English Premiership
Bent sends City crashing
2010-08-29 18:40
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London - Sunderland striker Darren Bent scored a 90th minute penalty to hand big-spending Manchester City a 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light on Sunday.
After splashing out over £100m on new players during the close-season, City are expected to do great things, but Roberto Mancini's side suffered their first defeat of the season against a resolute Sunderland.
Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor came close to putting City ahead late on but his flick was brilliantly tipped over by Simon Mignolet.
That set the stage for Bent's match-winning moment. Micah Richards was penalised for climbing on the England international, who picked himself up to drive his spot-kick under Joe Hart.
Fernando Torres fired Liverpool to their first Premier League win of the season as the Reds defeated West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Anfield.
Roy Hodgson's side had drawn against Arsenal and lost to Manchester City in their first two league games under their new manager, but Torres lifted the early-season gloom around Anfield with his first goal in 10 matches.
Torres struck in the 65th minute with a volley from Dirk Kuyt's cross to condemn promoted Albion to their second defeat of the season.
A disappointing day for Roberto Di Matteo's side was complete when midfielder James Morrison was sent off for a rash lunge on Torres in the 86th minute.
Robbie Blake capped a superb fightback by 10-man Bolton as his late free-kick rescued a 2-2 draw against Birmingham.
Owen Coyle's side looked deep in trouble as Roger Johnson and Craig Gardner scored for Birmingham either side of Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen's red card for violent conduct.
But Johnson then gave away a penalty which Kevin Davies converted to reduce the deficit with 20 minutes to go, setting the stage for substitute Blake to curl home his first goal for the club.
The dramatic finish at the Reebok Stadium maintained Bolton's unbeaten start to the season and left Birmingham rueing their failure to push home their numerical advantage.
Aston Villa host Everton in Sunday's late game.
On Saturday, Chelsea had maintained their 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 win over Stoke at Stamford Bridge.
Frank Lampard missed an early penalty but Florent Malouda put the champions in front soon after and Didier Drogba netted from the spot in the second half.
Wayne Rooney scored for the first time since March as Manchester United strolled to a 3-0 win over struggling West Ham at Old Trafford.
Rooney last netted in a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, but he was back on the scoresheet with a penalty after Jon Spector fouled Ryan Giggs.
Further goals from Nani and Dimitar Berbatov completed United's win.
Theo Walcott and Andrey Arshavin were Arsenal's scorers as Arsene Wenger's side won 2-1 at Blackburn.
Andy Carroll scored a second half equaliser as Newcastle drew 1-1 at Wolves, who had taken the lead through Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
Hugo Rodallega's 80th minute strike gave Wigan a shock 1-0 win at Tottenham, while Fulham salvaged a 2-2 draw at Blackpool thanks to Dickson Etuhu's late equaliser.
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