Theo Walcott‘s double fired Arsenal back to the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win at West Ham United yesterday and title favourites Manchester City moved ominously into second spot by beating Liverpool 2-1.
When Carlton Cole opened the scoring for lowly West Ham just after the break Arsenal were staring at a fourth consecutive league match without a win but Walcott struck twice and Lukas Podolski sealed the victory to lift the Gunners to 39 points.
“When you do not win for four games it’s important to come back for the confidence level of your environment,” manager Arsene Wenger told a news conference.
“For us we have another good game now on Sunday at Newcastle who are in full confidence as well so that will be another test. I believe we have had a difficult period just now but honestly that was mainly down to the schedule we had.”
City, who have been imperious at home this season, fell behind to an early goal by Liverpool‘s Philippe Coutinho. Captain Vincent Kompany headed the equaliser before Alvaro Negredo grabbed the winner in first-half stoppage time.
Chelsea are third on 37 points after Eden Hazard earned an unconvincing 1-0 home victory over Swansea City.
Wayne Rooney scored his 150th league goal for Manchester United as they came from 2-0 down after 13 minutes to beat Hull City 3-2, James Chester‘s own goal clinching a fifth consecutive win for the champions in all competitions.
United moved up to seventh position, three points behind fifth-placed Everton whose hopes of completing 2013 without a league defeat at Goodison Park were ended by a 1-0 loss to bottom club Sunderland.
Loic Remy scored twice for sixth-placed Newcastle in a 5-1 home win over Stoke City, who took the lead but were reduced to nine men before half-time after Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson were sent off. Stoke manager Mark Hughes was also dismissed.
Tottenham Hotspur lost ground as they were held 1-1 at home by West Bromwich Albion in Tim Sherwood‘s first game in charge since being named as the permanent replacement for sacked manager Andre Villas-Boas.
It was a great afternoon for the three clubs who started the day in the bottom three with Crystal Palace moving out of the relegation zone at West Ham’s expense thanks to a 1-0 win at Aston Villa.
Fulham were 2-1 winners at Norwich City and only four points separate the bottom six clubs.
Mackay future
Cardiff City were trounced 3-0 at home by Southampton to raise more doubts over the future of embattled manager Malky Mackay who has fallen out of favour with owner Vincent Tan.
Arsenal arrested a form slump with a vibrant performance in the London derby, although they had to do it the hard way after Wojciech Szczesny‘s mistake allowed Cole to open the scoring in the 46th minute at Upton Park.
West Ham missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0 and were punished when Walcott’s scuffed shot made it 1-1.
The England wide man then headed Arsenal in front and Podolski, on for the injured Aaron Ramsey, marked his return from a long-standing injury to complete victory from Olivier Giroud‘s layoff.
Manchester City have a 100 percent home record in the league but they were given their stiffest examination at the Etihad Stadium this season.
Liverpool had an early goal unluckily disallowed when Raheem Sterling poked the ball past keeper Joe Hart and was wrongly adjudged offside.
The visitors refused to get downhearted in a pulsating end-to-end contest and took the lead in the 24th minute when a flowing move ended with Coutinho slotting the ball into an empty net after Sterling had dribbled round Hart.
City equalised seven minutes later with Kompany heading a left-wing corner past Simon Mignolet despite a vain effort by Joe Allen to hack the ball off the line.
Fingers were pointed in Mignolet’s direction in first-half stoppage time when the keeper could only palm an 18-metre effort from Negredo into his own net.
It was the ninth consecutive home game in all competitions in which the Spaniard had scored.
Liverpool created two excellent chances to equalise but they were spurned by Sterling and Glen Johnson as City closed to within one point of Arsenal.
“The three points are massive for us,” said Kompany. “It was the hardest game we’ve had so far at home this season.
“I live for these games. Today we won but they were tough opponents.”
Premier League results
Aston Villa 0
C. Palace 1
Gayle 90;
HT: 0-0. Att: 37,752.
Cardiff 0
Southampton 3
Rodriguez 14, 20, Lambert 27;
HT: 0-3. Att: 27,929.
Chelsea1
Hazard 29;
Swansea 0
HT: 1-0. Att: 41,111.
Everton 0
Sunderland 1
Ki 25 pen
HT: 0-1. Att: 39,193.
Red card: Howard (E) 23.
Hull City 2
Chester 4, Meyler 13;
Man. United 3
Smalling 19, Rooney 26, Chester 66 og;
HT: 2-2. Att: 24,826.
Red card: Valencia (MU) 90.
Man. City 2
Kompany 31, Negredo 45;
Liverpool 1
Coutinho 24;
HT: 2-1. Att: 47,351.
Newcastle 5
Remy 44, 56, Gouffran 48, Cabaye 66, Cisse 80 pen;
Stoke 1
Assaidi 29;
HT: 1-1. Att: 51,665.
Missed penalty: Remy (N) 43.
Red cards: Whelan (S) 40; Wilson (S) 43.
Norwich 1
Hooper 13;
Fulham 2
Kasami 33; Parker 87;
HT: 1-1. Att: 26,811.
Tottenham 1
Eriksen 36;
West Brom 1
Olsson 38;
HT: 1-1. Att: 35,545.
West Ham 1
C. Cole 46;
Arsenal 3
Walcott 68, 71, Podolski 79;
HT: 0-0. Att: 34,977
Top scorers
19 goals: Suarez (Liverpool)
13 goals: Aguero (Man. City)
10 goals: Remy (Newcastle)
9 goals: Sturridge (Liverpool), Toure (Man. City), Rooney (Man. United)
8 goals: Ramsey (Arsenal), Lukaku (Everton), Rodriguez (S’mpton), Negredo (Man. City)
Next fixtures
Saturday: 13.45 West Ham vs West Bromwhich Albion. 16.00 Aston Villa vs Swansea; Hull vs Fulham; Manchester City vs Crystal Palace; Norwich vs Man. United. 18.30 Cardiff vs Sunderland.
Sunday: 14.30 Everton vs Southampton; Newcastle vs Arsenal. 17.00 Chelsea vs Liverpool; Tottenham vs Stoke City.
The Championship
Barnsley 0 - Bolton 1
Blackburn 0 - Sheffield Wed. 0
Blackpool 1 - Leeds 1
Bournemouth 3 - Yeovil 0
Charlton 3 - Brighton 2
Doncaster 0 - Ipswich 3
Huddersfield 1 - Derby 1
Leicester 1 - Reading 0
Nottm Forest 2 - QPR 0
Middlesbrough 1 - Burnley 0
Wigan 0 - Birmingham 0
Watford 4 - Millwall 0
Standings: Leicester City 45; Burnley 43; Queens Park Rangers 42; Derby County 41; Nottingham Forest 36; Leeds United 35; Ipswich Town, Reading 34; Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackpool 32; Blackburn Rovers 31; Watford, Wigan 29; Huddersfield, Bournemouth 28; Middlesbrough, Bolton Wanderers 26; Birmingham City 25; Charlton Athletic 22; Millwall 21; Doncaster Rovers 20; Sheffield Wednesday 18; Yeovil 17; Barnsley 16.
League One
Bradford 0 - Rotherham 1
Brentford 3 - Swindon 2
Bristol City 1 - Walsall 0
Carlisle 0 - Preston 1
Coventry 4 - Peterborough 2
Colchester 4 - Stevenage 0
Crawley 0 - MK Dons 2
Gillingham 1 - L. Orient 2
Port Vale 2 - Notts County 1
Sheffield Utd 1 - Oldham 1
Shrewsbury 0 - Tranmere 1
Wolves2Crewe0
Standings: L. Orient, Wolves 47; Brentford 46; Preston 41; Peterborough United 39; Rotherham 38; Swindon, Walsall, Port Vale 33; MK Dons 31; Bradford City 30; Coventry 28; Colchester United 27; Crawley 26; Gillingham 25; Carlisle 24; Shrewsbury, Oldham, Tranmere 23; Sheffield United 22; Bristol City, Stevenage 19; Notts County, Crewe 18.
League Two
Accrington 1 - York City 1
Burton 1 - Northampton 0
Bury 2 - Scunthorpe 2
Cheltenham 1 - Exeter 0
Chesterfield 1 - Hartlepool 1
Morecambe 1 - Fleetwood 0
Oxford 2 - Plymouth 3
Rochdale 3 - Mansfield 0
Portsmouth 1 - Dagenham 0
Torquay 1 - Bristol Rovers 1
Wimbledon 0 - Southend 1
Wycombe 0 - Newport 1
Standings: Chesterfield 40; Oxford, Scunthorpe, Burton Albion 38; Newport County, Southend United, Rochdale 37; Fleetwood Town, Morecambe 35; Cheltenham 33; Dagenham 30; Exeter, Plymouth 29; Hartlepool 28; Wycombe, Wimbledon 27; Portsmouth 25; Accrington 24; Bristol R. 23; York, Mansfield, Torquay 22; Bury 21; Northampton 18.