All three of the title contenders played yesterday and all shuffled around in another day of shocks in the Premiership. As usual there were a whole host of goals and now there is a surprise fourth place sitter, for now. The lunch-time kick-off was the North London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham at The Emirates. Like some of the others it was possibly the biggest derby, in terms of positioning, in a long while. Arsenal knew that a win would take them top of the league with Chelsea to play later. That was certainly the motivation as they were much the better team in the first half and were a goal up just under ten minutes into the game, Samir Nasir rounding off another typical Arsenal passing move. They doubled their lead after 27 minutes after Fabregas launched a perfect long ball to the feet of the on-running Chamakh, who was in form after scoring for Morocco against Northern Ireland mid-week, Chamakh then rounded keeper Gomes with question marks over the Brazilian before scoring at a very tight angle. Tottenham knew they had to fight back in the second half and that's exactly what they did, Bale scored from a great counter attack after a flick through from Van Der Vaart five minutes into the second half. Van Der Vaart then levelled for Tottenham after is free-kick was stupidly handled by Fabregas in the box and the Dutchman converted the following penalty. With Tottenham level they had the momentum and they nicked the points five minutes from time when another Van Der Vaart free-kick was this time met by the glancing head of Younes Kaboul, which nestled neatly in the corner.
After Arsenal's defeat it gave Manchester United the chance to overtake Arsenal and move into second place. They were hosting Wigan, a team who have never beaten United in the league, but looked the better team in the first half. But the early pressure counted for nothing as Patrice Evra put United ahead on the stroke of half-time. It got worse for Wigan as fourteen minutes into the second half captain Alcaraz received a second yellow card and Wigan were down to ten. Just two minutes later Wigan were down to nine after vice-captain Rodallega dived in two-footed on Rafael and could have no complaints. Despite the two man advantage United could only score in the game that saw Rooney make his comeback appearance. However it was fellow substitute Hernandez who scored the second goal after 77 minutes with a nice diving header.
So far this season games involving Newcastle have produced quite a lot of goals, well there was another six at The Reebok as they travelled to Bolton. Bolton were awarded a penalty after just eighteen minutes when Kevin Nolan's return to The Reebok was marred by hand balling in the box, the penalty was converted by Kevin Davies. Bolton were 2-0 ahead at half-time when Lee doubled the score after 39 minutes. It didn't get any better for Newcastle in the second half as Johan Elmander scored a rare home goal five minutes after the restart. Andy Carroll pulled one back for Newcastle two minutes later but that was a good as it got. Elmander made it 4-1 after 72 minutes before being deliberately elbowed by Coloccini seven minutes later, the defender was rightly shown a red card. Bolton were awarded a second penalty in second half injury time which was again converted by Kevin Davies to finish the game off at 5-1. The win sees Bolton move temporarily into fourth place.
Blackpool continued their fine debut season in the Premiership with another win, this time at home to Wolves. Luke Varney opened the scoring after three minutes with a stunning strike from distance. Marlon Harewood doubled the lead just before half-time to make it 2-0. Wolves' consistent pressure in the second half was thwarted by a good display from Ali Al Habsi. But Wolves got one back four minutes before the end from Kevin Doyle.
There another two penalties at the Hawthornes as West Brom lost 3-0 to Stoke. Etherington converted the first penalty ten minutes into the second half to open the scoring. Walters then converted the second penalty five minutes from time before adding Stoke's third in injury time. The win puts Stoke into eighth place.
With Arsenal failing to overtake Chelsea earlier in the day, Chelsea could extend their lead over them with a win away to Birmingham. Only one goal settled the tie as Ben Foster put in a true number one England goalkeeping performance. Lee Bowyer scored the surprise winner after seventeen minutes to see Chelsea lose their third game in their last four. The result also means that Manchester United are level at the top of the Premiership but Chelsea remain first on goal difference.
The tea time kick-off was at Anfield as Liverpool took on the struggling West Ham. Glen Johnson was given far too much space from a corner to allow him to chest the ball down and find the bottom corner after eighteen minutes. Dirk Kuyt doubled Liverpool's advantage from the penalty spot nine minutes later. The points were all wrapped up after just 38 minutes when Maxi Rodriguez added a final third.
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