Manchester’s big two laid bare their Premier League title credentials with crushing victories over strong opposition.
United responded to City winning 5-1 at Tottenham by thrashing Arsenal 8-2 at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney scored a hat-trick for the defending champions after Edin Dzeko bagged four for their city rivals. They are the only teams to win all three games so far.
Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle maintained their fine starts with wins over Bolton, Norwich and Fulham respectively. Wolves also have seven points following a goalless draw with Aston Villa.
Elsewhere, Stoke won at West Brom and Everton at Blackburn. Wigan beat Queens Park Rangers while Swansea and Sunderland shared a goalless draw.
In Cricket, underdogs Leicestershire were crowned domestic Twenty20 champions for the third time after a surprise win over Somerset in the final at Edgbaston.
The Foxes defended a seemingly modest 145 for six by 18 runs as Somerset lost their third consecutive T20 final. They do at least have the consolation of joining Leicestershire in attempting to qualify for the lucrative Champions League Twenty20 next month.
The finalists won thrilling one-over eliminators, as both semi-finals were rain-reduced ties. Leicestershire beat Lancashire and Somerset defeated previous holders Hampshire.
In Rugby League, Wigan won a pulsating Challenge Cup final, holding off a brave Leeds comeback to prevail 28-18 at Wembley. The Warriors raced to a 16-0 lead but Leeds fought back to 16-14. However, the Super League leaders responded to record a relatively comfortable victory.
England completed their Rugby Union World Cup warm-up matches in style with a 20-9 triumph in Dublin over Ireland, whose misery was compounded when flanker David Wallace was ruled out of the World Cup by a knee injury. Shane Jennings has replaced Wallace in Ireland’s squad.
Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in the Formula One World Championship with victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel now leads second-placed Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, who was runner-up at Spa, by 92 points with only 175 still available.
The world’s fastest sprinter Usain Bolt was sensationally disqualified from the men’s 100m final at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, for a false start. Fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake took the gold medal. Britain’s Dwain Chambers and Christine Ohuruogu suffered the same fate as Bolt in the men’s 100m semi-finals and women’s 400m heats respectively.
Brit Mo Farah missed out on 10,000m gold when he was overtaken metres from the finish line by Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeilan. Farah had to settle for silver.
