Super Sunday returned after the FA Cup break along with an instalment of Monday Night Football. Sunday kicked off with Mark Hughes' first game in charge of QPR, against Newcastle. With Demba Ba away on international duty, Newcastle looked to Leon Best to continue from Ba's impressive performances. Best didn't disappoint as the hosts' only shot on target fell to the striker and he converted it with eight minutes to go before half-time. QPR did have chances to equalise but Newcastle's only meaningful shot of the game was enough to give the three points to leave QPR still languishing above the relegation zone.
Arsene Wenger didn't the year off well with defeat to Fulham, it got slightly worse on Sunday when they travelled across the border to face Swansea. With their old talisman, Thierry Henry, on the bench, it was down to their new talisman, Robin Van Persie, to give Arsenal the lead after five minutes. Swansea equalised just after the quarter of an hour mark when Nathan Dyer clumsily fell in the box, Scott Sinclair was on hand to convert the dubious spot kick. Nathan Dyer then gave Swansea the lead just twelve minutes into the second half to leave Arsenal shell shocked. Theo Walcott did convert a typical counter attacking move to make it 2-2 on 69 minutes but it took just sixteen seconds for the visitors to be behind again, Danny Graham scoring Swansea's third to give them the surprise three points that sees them move to tenth in the league.
Monday Night Football saw Manchester City take on Wigan at the DW Stadium. Many predicted that City would turn their hosts over but with both Kolo and Yaya Toure and also Vincent Kompany unavailable, it left them vulnerable at the back. Wigan did exploit this weakness at times but they also showed why they had failed to score in six of the previous eight games against City. But Wigan did only concede the one goal, Edin Dzeko heading David Silva's free-kick past Ali Al-Habsi on 22 minutes to extend their lead at the top back to three points.
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