Premiership Games
Saturday 11th February 2012
12:45	Man Utd	2-1	Liverpool	Sky1
15:00	Blackburn	3-2	QPR
15:00	Bolton	1-2	Wigan
15:00	Everton	2-0	Chelsea
15:00	Fulham	2-1	Stoke
15:00	Sunderland	1-2	Arsenal
15:00	Swansea	2-3	Norwich
17:30	Tottenham	5-0	Newcastle	ESPN
Sunday 12th February 2012
13:30	Wolves	1-5	West Brom	Sky1
16:00	Aston Villa	0-1	Man City	Sky1

Manchester United defeated Liverpool 2-1 in a fiery encounter at Old Trafford that was overshadowed by Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra, on a weekend when there were also twists and turns in the race for the top four and the relegation battle.

Tottenham put aside any speculation over the future of manager Harry Redknapp to demolish Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane and remain firmly in the title race.

Arsene Wenger was pleased to see his squad follow up the 7-1 thrashing of 10 man Blackburn with three useful points at Martin

Premiership table - 14:02:12
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Man City	25	12	0	0	37	6	7	3	3	27	13	45	60
2	Man Utd	25	10	1	2	37	15	8	3	1	24	10	36	58
3	Tottenham	25	10	2	1	29	10	6	3	3	20	15	24	53
4	Arsenal	25	8	2	2	24	9	5	2	6	24	26	13	43
5	Chelsea	25	7	2	3	27	19	5	5	3	17	12	13	43
6	Newcastle	25	7	3	2	18	12	5	3	5	18	24	0	42
7	Liverpool	25	4	8	0	14	8	6	1	6	15	15	6	39
8	Norwich	25	5	4	3	19	15	4	4	5	18	26	-4	35
9	Sunderland	25	5	4	4	20	13	4	2	6	14	13	8	33
10	Everton	25	5	3	5	14	13	4	3	5	12	14	-1	33
11	Swansea	25	5	6	2	18	10	2	3	7	10	22	-4	30
12	Fulham	25	6	4	3	24	19	1	5	6	7	17	-5	30
13	Stoke	25	4	4	4	15	14	4	2	7	9	24	-14	30
14	West Brom	25	2	2	8	9	16	6	3	4	20	19	-6	29
15	Aston Villa	25	3	4	6	14	17	3	6	3	15	17	-5	28
16	QPR	25	2	4	6	13	20	3	2	8	14	24	-17	21
17	Blackburn	25	4	0	9	19	26	1	6	5	18	30	-19	21
18	Wolves	25	3	2	8	17	28	2	4	6	11	21	-21	21
19	Bolton	25	2	2	9	15	27	4	0	8	14	24	-22	20
20	Wigan	25	1	5	6	11	22	3	2	8	12	28	-27	19

O'Neill's improving Sunderland. Thierry Henry sealed the victory in true legend style, in injury time of his last appearance in the Premier League before his return to New York.

Chelsea came unstuck against Everton to drop below London rivals Arsenal, who hit back from behind to beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Under pressure Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas will be worrying about more training centre visits from owner Roman Abramovich

Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. Man Utd had been overnight leaders but with the City win they remain two points off the top.

Next Premiership Games
Saturday 25th February 2012
15:00	Chelsea	v	Bolton
15:00	Newcastle	v	Wolves
15:00	QPR	v	Fulham
15:00	West Brom	v	Sunderland
15:00	Wigan	v	Aston Villa
17:30	Man City	v	Blackburn	Sky2
Sunday 26th February 2012
13:30	Arsenal	v	Tottenham	Sky1
13:30	Norwich	v	Man Utd
16:00	Stoke	v	Swansea

Fulham inflicted a fourth straight loss on Stoke with a debut goal from Russain Pavel Pogrebnyak and a thunderbolt from Clint Dempsey. The Cottagers now appear to be clear of relegation worries for another season and with a continued good performance in the Fair Play League could even think of EuroLeague again.

Norwich got the better of Swansea in a five-goal cracker surviving a Swansea fightback to become only the second club to win at Swansea this season.

There were important games at the bottom of the table as Wigan edged out Bolton and Blackburn withstood a thrilling Queens Park Rangers comeback to pick up three points.The result lifted Rovers out of the bottom three but left QPR  On Sunday Wolves were slaughtered by West Brom in the West Midlands derby a result that sealed Mick McCarthy's fate








The lunchtime kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool was dominated by further controversy involving Suarez, recently back from an eight-match suspension after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra at Anfield in October.

Suarez decided not to shake Evra's hand during the pre-match formalities and there was a sense of heightened tension for the rest of the afternoon, with players reportedly scuffling in the tunnel at half-time and having to be kept apart at the final whistle.

The first half had seen little goalmouth activity but that all changed within a couple of minutes of the restart as Wayne Rooney blasted home an unstoppable volley from close range following a flick-on at a corner.

Rooney added a second in the 50th minute when he coolly slotted past Pepe Reina after a mistake by Jay Spearing had been seized upon by Antonio Valencia.

Suarez temporarily silenced the Old Trafford boos that he had received all game with a predatory finish 10 minutes from time, but the Red Devils withstood a late spell of pressure to go a point ahead of Manchester City at the Premier League summit.

Man Utd De Gea, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Welbeck.
Subs Not Used: Amos, Berbatov, Park, Hernandez, Fabio Da Silva, Cleverley, Pogba.

Booked: Carrick.

Goals: Rooney 47, 50.

Liverpool Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique, Spearing (Carroll 61), Henderson, Kuyt (Adam 75), Gerrard, Downing (Bellamy 61), Suarez.
Subs Not Used: Doni, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly.

Booked: Downing.

Goals: Suarez 80.

Att: 74, 844

Ref: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).




Blackburn recovered from their heavy defeat at Arsenal with a 3-2 victory over fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers to boost their survival hopes.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni showed what Blackburn have been missing during his three-match suspension with a classy turn and shot on the edge of the area to open the scoring after a quarter of an hour, and Steven N'Zonzi swept home a second eight minutes later following a fast break and Junior Hoilett cut-back.

There was further misery to come for QPR before half-time when Hoilett's angled drive took a deflection off Nedum Onuoha to leave Paddy Kenny with no chance and put Rovers 3-0 in front.

Jamie Mackie turned in Taye Taiwo's cross with 19 minutes left to give QPR hope of mounting a late fightback, before scoring a stunning second to set up a grandstand finale.

Unfortunately for QPR the damage had been done and the victory belonged to Blackburn, although the Londoners remain just outside the bottom three ahead of their opponents and the two sides who met at the Reebok Stadium.

Blackburn Robinson, Orr, Hanley, Dann, Martin Olsson, Nzonzi, Lowe, Hoilett (Henley 50), Formica (Modeste 66), Pedersen, Yakubu (Goodwillie 90).
Subs Not Used: Bunn, Petrovic, Rochina, Vukcevic.

Booked: Lowe.

Goals: Yakubu 15, Nzonzi 23, Onuoha 45 og.

QPR Kenny, Onuoha, Ferdinand, Hall (Gabbidon 90), Traore, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Buzsaky (Mackie 66), Taiwo, Taarabt, Zamora.
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hill, Derry, Bothroyd, Smith.

Booked: Mackie.

Goals: Mackie 71, 90.

Att: 20, 252

Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).





Wigan are now just a point behind Bolton at the bottom, though, following a 2-1 win over Owen Coyle's men.

Gary Caldwell's towering header from a corner just before half-time put Wigan in control, only for Mark Davies to equalise with a stunning first-time effort from 20 yards that flew into the top corner.

Wigan were not to be denied, though, as James McArthur tucked the ball away on the rebound in the 76th minute after Victor Moses had initially been denied by Adam Bogdan.

Bolton Bogdan, Steinsson, Wheater, Knight, Ricketts, Eagles (Sanli 58), Mark Davies, Reo-Coker, Petrov (Miyaichi 46), Kevin Davies (Klasnic 63), Ngog.
Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Muamba, Pratley, Boyata.

Booked: Reo-Coker, Kevin Davies, Steinsson.

Goals: Mark Davies 67.

Wigan Al Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Figueroa, Alcaraz, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour, Gomez (Rodallega 74), Moses, Di Santo (Jones 90).
Subs Not Used: Nicholls, Crusat, Watson, Diame, Stam.

Booked: Di Santo, McCarthy.

Goals: Caldwell 43, McArthur 76.

Att: 23, 450

Ref: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).





Chelsea's bid for a top-four finish suffered a setback after slumping to a 2-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Andre Villas-Boas insisted in the build-up to the match that he would not make Manchester City's mistake of underestimating Everton, but Chelsea were still slow out of the blocks as Steven Pienaar took advantage of hesitant defending to break the deadlock after five minutes with his first goal since returning to the club.

Chelsea were frustrated in their attempts to get back into the game and their hopes were finally extinguished when Denis Stracqualursi showed good composure to open his Premier League account on 71 minutes.

Everton Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Donovan, Gibson (Hibbert 89), Fellaini, Pienaar (Drenthe 74), Cahill, Stracqualursi (Duffy 90).
Subs Not Used: Mucha, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios.

Goals: Pienaar 5, Stracqualursi 71.

Chelsea Cech, Bosingwa, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cole (Bertrand 77), Meireles, Essien (Malouda 69), Lampard, Sturridge, Torres, Mata (Lukaku 77).
Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Mikel, Ferreira, Cahill.

Booked: Meireles, Bosingwa, Torres.

Att: 33, 924

Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).





Fulham produced an impressive first-half performance to set up a 2-1 victory against Stoke which leapfrogs them over the Potters Pavel Pogrebnyak may not have been the most famous name to make a move in the January transfer window but he made an immediate impact at Craven Cottage with a fine goal 16 minutes into his Fulham debut.

Fulham made it 2-0 just before the half-hour mark when the in-form Clint Dempsey thundered a powerful, swerving strike against the crossbar from distance and the ball bounced in off Thomas Sorensen's back for an own goal.

Stoke responded strongly after the interval and reduced their arrears thanks to Ryan Shawcross' glancing header, but could not claim a point.

Fulham Schwarzer, Kelly, Hughes, Hangeland, John Arne Riise, Murphy (Etuhu 80), Duff, Dembele, Dempsey, Ruiz (Baird 89), Pogrebnyak (Davies 62).
Subs Not Used: Stockdale, Gecov, Frei, Trotta.

Booked: Hangeland.

Goals: Pogrebnyak 16, Sorensen 28 og.

Stoke Sorensen, Wilkinson (Shotton 68), Shawcross, Upson, Wilson, Walters, Whelan, Palacios, Etherington (Pennant 67), Jones (Fuller 66), Crouch.
Subs Not Used: Begovic, Whitehead, Jerome, Woodgate.

Booked: Wilson, Palacios.

Goals: Shawcross 78.

Att: 23, 555

Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside).




Arsenal are now above Chelsea on goals scored after Thierry Henry stepped off the substitutes' bench to score the winner in their 2-1 success at Sunderland.

The stage was set for an exciting encounter, with the Black Cats in excellent form since Martin O'Neill took charge and the Gunners demolishing Blackburn last weekend, but instead they cancelled each other out in a goalless opening 45 minutes.

The match finally exploded into life with 20 minutes remaining as Per Mertesacker crumpled to the floor and James McClean took advantage to pick up possession and drill a shot across Wojciech Szszesny.

Aaron Ramsey came on to replace the injured Mertesacker and pulled Arsenal back on level terms within five minutes with an effort from the edge of the area that hit both posts before going in.

Henry then grabbed the glory with a 90th-minute goal following great work by the much-maligned Andrey Arshavin.

Sunderland Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, O'Shea, Richardson, Larsson, Gardner, Colback, McClean, Sessegnon, Campbell (Ji 87).
Subs Not Used: Westwood, Bridge, Wickham, Meyler, Kyrgiakos, Elmohamady.

Booked: Richardson, Campbell.

Goals: McClean 70.

Arsenal Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker (Ramsey 72), Vermaelen, Koscielny, Arteta, Song, Rosicky, Walcott (Arshavin 86), van Persie, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Henry 66).
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Gibbs, Benayoun, Coquelin.

Booked: Rosicky.

Goals: Ramsey 75, Henry 90.

Att: 40, 312

Ref: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire).




The battle of the promoted teams at the Liberty Stadium was won by Norwich, who became only the second Premier League team to taste victory on Swansea territory.

The Swans have earned a lot of admirers for their passing football this season and it was a typically slick attack that created the opportunity for Danny Graham to curl home a sumptuous opener midway through the first half.

Norwich turned the game on its head with two goals in the space of four minutes early in the second half, with Grant Holt's neat header bringing the scores level before Anthony Pilkington's shot ricocheted off Neil Taylor and rolled over the line to make it 2-1.

Holt extended the Canaries' advantage in the 63rd minute after being played in by Elliott Bennett, but Swansea showed great determination to try and get back into the match and were given a lifeline when Graham scored from the penalty spot following Holt's tug on Ashley Williams.

Norwich then had to cling on in the face of a late onslaught to seal a 3-2 victory and move on to 35 points for the season, just four behind Liverpool.

Swansea Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Caulker, Taylor, Dyer (Lita 73), Sinclair (Routledge 73), Britton, McEachran (Gower 64), Sigurdsson, Graham.
Subs Not Used: Tremmel, Monk, Moore, Richards.

Goals: Graham 23, 87 pen.

Norwich Ruddy, Martin, Ward, Drury (Barnett 57), Naughton, Surman, Fox, Bennett (Hoolahan 76), Pilkington, Holt, Jackson (Morison 83).
Subs Not Used: Steer, Johnson, Crofts, Wilbraham.

Booked: Drury, Holt.

Goals: Holt 47, Pilkington 51, Holt 63.

Att: 19, 927

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).





Tottenham boss Redknapp has been firmly in the media spotlight this week with speculation that he will replace Fabio Capello as England manager reaching fever pitch.

But all the conjecture in recent days was put to one side as Spurs swept into a two-goal lead against Newcastle inside just six minutes in North London, with the evening not improving after that for Alan Pardew's side, who are now sixth in the standings.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto fired the hosts in front before January signing Louis Saha celebrated his first start by finding the net soon after, with the French striker then adding a second with just 20 minutes on the clock.

Niko Kranjcar continued the steady flow of goals beyond the unfortunate Tim Krul in the 34th minute, with the outstanding Emmanuel Adebayor getting in on the act in the second half as the Magpies headed back to the North East with their wings well and truly clipped.

Tottenham Friedel, Walker, Dawson, King (Nelsen 75), Assou-Ekotto, Modric, Parker, Kranjcar, Bale (Lennon 67), Adebayor, Saha (Defoe 67).
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Rose, Livermore, Khumalo.

Booked: Parker, Walker.

Goals: Assou-Ekotto 4, Saha 6, 20, Kranjcar 34, Adebayor 64.

Newcastle Krul, Simpson, Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Obertan (Ferguson 46), Guthrie (Lovenkrands 86), Perch, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse (Gosling 68).
Subs Not Used: Elliot, Ben Arfa, Abeid, Shola Ameobi.

Booked: Gosling.

Att: 36, 176

Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).






West Brom demolished Wolves 5-1 in the Black Country derby to continue their excellent away form and increase the pressure on Mick McCarthy

The Baggies dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead in the 34th minute when Peter Odemwingie's well-struck shot from outside the area was deflected past Wayne Hennessey.

Steven Fletcher drew Wolves level on the stroke of half-time with a wonderful finish after a slick exchange of passes with Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

West Brom were not to be denied, though, and regained control of the contest in the 64th minute when Jonas Olsson's shot was fumbled into his own net by the previously impressive Hennessey.

Wolves were then torn apart in the closing stages as Odemwingie's close-range finish to make it 3-1 was followed up by a deflected goal from debutant Keith Andrews.

Odemwingie completed his hat-trick two minutes from time to lift West Brom eight points clear of the relegation zone and leave Wolves in the bottom three.

Wolverhampton Hennessey, Foley, Johnson, Bassong (Berra 61), Ward, Doyle, Edwards (Milijas 69), O'Hara, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher.
Subs Not Used: De Vries, Stearman, Hunt, Hammill, Jonsson.

Booked: O'Hara.

Goals: Fletcher 45.

West Brom Foster, Reid, McAuley, Olsson, Ridgewell, Odemwingie (Dorrans 89), Morrison, Scharner (Andrews 46), Mulumbu, Thomas (Cox 76), Fortune.
Subs Not Used: Fulop, Tchoyi, Long, Jones.

Goals: Odemwingie 34, Olsson 64, Odemwingie 77, Andrews 85, Odemwingie 88.

Att: 27, 131

Ref: Lee Mason (Lancashire).





Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League table with a 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park.

City grabbed the only goal of the game on 63 minutes when Joleon Lescott finally broke Villa's resistance with a close-range finish against his boyhood club.

James Milner swung over a corner where Gareth Barry was on hand to knock it back to Lescott to who expertedly hooked it home inside the six-yard box.

The win was nothing more than City deserved after dominating the game from the very first minute against a disappointing Villa side.

Joe Hart secured the win for City in the final minute when he produced a brilliant reflex save to keep out Darren Bent's close-range effort.

Aston Villa Given, Hutton, Dunne (Baker 90), Collins, Cuellar, Petrov, Albrighton (Ireland 77), Gardner, Keane, Bent, Heskey (N'Zogbia 69).
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Warnock, Bannan, Weimann.

Booked: Petrov, Dunne, N'Zogbia.

Man City Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Kolarov, Barry, De Jong, Milner, Silva (Richards 90), Johnson (Nasri 84), Aguero (Dzeko 89).
Subs Not Used: Pantilimon, Pizarro, Savic, Clichy.

Goals: Lescott 63.

Att: 35, 132

Ref: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).

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