LONDON: Arsenal surged to the top of the Premier League with Samir Nasri scoring twice in their 2-1 win over Fulham as Chelsea's dire run continued with a 1-1 home draw against Everton Saturday. Arsenal has 32 points with Chelsea, which has taken just five points from its last six league games, third on 30, one behind Manchester United whose game at Blackpool was frozen off. Manchester City is fourth on 29 after it ended Bolton Wanderers' good run with a 1-0 Eastlands victory, courtesy of an early Carlos Tevez goal. Fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur lost ground when it could only draw 1-1 at Birmingham City while Blackburn Rovers, thrashed 7-1 by Manchester United last week, bounced back impressively by beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-0. In the day's other game, Wigan twice came from behind to draw with Stoke 2-2. Arsenal, whose players and staff all donated their day's wages to charity, were all over Fulham in the first half-hour but had only a cool finish by Nasri to show for it. Perhaps the easy ride their defenders were enjoying contributed to the comedy of errors that opened the way for Fulham's equalizer as Laurent Koscielny and Sebastian Squillaci clashed heads and stopped playing, allowing Clint Dempsey to set up Diomansy Kamara for a nicely curled finish. It took a while for Arsenal to regain control and it still managed to waste several good opportunities before Nasri won it with a superb goal after 75 minutes when he neatly rounded a defender and the goalkeeper before scoring his 11th of the season from a tight angle. Chelsea had John Terry and Michael Essien back from their injury absences to stiffen both their spine and their resolve but, as so often in recent weeks, they looked anything but champions and ended up hanging on desperately. Chelsea was on top but struggling with its final pass until Everton captain Phil Neville provided one for it with a badly under-hit backpass three minutes before halftime. Striker Nicolas Anelka was onto it in a flash only to be brought down by goalkeeper Tim Howard, with Didier Drogba scoring the penalty. Everton refused to buckle and took the game to the hosts in he second half and got the equalizer three minutes from time when Jermaine Beckford headed past Petr Cech. Beckenbauer wants 2022 World Cup to be played in winter Franz Beckenbauer says the 2022 World Cup in Qatar should be played in January and February, when the temperatures in the Gulf state are more moderate. The German football great and FIFA executive committee member said it would be possible to make a one-time change to European league fixtures to allow for the World Cup to be played in winter. “Why would that not be acceptable? The schedules for the big European leagues are due to be changed in 2012 and that would mean the impact would be less. “Also it would be a viable alternative to the huge expenses involved in setting up air-conditioning for the stadiums and the fan zones,” Beckenbauer told Saturday's Bild newspaper.
