Manchester City beat Wolves to maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League yesterday as Manchester United bounced back from their derby mauling with a 1-0 win at Everton.
City, riding high after their 6-1 demolition of United last weekend, overcame a late fightback from Wolves after being reduced to 10 men to secure a 3-1 victory.
Edin Dzeko, Aleksandar Kolarov and Adam Johnson scored the second-half goals for City, who had captain Vincent Kompany sent off for a foul that allowed Wolves’ Stephen Hunt to score from the penalty spot.
United banished the memory of last week’s defeat by City with a hard-earned victory at Goodison Park that came courtesy of a first-half goal from Mexican international Javier Hernandez.
“It’s an important result to come away from home and win,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said. “Everton is never an easy game and they put everything they could into the game.”
Elsewhere yesterday, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie scored a brilliant hat-trick as the Gunners stunned third-placed Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge.
The decisive moment came five minutes from time when Van Persie pounced on a slip from Chelsea captain John Terry for a goal that put Arsenal 4-3 up.
Terry’s blunder came after Chelsea looked to have snatched a share of the points with Juan Mata’s 80th-minute equaliser at 3-3.
Van Persie duly completed his hat-trick with a well-taken finish in injury time as Arsenal struck on the counter-attack.
Chelsea had earlier taken the lead through Frank Lampard before Van Persie equalised. Terry restored Chelsea’s advantage on the stroke of half-time before quick goals from Andre Santos and Theo Walcott after the restart put Arsenal 3-2 up.
“It was fantastic to watch, both teams went for it,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “In the second half I felt we were completely dominating the game and created chance after chance.
“Overall we have shown quality and mental strength as well. To go 2-1 down and come out the way we did shows great resolve in the team.”
In the late game, Liverpool moved up to fifth place with a clinical 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.
A first-half penalty from Charlie Adam and a goal on the counter-attack from £35 million striker Andy Carroll sealed the points for Liverpool, who were facing former manager Roy Hodgson.
A thrilling battle at Carrow Road saw Norwich battle back from 3-1 down to force a 3-3 draw. Grant Holt equalised with a controversial penalty in the fourth minute of injury time to give the Canaries a point.
A fine individual effort from Rovers’ Canadian international David Hoilett gave the visitors the lead before Steve Morison equalised for Norwich.
Two Rovers goals in two minutes from Ayegbeni Yakubu and Christopher Samba looked to have sealed a valuable win but Norwich were not to be denied.
Bradley Johnson pulled a goal back on 82 minutes before Holt’s dramatic late equaliser from the penalty spot.
Sunderland and Aston Villa shared the points in a 2-2 draw at the Stadium of Light. Stiliyan Petrov fired Villa ahead on 20 minutes before Conor Wickham levelled it for Sunderland with his first Premier League goal.
Villa went 2-1 up from Richard Dunne with five minutes left but Stephane Sessegnon levelled it on 89 minutes for the Black Cats.
Wigan’s woes continued as Fulham won 2-0 at the DW Stadium.
Results and standings
Premier League
Chelsea 3
Lampard 14; Terry 45; Mata 80;
Arsenal 5
Van Persie 36, 85, 90; Santos 49; Walcott 55;
HT: 2-1. Att: 41,801.
Everton 0
Man. United 1
Hernandez 19;
HT: 0-1. Att: 35,494.
Man. City 3
Dzeko 52; Kolarov 67; Johnson 90;
Wolves 1
Hunt 75 pen;
HT: 0-0. Att: 47,142.
Red card: Kompany (MC) 74.
Norwich 3
Morison 53; Johnson 82; Holt 90 pen;
Blackburn 3
Hoilett 45; Yakubu 62; Samba 64;
HT: 0-1. Att: 26,440.
Sunderland 2
Wickham 38; Sessegnon 89;
Aston Villa 2
Petrov 20; Dunne 85;
HT: 1-1. Att: 37,062.
Swansea 3
Allen 49; Sinclair 57 pen; Graham 90;
Bolton 1
Graham 73 og;
HT: 0-0. Att: 19,477.
Red card: Gardner (B) 48.
West Brom 0
Liverpool 2
Adam 9 pen; Carroll 45;
HT: 0-2. Att: 25,522.
Wigan 0
Fulham 2
Dempsey 41; Dembele 86;
HT: 0-1. Att: 15,796.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Man. City | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 8 | 28 |
| Man. Utd | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 12 | 23 |
| Chelsea | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 23 | 15 | 19 |
| Newcastle | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 19 |
| Liverpool | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 18 |
| Tottenham | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 16 |
| Arsenal | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 21 | 16 |
| Norwich City | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 14 | 15 | 13 |
| Aston Villa | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 12 |
| Swansea City | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 12 |
| Stoke City | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 12 |
| QPR | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 12 |
| West Brom | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 11 |
| Sunderland | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| Fulham | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 10 |
| Everton | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 10 |
| Wolves | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 17 | 8 |
| Blackburn | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 23 | 6 |
| Bolton | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 27 | 6 |
| Wigan Athletic | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 5 |
Playing today
Tottenham vs QPR - 17:00
Tomorrow
Stoke City vs Newcastle - 21:00
Top scorers
10 goals: Van Persie (Arsenal).
9 goals: Rooney (Man. Utd), Aguero (Man. City), Dzeko (Man. City).
5 goals: Ba (Newcastle), Balotelli (Man. City), Van der Vaart (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea).
4 goals: Agbonlahor (A. Villa), Hernandez (Man. Utd), Suarez (Liverpool), Sturridge (Chelsea), Graham (Swansea).
Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.45 Newcastle vs Everton. 16.00 Arsenal vs West Bromwich Albion; Aston Villa vs Norwich; Blackburn Rovers vs Chelsea; Liverpool vs Swansea; Manchester United vs Sunderland. 18.30 QPR vs Manchester City.
Sunday: 14.30 Wolves vs Wigan. 16.00 Bolton vs Stoke. 17.00 Fulham vs Tottenham.
The Championship
Barnsley 1 - Bristol City 2
Birmingham 0 - Brighton 0
Burnley 3 - Blackpool 1
Crystal Palace 0 - Reading 0
Derby 3 - Portsmouth 1
Doncaster 1 - Coventry 1
Millwall 4 - Ipswich 1
Nott’m Forest 0 - Hull 1
Southampton 3 - Middlesbrough 0
Watford 3 - Peterborough 2
West Ham 3 - Leicester 2
Playing today
Leeds-Cardiff - 14:15
Standings: Southampton 30; West Ham 27; C. Palace, Middles-brough, Derby, Hull 24; Leeds, Birmingham 21; Cardiff, Brighton, Ipswich 20; Peterborough, Black-pool, Leicester 19; Burnley, Reading 18; Millwall, Portsmouth, Barnsley 15; N. Forest 14; Watford 13; Coventry 12; Doncaster, Bristol City 9.
League One
Brentford 2 - Chesterfield 1
Bury 1 - Stevenage 2
Carlisle 3 - Oldham 3
Colchester 4 - Notts County 2
Hartlepool 0 - Charlton 4
Preston 1 - Bournemouth 3
Rochdale 0 - L. Orient 2
Scunthorpe 4 - Tranmere 2
Sheffield Utd 4 - Exeter 4
Walsall 0 - MK Dons 2
Wycombe 1 - Sheff. Wed. 2
Yeovil 0 - Huddersfield 1
Standings: Charlton 37; Hud-dersfield 34; Sheffield Wednesday 32; Sheffield United 29; MK Dons, Notts County 27; Tranmere, Brentford, Carlisle 25; Stevenage, Preston 23; Colchester, Hartlepool, Oldham 22; Scunthorpe, Bury 18; Leyton Orient 17; Bournemouth 16; Exeter 15; Walsall, Rochdale 14; Chesterfield, Wycombe 12; Yeovil 11.
League Two
Aldershot 3 - Crewe 1
Barnet 3 - Burton Albion 6
Bristol Rovers 2 - Dagenham 0
Cheltenham 2 - Plymouth 1
Crawley 1 - Accrington 1
Macclesfield 0 - Southend 2
Morecambe 2 - Gillingham 1
Northampton 1 - Rotherham 1
Oxford United 2 - Port Vale 1
Shrewsbury 0 - Wimbledon 0
Swindon 0 - Bradford 0
Torquay 2 - Hereford 0
Standings: Southend, Crawley Town 35; Morecambe, Oxford, Cheltenham 29; Shrewsbury 28; Swindon, Burton 26; Port Vale 25; Gillingham, Macclesfield, AFC Wimbledon 24; Torquay, Rotherham, Bristol Rovers 21; Aldershot 20; Crewe Alexandra 19; Northampton; Accrington, Hereford 16; Bradford 14; Dagenham 13; Barnet 12; Plymouth 8.