MatchDay 21 kicked off with Fulham easing their relegation worries with a 2-1 victory at West Brom. The Cottagers had slid towards the bottom three after winning only one of their previous 12 games but were well worth their second away success of the campaign. Dimitar Berbatov's seventh goal of the season gave the Cottagers a half-time lead and although Romelu Lukaku levelled after the break, Kacaniklic restored the visitors' advantage in the 58th minute.

Premiership Fixtures
Tuesday 1st January 2012
KO	Home		Away	Ref	TV
12:45	West Brom	1-2	Fulham	M Dean	Sky1
15:00	Man City	3-0	Stoke	M Oliver
15:00	Swansea	2-2	Aston Villa	M Halsey
15:00	Tottenham	3-1	Reading	H Webb
15:00	West Ham	2-1	Norwich	M Clattenburg
15:00	Wigan	0-4	Man Utd	A Marriner
17:30	Southampton	1-1	Arsenal	L Probert	Sky1
Wednesday 2nd January 2012
19:45	Chelsea	0-1	QPR	L Mason
19:45	Liverpool	3-0	Sunderland	P Dowd
20:00	Newcastle	1-2	Everton	M Atkinson	Sky1

Full-back Pablo Zabaleta inched Man City towards a 3-0 win against Stoke when he scored in the 43rd minute at the Etihad Stadium. Edin Dzeko doubled the lead after 56 minutes when Sergio Aguero saw a shot pushed out, and Aguero fired a 74th-minute penalty to complete the scoring after Steven Nzonzi fouled David Silva.

Danny Graham cracked home a late equaliser for Swansea against Aston Villa to earn a 2-2 draw. Visitors Villa fell behind to a Wayne Routledge's ninth-minute finish. But the outlook improved for Paul Lambert's side just before the break when Andreas Weimann netted an equaliser in the 44th minute. Christian Benteke's penalty after Nathan Dyer's foul on Weimann put Villa ahead. But Graham had the final say with a powerful late finish.

Premiership table - after 2nd January 2013
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Man Utd	21	9	0	1	28	13	8	1	2	26	15	26	52
2	Man City	21	8	2	1	25	9	5	4	1	16	10	22	45
3	Tottenham	21	6	3	2	17	11	6	0	4	22	16	12	39
4	Chelsea	20	5	3	2	22	8	6	2	2	17	11	20	38
5	Everton	21	5	4	1	17	12	4	5	2	18	14	9	36
6	Arsenal	20	5	2	2	25	13	4	5	2	15	9	18	34
7	West Brom	21	7	1	3	17	9	3	2	5	12	18	2	33
8	Liverpool	21	5	3	3	17	10	3	4	3	17	16	8	31
9	Swansea	21	3	6	2	19	17	4	2	4	12	9	5	29
10	Stoke	21	5	5	0	14	7	1	6	4	7	13	1	29
11	West Ham	20	5	3	3	19	13	2	2	5	5	11	0	26
12	Norwich	21	5	2	3	13	13	1	5	5	11	21	-10	25
13	Fulham	21	4	2	4	17	14	2	4	5	15	23	-5	24
14	Sunderland	21	3	3	4	11	12	2	4	5	10	17	-8	22
15	Newcastle	21	5	1	5	13	14	0	4	6	14	25	-12	20
16	Aston Villa	21	2	4	4	8	15	2	3	6	9	26	-24	19
17	Southampton	20	3	4	4	15	14	1	2	6	12	24	-11	18
18	Wigan	21	2	3	6	13	22	3	0	7	9	17	-17	18
19	Reading	21	2	5	3	15	19	0	2	9	8	21	-17	13
20	QPR	21	1	4	5	8	19	1	3	7	9	17	-19	13

Tottenham climbed to third place after a 3-1 home win over second-bottom side Reading. Spurs fell behind to a Pavel Pogrebnyak effort in the fourth minute, but Michael Dawson headed the hosts level in the ninth minute and Emmanuel Adebayor edged them ahead six minutes into the second half. Clint Dempsey made the points safe with the third Tottenham goal in the 79th minute.

A third-minute penalty from Mark Noble and Joey O'Brien's strike in the 26th minute helped West Ham to a 2-1 victory against Norwich at Upton Park. Russell Martin pulled one back for Norwich late in the second half but the Canaries could not find a leveller.

Javier Hernandez and Robin van Persie both scored twice as Premier League leaders Manchester United beat Wigan 4-0 to begin the year in fine style. Sir Alex Ferguson's side continue to head nearest rivals Manchester City by seven points as they attempt to regain the league title from their neighbours.

Arsenal lost ground in the race for Champions League spots after struggling to create chances in a 1-1 draw at Southampton. Gaston Ramirez fired the Saints in front on 34 minutes, but Arsenal were level before half-time when Guly diverted a Theo Walcott free-kick into his own net.



MatchDay 21 continued with Chelsea's four-match winning run in the Barclays Premier League grinding to a spectacular halt as struggling west London rivals QPR won 1-0 to claim their first victory at Stamford Bridge for two decades. Shaun Wright-Phillips, an early substitute for the injured Junior Hoilett, struck a brilliant 78th-minute winner against the club he left in 2008 to further erode the Blues' fading title hopes.

Victor Anichebe scored the winner as Everton's 2-1 victory plunged Newcastle deeper into crisis as a difficult day on Tyneside ended in depressing style. The striker needed just two minutes to steer home Nikica Jelavic's cross to complete a comeback which saw the Toffees condemn the Magpies to a ninth defeat in 11 league games.

Liverpool may have brought in reinforcements to ease the apparent burden on striker Luis Suarez but their leading scorer appears not to notice or care as he hit two to help beat Sunderland 3-0 at Anfield. With new team-mate Daniel Sturridge in the stands, the Uruguayan took his tally to 15 in 19 league matches.




Fulham recorded a first Premier League success at The Hawthorns as they beat West Brom 2-1 in the lunch-time kick-off to end a four-match winless streak, while condemning the Baggies to back-to-back defeats.

Alex Kacaniklic netted the winner for the Cottagers just before the hour mark, controlling Bryan Ruiz's pass on the edge of the box before driving a low shot past Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster.

Dimitar Berbatov had earlier put Martin Jol's men in the lead when he released Ashkan Dejagah down the right before collecting his pass to sweep home from inside the area, but Romelu Lukaku levelled things up just after the restart, turning home Billy Jones' low ball.

West Brom: Foster, Jones, Tamas, McAuley, Ridgewell, Brunt (Thorne 84), Mulumbu, Gera (Long 65), Morrison, Fortune (Odemwingie 65), Lukaku.
Subs Not Used: Myhill, Rosenberg, Jara Reyes, Dawson.

Goals Lukaku 49

Fulham: Stockdale, Riether, Hughes, Hangeland, Briggs, Dejagah, Sidwell, Karagounis (Rodallega 76), Kacaniklic, Ruiz, Berbatov (Senderos 90)
Subs Not Used: Somogyi, Baird, Kasami, Richardson, Frei

Goals: Berbatov 39, Kacaniklic 58

Att: 25,436

Ref: Mike Dean (Wirral).



Manchester City kept the heat on leaders United with a home victory over Stoke at the Etihad Stadium, seeing off the Potters 3-0 to end their 10-game unbeaten streak.

The impressive Pablo Zabaleta broke the deadlock for City on the stroke of half-time as he paired up with James Milner, side-footing the midfielder's pull-back past Asmir Begovic from yards out.

Some poor goalkeeping from Begovic then allowed Edin Dzeko to score his third goal in two games as the shot-stopper's weak clearance from Sergio Aguero's shot fell to the Bosnian, who poked the ball into the net with ease.

Aguero went from provider to scorer in the late stages as City were awarded a penalty after David Silvawas brought down by Steven N'Zonzi, with the striker rolling home from the spot to evade Begovic's low dive.

Man City: Hart, Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Clichy, Milner, Barry, Silva (Sinclair 82), Y Toure, Dzeko (Razak 90), Aguero (Tevez 77)
Subs not used: Pantilimon, K Toure, Nastasic, Garcia

Goals: Zabaleta 43, Dzeko 56, Aguero 74 (pen)

Booked: Lescott, Dzeko

Stoke City: Begovic, Cameron, Huth, Shawcross, Wilkinson, Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam (Whitehead 68), Jones (Etherington 50), Walters, Jerome
Subs not used: Sorensen, Upson, Shotton, Kightly, Crouch

Booked: Huth, Nzonzi

Referee: Michael Oliver

Attendance: 47,192



Struggling Aston Villa were denied a much-needed win at the death as they were pegged to a 2-2 draw at Swansea.

The Swans took an early lead at the Liberty Stadium as Pablo Hernandez slotted through Wayne Routledge and the midfielder rounded goalkeeper Brad Guzan to slide home the ball into an empty net.

But despite the Welsh side dominating the opening half, Villa surprised them on the break not long before half-time as Ashley Williams failed to deal with Christian Benteke's through-ball and Andreas Weimann finished off the move by slotting past Michel Vorm into the top corner.

Weimann then earned a late penalty when he was hauled down by Nathan Dyer and Benteke slipped the spot-kick beyond Vorm to put the Midlanders on course for the win.

However, the hosts had the last word as Danny Graham snatched a stoppage-time equaliser to hand the Swans a share of the spoils.

Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Chico, Davies, Routledge (Dyer 66), Britton (Agustien 79), Michu, de Guzman (Ki 62), Hernandez, Graham.
Subs Not Used: Tremmel, Monk, Shechter, Tiendalli.

Goals: Routledge 9, Graham 90.

Aston Villa: Guzan, Lowton, Herd, Clark, Stevens (Holman 68), Albrighton (Bowery 85), Westwood (Bannan 81), Delph, Bennett, Weimann, Benteke.
Subs Not Used: Given, Ireland, Lichaj, Carruthers.

Booked: Clark, Delph, Weimann, Stevens.

Goals: Weimann 44, Benteke 84 pen.

Attendance: 20,406

Referee: Mark Halsey



Tottenham climbed into third place above Chelsea, who play on Wednesday, as they came from behind to beat struggling Reading 3-1, leaving the Royals still stranded in the relegation zone.

The visitors took the early advantage at White Hart Lane as Pavel Pogrebynak reacted fastest to nod home Ian Harte's rebounded free-kick just four minutes in after the defender's delivery had struck the crossbar.

But the home side wasted little time getting back on level standings as Michael Dawson headed his first goal at the Lane for four years, meeting Gylfi Sigurdsson's well-taken corner from point-blank range.

Andre Villas-Boas' men then went ahead soon after half-time when Aaron Lennon shrugged off Harte with some good work down the right wing before floating in a pinpoint cross for Emmanuel Adebayor, who directed it just inside the left post with a towering header.

Clint Dempsey wrapped up Spurs' win with his first home league goal for the club, giving goalkeeper Adam Federici little chance as his powerful strike took a massive deflection off Mike Leigertwood to loop into the net.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Naughton, Lennon, Sandro, Dembele (Parker 69), Sigurdsson (Dempsey 75), Adebayor (Livermore 88), Defoe.
Subs not used: Friedel, Huddlestone, Falque, Caulker.

Scorers: Dawson 9, Adebayor 51, Dempsey 79.

Reading: Federici, Gunter, Pearce, Mariappa, Harte, Kebe, Karacan (Robson-Kanu 57), Leigertwood, Guthrie, McAnuff (Le Fondre 73), Pogrebnyak (Hunt 84).
Subs not used: Taylor, Morrison, Tabb, Cummings.

Scorer: Pogrebnyak 4.

Attendance: 36,180

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire)



West Ham condemned Norwich to a fourth straight defeat as they triumphed 2-1 over the Canaries at Upton Park, with an early penalty setting them on course for the win.

Sam Allardyce's side needed just three minutes to take the lead when Ryan Bennett was adjudged to have held Ricardo Vaz Te, with Mark Noble making no mistake from the penalty spot as he sent Mark Bunn the wrong way.

Noble was also involved as the Hammers doubled their advantage on 26 minutes, firing in a low cross which was initially stabbed away by Sebastien Bassong before Joey O'Brien side-footed home the rebound at the near post.

Russell Martin netted in stoppage time for the visitors but it was no more than a consolation strike as they slipped below the Hammers in the table.

West Ham United: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Reid, Tomkins, O'Brien (O'Neil 71), Noble, Collison, Taylor, Jarvis (Spence 84), Vaz Te (Maiga 81), Cole
Substitutes not used: Spiegel, Diarra, Spence, Lletget, Lee

Goals: Noble (pen) 3, O'Brien 26

Norwich City: Bunn, Martin, Bassong, Turner, Ryan Bennett,Snodgrass, Howson, Tettey, Pilkington, Hoolahan (E Bennett 70), Kane (Jackson 70)
Substitutes not used: Rudd, Fox, Barnett, Tierney, Smith

Goals: R Martin 90

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear)

Attendance: 35,005



Manchester United started the New Year on a high note as they thumped Wigan 4-0 at the DW Stadium to maintain their seven-point lead at the top of the table, with Javier Hernandez and Robin van Persie both netting doubles for the leaders.

The Red Devils cracked the hosts' defence in the 35th minute thanks to Hernandez, who pounced in the box to tuck the ball into the net from close range after Patrice Evra saw his low shot parried by Latics goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Van Persie then added his 15th league goal of the season when he collected the ball in the area, turned away from Wigan defender Ivan Ramis and curled a fine right-footed strike into the top right-hand corner.

Hernandez contributed his second of the afternoon just after the hour mark when Van Persie's deflected free-kick fell to him just inside the box and the Mexican blasted home with another tidy finish.

And the Dutchman completed the commanding win in the 88th minute, slipping in United's fourth with ease in front of goal after some dubious defending from the hosts.

Wigan: Al Habsi, Ramis, Caldwell (Stam 69), Figueroa, Boyce, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour, Di Santo (Gomez 70), Maloney (McManaman 86), Kone.
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Jones, Boselli, Golobart.

Booked: Caldwell.

Manchester United: De Gea, Da Silva, Ferdinand (Smalling 68), Evans, Evra, Young (Welbeck 78), Carrick (Kagawa 68), Cleverley, Giggs, Van Persie, Hernandez.
Subs Not Used: Lindegaard, Valencia, Vidic, Scholes.

Booked: Smalling.

Goals: Hernandez 35, 63, Van Persie 43, 88

Attendance: 20,342

Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).



Arsenal started 2013 by seeing their run of four straight wins brought to an end after they could only manage a 1-1 draw at Southampton.

The lacklustre affair saw the struggling Saints take the lead in the 34th minute when Gaston Ramirez made the most of some woeful defending from Bacary Sagna to poke home.

But the scores were level seven minutes later when Guly put through his own net in an attempt to clear Theo Walcott's cross, stabbing past goalkeeper Artur Boruc in front of goal.

Southampton: Boruc, Yoshida, Fonte, Shaw, Schneiderlin, S Davis, Ramirez (Ward-Prowse 77), Cork, Do Prado (De Ridder 83), Puncheon, Lambert (Rodriguez 74)
Subs not used: K Davis, Hooiveld, Richardson, Mayuka

Goals: Ramirez 34

Booked: Schneiderlin, De Ridder

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Gervinho 74), Cazorla (Ramsey 74), Podolski (Giroud 58)
Subs not used: Martinez, Mertesacker, Rosicky, Coquelin

Goals: Do Prado og 41

Referee: Lee Probert

Attendance: 31,743




It was a happy New Year for Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, with the Premier League's bottom club stunning capital rivals Chelsea 1-0.

The visitors rarely escaped their own half during the opening period, but defended resolutely with skipper Clint Hill nodding clear a curling shot from Oscar.

Chelsea then lost their way in the 10 minutes before half-time, the result of a lack of urgency and series of errors, but shots from Oscar and Frank Lampard brought them back to life.

QPR's goal came under growing pressure with Branislav Ivanovic grazing the crossbar, David Luiz seeing a rocket blocked and only a brave save by Julio Cesar denying Fernando Torres from point-blank range.

Once again Chelsea faded and this time QPR took advantage, working the ball from a corner via Taarabt to Wright-Phillips, who drove the ball into the bottom left corner of the net from the edge of the area.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Bertrand, Luiz, Lampard (Ramires 79), Marin (Hazard 60), Oscar, Moses (Mata 75), Torres.
Subs not used: Hilario, Cole, Ferreira, Piazon.

Booked: Marin.

QPR: Julio Cesar, Onuoha, Nelsen, Hill, Da Silva, Mbia, Derry, Hoilett (Wright-Phillips 15), Granero (Park 90), Taarabt (Dyer 90), Mackie.
Subs not used: Green, Ferdinand, Cisse, Faurlin.

Booked: Hill.

Goals: Wright-Phillips 79.

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)

Attendance: 41,634



Liverpool moved up to eighth in the Premier League table as they comfortably beat Sunderland 3-0 at Anfield.

The Reds scored twice before the break through Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez with the Uruguayan adding his second after the interval to secure the points for the home side.

With manager Brendan Rodgers back on the bench after illness, this was Liverpool's fifth win in seven Premier League games while Sunderland remain in 14th just four points above the drop zone.

Liverpool: Reina, Wisdom, Skrtel (Carragher 73), Agger, Johnson, Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson (Suso 67), Downing, Suarez, Sterling (Allen 57).
Subs not used: Jones, Sahin, Shelvey, Robinson.

Goals: Sterling 19, Suarez 26, Suarez 52

Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, Cuellar, Kilgallon, Rose (Vaughan 73), Johnson, Larsson (McFadden 62), Colback, McClean, Sessegnon (Campbell 46), Fletcher.
Subs not used: Westwood, Bardsley, Wickham, Bramble.

Bookings: McClean.

Attendance: 44,228.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)



Everton recovered from Papiss Cisse's early goal to come from behind and beat Newcastle United 2-1 at St James' Park.

Leighton Baines equalised with a stunning strike and substitute Victor Anichebe grabbed the winner to leave Newcastle deeper in trouble just outside the relegation zone.

With Demba Ba negotiating a move to Chelsea after an offer earlier in the day which triggered his release clause, Cisse took up the challenge of leading the Newcastle line

Newcastle: Krul, Perch (Ranger 87), Williamson, Coloccini, Santon, Obertan (Bigirimana 65), Anita, Tiote (Sammy Ameobi 79), Marveaux, Shola Ameobi, Cisse.
Subs not used: Elliot, Ferguson, Tavernier, Abeid.

Booked: Cisse, Williamson, Tiote.

Goals: Cisse 2.

Everton: Howard, Jagielka, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Naismith (Anichebe 58), Neville, Osman, Pienaar, Fellaini, Jelavic (Oviedo 88).
Subs not used: Mucha, Hitzlsperger, Gueye, Vellios, Duffy.

Booked: Heitinga, Pienaar.

Goals: Baines 43, Anichebe 60.

Attendance: 49,391.

Referee: Martin Atkinson.

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