Arsenal have extended their lead at the top of the nascent Premier League table to four points, after rattling five goals past Derby at the Emirates Stadium.

Abou Diaby’s ninth-minute opener set the tone for the afternoon in north London; Emmanuel Adebayor added two more, Cesc Fаbregas continued his remarkable scoring run with his sixth goal in eight games, before Adebayor completed the rout and the first senior hat-trick of his career.

Liverpool moved into second spot, but that will be of little consolation after they were held to a goalless draw by Birmingham at Anfield. Once again questions will be raised about Rafael Benнtez’s rotation policy, as the club’s record signing, Fernando Torres, was left on the bench and only saw action for the last half hour of the match, as Birmingham’s rearguard effort held firm.

There were dramatic last-minute goals in the other two Premier League fixtures this afternoon. Middlesbrough appeared to have prevailed against local rivals Sunderland, coming from behind to lead 2-1 at the Riverside - Julio Arca and Stewart Downing overturning Grant Leadbetter’s early opener - but Liam Miller earned the Black Cats a point at the death. Boro’s misery was compounded by losing both Arca and Mido to injury.

Meanwhile, James Harper’s late goal won the day for Reading at the Madejski Stadium against Wigan. Marcus Bent’s second-half equaliser, cancelling out an earlier Dave Kitson strike, had looked to have earned the visitors a point, but it was not to be.

Manchester City can regain second spot if they avoid defeat at Fulham later today.

Liverpool’s preparations for tomorrow night’s Champions League final in Athens against Milan took an embarrassing detour last night when the American owner Tom Hicks compared his recent purchase of the storied Anfield club to a previous business deal which saw him buy the breakfast cereal company Weetabix. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the billionaire Texan also confirmed for the first time that the club’s profits would be used to meet the interest payments on the loan that enabled him and his partner, George Gillett, to buy the club - a business model similar to the controversial deal allowing the Glazer family to take control of Manchester United.

In contrast to the Glazers, Hicks and Gillett have been welcomed with open arms in England after taking over at Anfield. The pair paid 178m for the club, borrowed from the Royal Bank of Scotland, with interest payments on the loan amounting to over 21m a year. “Hopefully the club will have extra cash flow so they can pay us a dividend to do that,” Hicks said when asked how the cost of the loan would be met. “If they don’t, then it will come from our pockets. But the club will have to have profits sufficient to pay those dividends.”

Responding to the suggestion this was the same kind of financial arrangement that incensed critics of the Glazers, Hicks was both candid and unrepentant. “When I was in the leverage buy-out business we bought Weetabix and we leveraged it up to make our return. You could say that anyone who was eating Weetabix was paying for our purchase of Weetabix. It was just business. It is the same for Liverpool; revenues come in from whatever source and go out to whatever source and, if there is money left over, it is profit,” he said.

Hicks, who will be in Athens to watch his team take on Milan, was equally candid about the way the Glazers went about their takeover at Old Trafford, describing it as a “blueprint of what not to do”, even if it eased their own move into English football.

“They were the first,” he said. “There were fans who honestly believed that, if an American owner came in and borrowed some of the purchase price, it could be the end of the club’s success. I think things changed when people saw that the Glazers didn’t necessarily turn out to be the end of Manchester football.” Hicks, who made his fortune buying and selling companies around the globe, currently owns two American sports teams, the Dallas Stars ice hockey team and baseball’s Texas Rangers.

He described his first two months in charge at Anfield as a “honeymoon”. Since taking over he has attended three of Liverpool’s matches, away to West Ham and the two home European ties against Barcelona and Chelsea. “I also went to a game at Arsenal. They have enthusiastic fans but it wasn’t like at Liverpool. They don’t have the Kop - the ardent passion, the songs, the chants, the cheers. The level [of noise] at the Barзa match was amazing but at the Chelsea game it was at another level altogether.”

Hicks has enjoyed mixed fortunes with his American sports teams, with the Dallas Stars winning ice hockey’s ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup. The Texas Rangers, on the other hand, have not finished higher than third in their four-team division since 2000 and are currently mired at the base of the American League West.

In the circumstances it is scarcely any wonder Hicks is delighted to see Liverpool progress to tomorrow night’s final, although he admitted he could not take any of the credit for the team’s success. “I feel kind of guilty. It’s like buying a baseball team a month before they go to the world series. I had nothing to do with it but I’m going to enjoy it,” he said.

Tim Henman brought a fitting end to his competitive career at the All England Club today by steering Great Britain back into the Davis Cup World Group for the first time in four years. Henman teamed up with Jamie Murray to win the doubles rubber 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 over Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko and secure his nation an unassailable 3-0 lead with two rubbers remaining.

The capacity Court One crowd rose to acclaim Henman after his whipped cross-court forehand converted Great Britain’s first match point and sealed a thoroughly convincing two-day victory.

“I’ve had a few good scripts over the past few years but it’s just fantastic,” said Henman. “For me to finish with Britain back in the World Group is perfect. It’s been an unbelievable journey for me. I’ve fulfilled so many of my dreams.” Coach John Lloyd added: “To get to 3-0 after two days is great. The boys played magnificently. You couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

Henman showed the composure which has sustained him through the best part of 13 Wimbledon summers, celebrating with fist-pumps to the sky as the fans chanted his name. Henman, who had never previously played competitively with the elder Murray, had been given the chance to go out on another high after bringing his singles career to a close with a straight-sets win over Roko Karanusic yesterday.

But even though the occasion dictated a routine victory for the British pair, Cilic and Zovko were determined the spoil the send-off and stretch this World Group play-off into a final day. Rising star Cilic, who had pushed Andy Murray to five sets on Friday, delivered an inch-perfect lob to break Jamie Murray at the crucial point of the first set and give Croatia a shock advantage.

Murray, who had made his Davis Cup debut against Holland in April, after which, ironically, Greg Rusedski also retired, seemed nervous and it was clear the 33-year-old Henman’s experience was keeping them in the tie. Murray had to wriggle out of two further break points at 1-2 down in the second set, another audacious Cilic lob this time sailing inches long and allowing the Scot to breathe again.

It took an hour for Great Britain to fashion their first break point on the Croatian serve and they took full advantage with Henman depositing a backhand volley at the net to take a 4-3 advantage, and subsequently serve out to level the tie. Showing every sign of developing into a top-level player for the future, Cilic in particular maintained his consistency and gave Croatia the breakthrough in the third set by breaking Murray again for a 4-2 lead.

The gutsy British pair immediately responded by breaking back to love and the set drifted into a tie-break, in which they made a sound start and wrapped up with big Murray serve to move one set from victory. Again Croatia, with doubles specialist Zovko finding his range on his serve again, refused to be give up and had their chances in the fourth set, not least a rare break point on the Henman serve at 2-2.

They failed to convert either of two further opportunities on the Murray serve two games later but the British pair spurned two chances of their own in the following game, which would have enabled Henman to serve out for the match. But when Cilic served to keep Croatia in the tie at 5-6, Henman and Murray would not be denied. With his last act as a professional tennis player, Henman swung a forehand cross-court and sent Great Britain back into the World Group.