Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Liverpool
Bolton pulled off one of the shocks of the season today, as the basement club managed to pull of a massive win over a supposedly in-form Liverpool side in a match that not only lifted them off the bottom of the table, but also restored a lot of faith in manager Owen Coyle. Bolton have been in dire straits recently, and a lively performance saw Mark Davies slot in early in the match. Nigel Reo-Coker then doubled their lead as he scored a beautiful goal after chesting down and blasting it into the bottom corner.
Craig Bellamy then scored a beautiful chip over the keeper to give Kenny Dalglish's men belief that they could salvage something from the match, but they were outclassed throughout the whole match, and Gretar Steinsson's goal - a neat little volley - just served to show how much work Liverpool still have to do and how much they're desparately missing Luis Suarez (who is nearing the end of his 8 match ban).
Liverpool missed out on the chance to overtake Newcastle and possibly Arsenal (who play tomorrow), and their title chances are all but over with a 16 point gap having emerged between them and league leaders Man City. For Bolton however, it was a match to remember and pulls them out of the bottom 3 for the first time in a fair while.
Everton 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn's revival continued after a feisty encounter at Goodison Park today. Tim Cahill was the hero and villain today as he scored in the 24th minute, though there were suspicions of handball from Marouane Fellaini during the build up to the goal. But nevertheless, it stood, and the lead was held for 48 minutes, surviving two shots that bounced off the post in the first half, before Tim Howard's error led Cahill to attempt a goal-line clearance which unfortunately for him ricocheted right back of David Goodwillie and into an empty net.
To be honest, this was a great match to watch. There were chances at both ends and both sides looked dangerous but lacked the finishing touch until Cahill managed to nab a goal. BBC just told me Tim Cahill hadn't scored for Everton since December 20th, 2010. It does not feel that long...wow. Anyway, both sides had long spells of possession, creating many chances, and David Dunn and Scott Dann both hit the post before Goodwillie's somewhat fortunate equaliser.
Blackburn briefly moved out of the relegation zone with the point before Bolton got their unexpected victory over Liverpool. As for Everton, they are now 14th and level on points with both Swansea and Fulham, with 3 points separating them and 9th placed Norwich.
Fulham 5-2 Newcastle United
Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat-trick in the Premier League in an enthralling match against Newcastle at Craven Cottage. Newcastle took the lead through a fine goal from Danny Guthrie just before half time, and while there was just the one goal before the interval, afterwards was a totally different story. Danny Murphy equalised after 52 minutes thanks to a penalty and only 7 minutes later, Dempsey racked up his first of the match. It only took him another 6 minutes to grab his second. 3 minutes later there was another penalty which Zamora fired home. In the 85th minute, Hatem Ben Arfa netted to give Newcastle some slim hope of a comeback, but they never really threatened again and Dempsey scored his first premier league hat-trick - and the first of any American - in the 89th minute.
Serious questions must be asked about Newcastle after this match. They were obviously missing their in form striker Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi was not adequate cover, but if I remember rightly, they just signed a £10m striker - Cisse - from France. Hopefully we'll see him play in the next match and he will be able to hold the fort until Ba is Ba-ck. Hah.
Thanks to Liverpool's drop against Bolton, Newcastle remain in 6th place and level on points with Arsenal, though that will change depending on the match against Manchester United tomorrow. Fulham moved up from the lower echelons of the league to a respectable 12th place, and for Martin Jol, I'm sure that is a good reward for a lot of hardship over the past few months.
Norwich City 0-0 Chelsea
Norwich continued their knack of picking up points against the big boys with a performance that not only gave them their first clean sheet of the season thanks to a magnificent performance from Canaries keeper Ruddy, but also was not bereft of attacking flair, with Grant Holt again showing that he has what it takes to play amongst the stars. Fernando Torres continued his knack of not scoring (he hasn't scored in 17 matches) and even had a fantastic chance, but nudged it wide. Perhaps now we see why PSG didn't exactly rush at the opportunity to sign him.
Chelsea seemed to think if they just waited, a goal would come to them. There was no...gusto in their attacks, and you could be forgiven for thinking it was a training match. However, take nothing away from the Norwich defence, especially John Ruddy, as he produced his performance of the season to keep Chelsea at bay.
Chelsea again dropped points, and find themselves in limbo - 4 points off third placed Tottenham (who have a game in hand), 10 points off league leaders Man City (who have a game in hand) and 5 points ahead of Arsenal (who have a game in hand). However, Norwich must be in heaven. In their return season to the Premier League, they currently find themselves in 9th place, and if results continue to go their way, they have a genuine chance of getting into the Europa League places (assuming cup competitions also go their way).
QPR 3-1 Wigan
QPR came up on top in this relegation six pointer which lifted Mark Hughes' side out of the relegation zone and left Wigan stuck at the bottom of the table and 4 points from safety. Heidar Helguson scored a penalty when James McCarthy handled the ball in the area before Buzsaky notched up an insanely awesome free kick to make it 2-0 to the home side. Hugo Rodallega scored a free kick, although there was no comparison with Buzsaky's, and gave the rest of the match an intensity that was only lessened after Tommy Smith scored a long range goal.
Wigan started well, but Rodallega was not on his best form and fluffed up a couple of good chances early on before Helguson scored his penalty. Rangers then slid up a gear and took a string of chances, coming close a fair few times and ended the match on a high, winning only their second home game of the season.
QPR are now out of the relegation zone with a 2 point gap, while Wigan are essentially nailed to the bottom of the table, and to be quite honest unless they make a super signing in this last week of the transfer window, I can't see them staying up.
Stoke 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
Graham Dorran scored a late free kick as West Brom picked up their first 3 points of the year through their defeat of Stoke City. James Morrison had previously put West Brom in front after a skillful finish, and keeper Ben Foster even saved a penalty before Cameron Jerome nodded in an equaliser for Stoke. However, with just minutes remaining, Dorrans booted a free kick through a crowd of players into the top corner to send the travelling support home with a smile.
Stoke were clear favourites going into the match, their home form in the Premier League is legendary. But it was West Brom who played the best game and won their first match against Stoke since 2003.
Despite the slip up, Stoke remain 8th in the table and are only 5 points behind Liverpool although Norwich have caught them up. West Brom however pull themselves further up into safety and are now 15th.
Sunderland 2-0 Swansea
Poor Swansea, they had just found their stride. But Sunderland just could not be matched today and scored two excellent goals to continue their own run of form under Martin O'Neill's stewardship. Sessegnon scored a fantastic effort to put Sunderland ahead after Seb Larsson hit the post and before Scott Sinclair somehow skied the ball from 6 yards out. Although Swansea then pushed for an equaliser, it was Craig Gardner who scored the goal just before full time which sealed the points for the home side.
Swansea desparately need to sign a new striker with a proven goal scoring record at this level. While they do have the best passing midfield in the premier league, they lacked the final touch to get the ball in the net, while Sunderland are definitely on the up and their fans can look forward to the future with hope.
For now at least, Sunderland are 10th, slightly below where they would hope to be, while Swansea are still in a very respectable 13th place.
Wolves 2-3 Aston Villa
Robbie Keane marked his return to the Premier League in superb style as he scored two goals to give Aston Villa a deserved win against a Wolves team that lacked cohesion in defence. Keane nearly even made it 3 with a shot that went just past the post. Darren Bent scored the first after Berra stupidly fouled him to give Villa a penalty before Michael Kightly equalised soon after. Wolves then actually took the lead as Roger Johnson put a corner into the path of David Edwards who headed home. The score did not last for long though, as Keane scored a second half volley to level the scores at 2-2.
Karl Henry was the next Wolves player to be found guilty of idiocy as he kicked Marc Albrighton while the Villa man was down on the ground. Keane then scored a screamer to give the Villans a lift that sees them jump up to 11th in the league table, while for Wolves, the relegation zone beckons. They need only a point to get out, but i envision this becoming a very stressful season once again for Wolves fans.
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