38 30 15. Newcastle 28 8 6 14 38 49 30 16. Southampton 28 6 9 13 39 51 27 17. Wigan 28 6 6 16 33 55 24 18. Aston Villa 27 5 9 13 26 52 24 19. Reading 28 5 8 15 34 54 23 20. QPR 28 3 11 14 21 44 20
