LONDON: An injury-time goal from Sunderland’s Ghanaian international Asamoah Gyan denied Newcastle home-and-away victories over their north-east rivals as Birmingham and Aston Villa drew in the Premier League yesterday.
Newcastle, seeking to bounce back from their shock FA Cup exit to lowly Stevenage last week, looked to be heading to a 1-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light after a Kevin Nolan goal put them ahead.
But with the game deep into injury time World Cup star Gyan scrambled in a fortunate equaliser to make it 1-1 and deny Newcastle a famous win.
Nolan, who scored a hat-trick in Newcastle’s 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland in October, was the Black Cats tormentor once again, firing the Magpies ahead on 52 minutes.
The midfielder pounced after a cross by Joey Barton was headed down by Shola Ameobi to cause panic in the Sunderland defence, allowing Nolan to backheel in from close range.
Yet just as Newcastle’s travelling fans prepared to celebrate victory, Gyan popped up in injury time with his eighth goal of the season after a rare mistake by Newcastle goalkeeper Steve Harper.
In the other early game, Aston Villa fought back from 1-0 down to secure a vital point in their derby clash with Birmingham at St Andrews.
Birmingham, who handed a debut to new signing David Bentley, took the lead on 49 minutes when Roger Johnson volleyed in from 12 yards past Brad Friedel.
The Blues looked to be in control of the game and heading for victory until Villa equalised against the run of play, when a cross by Marc Albrighton was touched on by Gabriel Agbonlahor before being swept home by James Collins.
Villa might even have snatched an unlikely victory in the final 10 minutes, when Nathan Delfounso hammered a 25-yard shot against the crossbar.
Earlier on Saturday, a sparkling two-goal display by Carlos Tevez overshadowed a promising debut by Edin Dzeko as Manchester City claimed a nervy 4-3 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers to go top of the league.
Dzeko, a £27mil buy from Wolfsburg, made a good first impression as City led 4-1 but they were hanging on at the end against the doughty visitors.
Third-placed Arsenal kept up the pressure with a 3-0 victory at West Ham in what, according to local media reports, could be Avram Grant’s last game in charge of the bottom club.
Chelsea were untroubled in beating Blackburn 2-0 with second-half goals by Branislav Ivanovic and Nicolas Anelka.
City’s victory takes them back to the top on 45 points from 23 games, a point ahead of Manchester United, who visited Tottenham Hotspur later yesterday and have three games in hand.
Arsenal have 43 points, Chelsea 38 and Spurs 36.
West Bromwich Albion beat Blackpool 3-2, Stoke City beat Bolton Wanderers 2-0 and Wigan Athletic drew 1-1 with Fulham.
Wolves, who beat City at Molineux in October and have taken the scalps of Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, took a deserved lead after 12 minutes through Nenad Milijas.
City rode their luck and levelled five minutes before half-time through Kolo Toure and went ahead four minutes after the restart when Tevez skipped past three challenges and finished superbly.
Dzeko set up Yaya Toure for a simple finish after 54 minutes and Tevez headed the fourth after 66, his 14th league goal of the season.
Wolves though hit back with a Kevin Doyle penalty and after Ronald Zubar headed their third four minutes from time City were hanging on desperately.
“I was worried in the last eight minutes as we conceded a lot of chances and we must improve in this situation,” City boss Roberto Mancini told BBC Radio 5-Live.
“We played good football in the second half but we had some problems at the back and shouldn’t concede three goals at home,” Mancini told the club’s website.
“But we are happy we can stay top for one day. Last time it was a few hours and maybe in May it will be for a long time,” added the Italian, who praised Tevez for his “fantastic goals”.
Chelsea have also looked a long way from title material in recent weeks with a return of 10 points from 11 games and there was relief all round Stamford Bridge when Ivanovic forced in a low shot after 57 minutes.
Anelka then diverted a goalbound Ivanovic header for the clincher after 76 minutes, his first league goal since Oct 30.
“We deserved it, we maintained good control for all the game but it was not easy because we took a long time to score the first goal,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.
“I hope the bad moment is over now. We are not at the same level but we will come back to that level.”
In a muted atmosphere at West Ham, Arsenal took control from the start and went ahead after 13 minutes when Robin van Persie lashed in a shot from the edge of the box.
Four minutes before half-time the Dutchman crossed for Theo Walcott to bang in the second. After Wayne Bridge completed a hapless debut by fouling Walcott, Van Persie completed the cruise with a penalty.
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