.
Premiership Match Day 23 saw Fulham record another home victory and go more than 3 points clear of the relegation zone elsewhere Premier League leaders Manchester United romped to a 5-0 victory over Birmingham City as Arsenal had an equally easy afternoon against Wigan, but Manchester City lost to a Darren Bent-inspired Aston Villa.
Wolves (0) 0 Liverpool (1) 3
|
Premiership Results |
|
Saturday 22nd January
|
|
12.45 |
Wolves |
0-3 |
Liverpool |
|
15.00 |
Arsenal |
3-0 |
Wigan |
|
15.00 |
Blackpool |
1-2 |
Sunderland |
|
15.00 |
Everton |
2-2 |
West Ham |
|
15.00 |
Fulham |
2-0 |
Stoke |
|
15.00 |
Man Utd |
5-0 |
Birmingham |
|
12.00 |
Newcastle |
1-1 |
Tottenham |
|
17.30 |
Aston Villa |
1-0 |
Man City |
|
Sunday 23rd January
|
|
14.05 |
Blackburn |
v |
West Brom |
|
Monday 24th January
|
|
16.10 |
Bolton |
v |
Chelsea |
|
Top 4 |
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
Bottom Half |
Relegation |
|
Kenny Dalglish gained his first win back in charge of Liverpool as they romped to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday.
Fernando Torres grabbed a double and the excellent Raul Meireles scored to cap only the Reds' third away win of the last 13 months and give a much-needed lift to the out-of-form club.
It was a victory deserved for Dalglish's side, who passed and countered to great effect, with Torres and Meireles constantly involved and working hard to stifle Wolves in midfield.
Wolves battled hard throughout, but it was the most accomplished performance of the season from their opponents, who showed signs of the team that used to win these kind of games with consummate ease.
Arsenal (1) 3 Wigan (0) 0
Arsenal produced an emphatic display at Emirates Stadium with Al Habsi preventing the scoreline from being a cricket score as Wigan lost 3-0.
Van Persie fired Arsenal ahead on 21 minutes when he lashed the ball home from 12 yards after a lovely through ball from Alex Song.
The second did not come until the hour when Van Persie volleyed home from close range after a great ball from Cesc Fabregas.
Wigan's day then got even worse with Gary Caldwell red carded for a foul on Fabregas, but van Persie missed the chance to claim his hat-trick.
But Van Perside made sure he got the match ball with five minutes left as Theo Walcott broke into the box and left the ball for the Dutchman to lash home.
| Premiership table |
| Pos |
Team |
Pld |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Man Utd |
22 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
34 |
7 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
14 |
12 |
29 |
48 |
| 2 |
Arsenal |
23 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
25 |
11 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
23 |
11 |
26 |
46 |
| 3 |
Man City |
24 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
18 |
10 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
19 |
10 |
17 |
45 |
| 4 |
Chelsea |
22 |
8 |
2 |
1 |
24 |
7 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
14 |
12 |
19 |
38 |
| 5 |
Tottenham |
23 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
17 |
9 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
15 |
17 |
6 |
38 |
| 6 |
Sunderland |
24 |
6 |
5 |
1 |
15 |
8 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
13 |
16 |
4 |
37 |
| 7 |
Newcastle |
23 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
26 |
15 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
18 |
3 |
30 |
| 8 |
Bolton |
23 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
22 |
13 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
12 |
18 |
3 |
30 |
| 9 |
Stoke |
23 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
16 |
12 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
12 |
16 |
0 |
30 |
| 10 |
Liverpool |
23 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
19 |
10 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
21 |
-1 |
29 |
| 11 |
Blackpool |
22 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
15 |
16 |
5 |
2 |
6 |
17 |
22 |
-6 |
28 |
| 12 |
Blackburn |
23 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
10 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
14 |
27 |
-8 |
28 |
| 13 |
Everton |
23 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
14 |
15 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
13 |
14 |
-2 |
27 |
| 14 |
Fulham |
23 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
16 |
14 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
9 |
11 |
0 |
26 |
| 15 |
West Brom |
22 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
16 |
17 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
13 |
24 |
-12 |
25 |
| 16 |
Aston Villa |
23 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
16 |
13 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
9 |
26 |
-14 |
25 |
| 17 |
Birmingham |
22 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
10 |
11 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
11 |
20 |
-10 |
23 |
| 18 |
Wigan |
23 |
2 |
6 |
4 |
11 |
21 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
8 |
16 |
-18 |
22 |
| 19 |
Wolves |
23 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
15 |
18 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
9 |
23 |
-17 |
21 |
| 20 |
West Ham |
24 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
19 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
10 |
24 |
-19 |
21 |
Blackpool (0) 1 Sunderland (2) 2
Sunderland are now within a point of Spurs, after they shrugged off the loss of Darren Bent to grab a 2-1 win at Blackpool.
The Black Cats dominated the first half and were deservedly leading 2-0 at the break.
The first was a great sweeping move with Asamoah Gyan sliding through a wonderful ball for Richardson to fire home across Richard Kingson.
The England international made it 2-0 with a similarly good finish, this time after some great work from Steed Malbranque down the left.
Blackpool, who had to replace goalkeeper Kingson with a head injury, fought back in the second half and were awarded a penalty when Nedum Onuoha clipped David Vaughan.
Want-away captain Charlie Adam slotted home the penalty but Blackpool could not find an equaliser.
Everton (0) 2 West Ham (1) 2
West Ham missed the chance to climb off the bottom of the table after a 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park.
West Ham went ahead just before the half-hour with a classic counter-attack goal with Luis Boa Morte breaking with pace before pulling the ball back for Jonathan Spector to slot home.
Everton levelled with just 17 minutes remaining with Diniyar Bilyaletdinov firing home after a great knock-down from Marouane Fellaini.
But West Ham looked to have clinched a win when Frederic Piquionne rose to brilliantly head home Wayne Bridge's cross.
However, the Frenchman then picked up a second yellow card for his celebrations which left the Hammers with ten men for the closing minutes.
And Avram Grant's men could not hang on as Fellaini was on hand to fire home from close range after Jack Rodwell knocked down Leon Osman's cross.
Fulham (1) 2 Stoke (0) 0
| Up-Coming Premiership games |
|
Tuesday 25th January
|
| 19.30 |
Blackpool |
v |
Man Utd |
| 19.45 |
Wigan |
v |
Aston Villa |
|
Wednesday 26th January
|
| 20.00 |
Liverpool |
v |
Fulham |
| Top 4 |
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
Bottom Half |
Relegation |
|
A Clint Dempsey goal in each half was enough to see Fulham take all three points in a 2-0 win over ten-man Stoke.
Fulham out-performed a toothless Stoke side who saw any chance of a comeback dashed by a Ryan Shawcross red card.
Dempsey looked sharp and latched onto a great Andy Johnson first-half ball to fire the home side ahead before converting a second half penalty to seal all three points.
Fulham enjoyed the majority of the possession in a lively first half but Stoke defended resolutely for the most part.
Damien Duff and the returning Andy Johnson but put in great shifts and were a handful for the Stoke defence all game.
Man Utd (3) 5 Birmingham (0) 0
It is once again Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United who will be claiming the headlines this weekend as they romped to a 5-0 win over Birmingham.
Alex McLeish side's were woeful from the off and were 1-0 down within two minutes as Berbatov headed home from close range after John O'Shea flicked on Ryan Giggs' corner.
Berbatov made it 2-0 on the half-hour this time as he skipped inside the area before finishing clinically.
On the stroke of half-time it was 3-0 with Giggs firing into the roof of the net after a brilliant ball across the box by Wayne Rooney.
Just minutes into the second half Giggs was again involved in the fourth as he provided Berbatov with his third goal as he slid in at the near post.
The scoring was completed with Nani firing in with an archetypal finish from the edge of the box as he skipped inside past the full-back.
Newcastle (0) 1 Tottenham (0) 1
Tottenham needed a last-minute equaliser from Aaron Lennon to salvage a 1-1 draw at Newcastle as they missed the chance to move back into the top four.
Spurs were hampered early on when star man Gareth Bale was forced off through injury.
Their day got much worse ten minutes into the second half when Fabricio Coloccini fired home a wonderful goal as he collected Danny Guthrie's cross-field pass on his chest before half-volleying it home from 12 yards.
Newcastle, though, could not hang on as deep into stoppage time Spurs broke and levelled. Peter Crouch won the flick-on, Jermain Defoe fed Lennon, and he cut inside onto his right foot and finished at the near post past Steve Harper.
Aston Villa (1) 1 Man City (0) 0
Darren Bent marked his first appearance for Aston Villa with the winning goal as Manchester City's title hopes were dented by a 1-0 defeat.
Bent has found himself at the centre of a war of words between his current and former employers since joining from Sunderland earlier this week but it was clear to see why Villa were prepared to pay big money to secure his services as he made a decisive contribution on his debut.
Gerard Houllier's men have become embroiled in a relegation scrap partly because of a lack of goals but Bent showed his predatory instincts to tuck the ball home on 18 minutes after Joe Hart had parried Ashley Young's curling effort.
Manchester City dominated possession thereafter but Villa defended resolutely and looked comfortable until a late period of extreme pressure from the visitors, when Nigel de Jong's deflected effort struck the post.
Villa held firm to pull clear of trouble and leave City third in the Premier League standings, three points adrift of leaders Manchester United.
16:00 Blackburn v West Brom
Blackburn continue to chase a marquee signing craved by club owners Venky's, with Juan Roman Riquelme the latest to be linked with Rovers as Steve Kean's side prepare to tackle West Brom on Sunday in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Roque Santa Cruz has a first chance to impress on his return to Ewood Park and the midweek arrival of Jermaine Jones was a decent piece of business.
Roberto Di Matteo's Baggies snapped their worrying six-game losing run last time out, but suffered a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Rovers in the midst of a sorry spell which has seen them tumble into the bottom half of the table.
Last season: No corresponding fixture
Last five league matches: Blackburn L W L W L; West Brom L L L L W
Top scorers (all competitions): Mame Biram Diouf (Blackburn) 6; Peter Odemwingie (West Brom) 8
Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)
20:00 Bolton v Chelsea
By their own admition, confidence is low at Chelsea; what better way to restore belief than at a ground where they are unbeaten in over 13 years?
I think it's important that we as a club and Bolton as a town celebrate Nat Lofthouse's life on Monday night. I hope there will be a great atmosphere, and it would be nice if we could put in a big performance and get a result against Chelsea, recognising they are one of the strongest teams in the Premier League
The champions' shocking loss of form since October has been well documented: five league defeats, 13 points from a possible 36, just two wins from their last 10. Last weekend's 2-0 defeat of Blackburn was long overdue, but one league victory can hardly be said to constitute a revival.
The good news for Blues fans is that they head to Bolton with a record of 12 wins from their last 15 encounters with the Lancashire club, and no defeats. Fourteen goals have been plundered without reply on their last seven trips to the Reebok, including a 4-0 victory on their most recent visit in 2009.
Bolton, meanwhile, appear to be suffering their own crisis of confidence. Owen Coyle's men are still without a Premier League win in 2011, a loss of form that started with a 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge in December's reverse fixture.
Monday marks the first Wanderers game since the passing of club legend Nat Lofthouse, who died last Sunday. Captains Kevin Davies and John Terry will lay a floral tribute before the match in honour of the club's legendary striker, who played more than 500 games and scored 285 times for the Trotters between 1946 and 1960.
Last season: Chelsea 1 Bolton 0, Bolton 0 Chelsea 4
Last five league matches: Bolton W L L D L; Chelsea L W D L W
Top scorers (all competitions): Johan Elmander (Bolton) 10; Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) 12
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside)