Twelfth man Gunnar shoots four

London, Dec 5: Norway's Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proved again he's soccer's best 12th man. Getting the starting call yesterday as manager Alex...

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London, Dec 5: Norway’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proved again he’s soccer’s best 12th man. Getting the starting call yesterday as manager Alex Ferguson rested David Beckham, Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke for this week’s key Champions League match with Spain’s Valencia, the little Norwegian scored four times as Manchester United defeated Everton 5-1 to reclaim first place in the Premier League.

Manchester United showed no signs of jetlag after winning the Toyota Cup in Tokyo on Tuesday against Brazil’s Palmeiras 1-0 to claim the unofficial World Club title.

“They were tremendous, such character,” said Ferguson. “I actually believe that after watching that display, the game in Japan helped them. They enjoyed being out there and they enjoyed the big occasion. It helped our team spirit.”

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On a high-scoring day in English soccer, Sunderland beat Chelsea 4-1 on two goals by Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn to hold on to fourth place 12 points behind Manchester United’s leading 36.

Arsenal took over the secondspot with a 3-0 win at Leicester on goals from Gilles Grimandi, Lee Dixon and Marc Overmars. The gunners have 35 points. Leeds also has 35 points and had a chance to reclaim first place today.

In Italy, Lazio and Juventus both picked up victories to stay atop Serie A with 25 points. Lazio won 2-0 at Perugia on goals by Marcelo Salas and Sergio Conceicao, and Juventus striker Filippo Inzaghi scored two second-half goals before limping off with a knee injury. In the Spanish league, Real Madrid was rocked 5-1 by visiting Zaragoza as the Spanish giants continued to struggle. The home crowd of 60,000 jeered the losers, waved white handkerchieves and called for president Lorenzo Sanz to resign. Real Madrid has won only one of its last 12 matches.

OTHER RESULTS :

In England: Wimbledon bt Watford 5-0; Newcastle bt Aston Villa 1-0; Bradford drew Middlesborough 1-1; Southampton drew Coventry 0-0.

In Scotland: Celtic bt Hibernian 4-0.

In Italy: Lazio bt Perugia 2-0; Juventus btBologna 2-0;

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In Germany: Bayern Munich drew Borussia Dortmund 1-1; Bayer Leverkusen bt Werder Bremen 3-2; hertha Berlin bt SSV Ulm 3-0; 1860 Munich bt Stuttgart 3-1; Stuttgart drew Schalke 2-2; In Spain: Zaragoza bt Real Madrid 5-1; Barcelona bt Oviedo 3-2; Real Sociedad drew Atletico Bilbao 1-1; Valencia bt Sevilla 2-0.