Dempsey hits treble as Fulham claims win

LONDON — Clint Dempsey scored his second hat trick in as many weeks as the American forward steered Fulham to an astonishing 5-2 comeback victory over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.

Hats off to you: Fulham's Clint Dempsey (front) fights for the ball with Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa during their match on Saturday in London. Dempsey scored a hat trick in Fulham's 5-2 victory. AP

Newcastle dominated the opening 45 minutes and a superb drive from around 25 meters from Danny Guthrie put the visitors deservedly 1-0 ahead at halftime.

But Danny Murphy leveled from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute and Dempsey struck twice — his first being his 50th goal for Fulham — to leave the home side firmly in control.

Bobby Zamora converted another spot-kick in the 68th minute before Hatem Ben Arfa pulled a goal back for Newcastle.

Dempsey completed the second hat trick of his five-year career in English soccer — just two weeks after scoring the first against Charlton in the F.A. Cup on Jan. 7 — in the 89th minute.

His latest feat took Dempsey to a career-best 15 goals this season, two more than his previous best last season, and a total of 52 since the 28-year-old forward joined Fulham from New England Revolution in January, 2007.

"We never found our rhythm in the first half but we began to get into their penalty area in the second half," Dempsey said after taking his Premier League tally to nine goals. "Danny Murphy scored the first goal and then we kept going and going. Luckily the ball kept going in. We never took our foot off the gas and we took our chances."

Fulham manager Martin Jol was delighted with the American's performance and was keen for it continue as the team moved eight points away from the relegation zone.

"Clint Dempsey is our top scorer," Jol said. "He is doing what he does best. Clint scores goals and if he can score 12 goals this year and some other players do we will be fine."

Needing a win to boost its faint chances of reeling in the two Manchester clubs and Tottenham, fourth-place Chelsea was frustrated by poor finishing at Carrow Road, with misfiring Spain striker Fernando Torres being the biggest culprit in a 0-0 draw with Norwich.

Qualifying for the Champions League may be Chelsea's main target now, so news of Liverpool's 3-1 defeat at Bolton and Newcastle's loss at Fulham will have been welcome.

Liverpool was surprisingly overrun by a Bolton team that had been languishing in the bottom three, surrendering an opportunity to move within three points of Chelsea.

League leader Manchester City was set to host third-place Tottenham and Manchester United, which is second, visits Arsenal on Sunday in an important day for the title chasers.

At the other end of the standings, bottom team Wigan's plight worsened by losing 3-1 at Queens Park Rangers — its 13th defeat in 22 games.

Ireland striker Robbie Keane grabbed a second-half double — his second in the 84th minute proving to be the winner — as Aston Villa rallied to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2.

Keane was making his starting debut after moving to Villa on a short-term loan deal from Los Angeles Galaxy.

Sunderland beat Swansea 2-0, Blackburn grabbed a 1-1 draw at Everton and West Bromwich Albion claimed a first win in 2012 by beating Stoke 2-1.

Chelsea is now provisionally 10 points behind City and five adrift of Tottenham, but the margin should be shorter following a dominant second-half performance at Carrow Road that had Norwich hanging on.

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Dempsey leads Fulham past Liverpool in ill-tempered match

LONDON — United States midfielder Clint Dempsey brought Liverpool's eight-match unbeaten run in the Premier League to an end on Monday, pouncing on a late error by goalkeeper Pepe Reina to earn Fulham a 1-0 at Craven Cottage and ease his team's relegation worries.

The Spain 'keeper failed to hold a speculative shot by former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy in the 85th minute, and Dempsey slotted home the rebound from close range for Fulham's third win of the campaign to lift the London club five points clear of the bottom three.

The visitors had been reduced to 10 men by that point after defensive midfielder Jay Spearing was sent off in the 72nd minute for an overzealous tackle on Moussa Dembele, at a time when they were on top and threatening a win that would have lifted them above Newcastle to sixth.

Liverpool hit the goal frame twice, through Jordan Henderson in the first half and substitute Stewart Downing just before Dempsey's winner, while Luis Suarez had a goal harshly disallowed for offside in the 67th.

But Spearing's dismissal was the turning point in a fractious match. There was nothing wrong with the youngster's initial full-blooded tackle but he followed through by catching the Belgium forward's leg, leading referee Kevin Friend to brandish the red card.

"He has won the ball but he has probably upset the referee with his follow through," said Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, whose team lost for the first time since Sept. 18 to dent its hopes of keeping pace with its rivals for the Champions League positions.

Fulham manager Martin Jol said the sending off was the pivotal moment in the game, which threatened to boil over a number of times — particularly when Dempsey went forehead-to-forehead with Craig Bellamy at the start of the second half.

"After the sending off, we had a little bit more space and took advantage of that," Jol said. "I thought it was a bad tackle. I thought it was a sending off."

Dempsey's 37th goal in the Premier League made him the most prolific American scorer in England's top division, surpassing the record he shared with former Fulham striker Brian McBride.

He nearly gave Fulham the lead minutes prior to eventually grabbing the winner, curling a shot against the bar before Downing went up the other end and smashed a fierce drive that was touched onto the post by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer in the 84th.

"I think we would have taken something from the game if we had been left with all our men," Dalglish said. "I think we did enough to come away with something."

PARIS — Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez will be up against Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo for the FIFA world player of the year award.

The three Ballon d'Or finalists were selected Monday from among 23 nominees. Messi beat Barcelona teammates Andres Iniesta and Xavi to win last year.

Messi also won the award two years ago when France Football magazine chose the best player in Europe. The Ballon d'Or is now merged with FIFA's player of the year award to create one trophy.

Messi and Ronaldo already have scored 17 league goals this season. They play each other in the Spanish League on Saturday.

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