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Liverpool remain top, Tottenham earn epic draw with Arsenal
30/10/2008 10:01

Steven Gerrard's late penalty helped Liverpool remain three points clear at the summit of the Premier League while bottom-placed Tottenham Hotspur produced yesterday's most epic game in a 4-4 draw at Arsenal.

Aaron Lennon's injury-time equaliser capped a stunning North London derby as Spurs hit back from 3-1 and 4-2 down and scored twice in dying moments to snatch a point.

A deadly handball by Portsmouth's Papa Bouba Diop gifted Gerrard a 76th-minute penalty kick which earned a 1-0 win for Liverpool to retain top place on 26 points.

Chelsea bounced back from their weekend setback by Liverpool with a comfortable 3-0 victory at surprise-package Hull city.

Chelsea are still three points behind leaders Liverpool and Arsenal sit third on 20 points.

While Hull city are level on 20 points, they dropped to fifth on goal difference behind Aston Villa, who came from behind to upset Blackburn Rovers 3-2.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a double as Manchester United continued West Ham's slide down the table with a 2-0 win at Old Trafford.

Stoke climbed out of the bottom three with a narrow 1-0 victoryover Sunderland, but Wigan have plummeted into the drop zone aftera fourth successive defeat, 2-0 to Fulham.

Marouane Fellaini scored in the 90th minute to give Everton a 1- 0 victory at Bolton and Manchester City's frustrating inconsistencies continued as they lost 2-0 away to Middles brough.

Harry Redknapp's magic touch with Tottenham continued at Arsenal after their 2-0 win over Bolton on Sunday when he was taking charge.

David Bentley's brilliant early strike against his former club set the tone for a classic before Mikael Silvestre headed Arsenal level eight minutes from half-time.

William Gallas put Arsenal in front seconds after the break andEmmanuel Adebayor bundled home their third.

Darren Bent pulled one back before Robin van Persie added Arsenal's fourth only for Jermaine Jenas's 89th-minute goal and Lennon's tap-in to earn a point.

"It was amazing," said the former Portsmouth boss, "It was a real old-fashioned slugging match, we went for it and then they went for it."

"We conceded some sloppy goals but we never gave up, we showed a never-say-die attitude and came back brilliantly.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he had mixed feelings after seeing his side dominate for long periods before succumbing to Spurs' late fight back.

"We are very angry and disappointed but on the other hand we have to stay positive because we were two levels above and produced an outstanding game," he said.

"Unfortunately we were not rewarded because we lack maturity and instead of being efficient we became a little too negative in the last 10 minutes."

Portsmouth's resolute performance held for 76 minutes and it had appeared the game would have to settle for a draw when Diop handled a corner for no good in their first game under Tony Adams.

Gerrard coolly found the bottom corner of David James' net with the England goalkeeper going the right way but unable to keep it out.



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