Manchester United?s Ruud van Nistelrooy (right) battles for the ball with Blackburn Rovers? Ryan Nelsen at Old Trafford on Saturday

London: Kieron Dyer and Lee Boywer were sent off for fighting each other as Newcastle United ended with eight men on the pitch in a 0-3 home defeat by Aston Villa in the English Premier League on Saturday.

Dyer and Bowyer were dismissed by referee Barry Knight after 82 minutes for trading punches with one another just after Aston Villa went 3-0 up with a second Gareth Barry penalty in seven minutes to end Newcastle?s 12-match unbeaten run.

They both apologised ?to everyone concerned with the club? for their actions afterwards ? but can expect to be banned by the FA and severely disciplined by manager Graeme Souness. He told reporters: ?I have never seen anything like that before. It?s a first for me.?

Nothing went right for the Magpies in their 3,000th match in the top division just a day after fans celebrated the news that skipper Alan Shearer said he would play on for another season and not retire at the end of this one.

But Shearer had a quiet game and it all began to go wrong as early as the fifth minute when Juan Pablo Angel put Villa ahead.

Steven Taylor was the first Newcastle player sent off after 73 minutes for deliberate handball to concede a penalty which Barry converted to make it 2-0.

Seven minutes later Barry scored from the spot again after Darius Vassell was tripped in the box to make it 3-0 and two minutes after that Dyer and Bowyer were sent off for fighting each other.

Thierry Henry, meanwhile, who missed France?s World Cup matches last week with a calf injury, returned to score a second successive league hattrick at Highbury as Arsenal crushed Norwich City 4-1 and moved back into second place in the table.

Henry, who scored all three when Arsenal beat Portsmouth 3-0 a month ago, scored after 19, 22 and 66 minutes to take his tally to the season for Arsenal to 30. Freddie Ljungberg grabbed the other.

Darren Huckerby briefly gave Norwich some hope when he scored after 30 minutes but Norwich remained in last place with relegation looking increasingly likely.

The Gunners moved on to 67 points from 31 matches, the same number as Manchester United who were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Blackburn Rovers and slipped from second to third on goal difference.

More bad news for United is that Ryan Giggs pulled a hamstring and will probably miss the FA Cup semi-final against Newcastle United in two weeks time.

Elsewhere Liverpool beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 with an 86th header from Igor Biscan to move to within a point of Everton who occupy fourth spot, the passport to a Champions League qualifying place.

Middlesbrough won 1-0 at relegation-threatened Crystal Palace with a first half header from Franck Queudrue, while Charlton Athletic levelled in the dying seconds of stoppage time to draw 2-2 with Manchester City.

Meanwhile, all Italian sports competitions including Serie A soccer have been suspended out of respect for Pope John Paul, the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) said on Saturday.