22 December 2011
TOTTENHAM 1 (Adebayor 8)
CHELSEA 1 (Sturridge 23)
Spurs and Chelsea remain in the mix at the top after a highly entertaining clash at White Hart Lane. Spurs began superbly and led when Gareth Bale broke down the left and his low cross was just out of reach of keeper Petr Cech and Emmanuel Adebayor slid in to convert. It sparked the visitors into life and Dean Sturridge missed a sitter when he blazed over after Brad Friedel saved a stinging shot from Juan Mata, although minutes later the equaliser did arrive as Ashley Cole's cross was volleyed in by Sturridge although Spurs were angry over an apparent handball from Cole in the build up. Both clubs had chances to win it as Didier Drogba walloped a shot against the post and Adebayor had a goal unluckily ruled out for offside. The best chance came in stoppage time as Adebayor's goalbound effort was diverted away by John Terry.
Attendance : 36,141
Assists : Bale, Cole
21 December 2011
ASTON VILLA 1 (Albrighton 54)
ARSENAL 2 (Van Persie 17 Pen, Benayoun 87)
Arsenal bounced back from defeat at Man City to edge a late winner at Villa Park. They led through Robin Van Persie's thumped penalty after Ciaran Clark had pulled back Theo Walcott. Villa levelled after the break when an short pass from Thomas Vermaelen wasn't dealt with by Per Mertesacker and Marc Albrighton nipped in to slide the ball past the keeper for the 20,000th Premier League goal since it's inception in 1992. A draw looked likely until Yossi Benayoun popped up in the area to head in Van Persie's corner. Villa ended with ten men as Alan Hutton was booked for dissent and then shown a second yellow a minute later for a late challenge on Vermaelen.
Attendance : 35,818
Red Card : Hutton 94 (Aston Villa)
Assists : Walcott (won pen), n/a, RVP
MANCHESTER CITY 3 (Aguero 29, Johnson 36, Aguero 54)
STOKE 0
Man City retain top spot for Christmas with a walk in the park against Stoke. It was all over by half time as a possible offside Sergio Aguero tapped in after Vincent Kompany's flick had been saved and then Adam Johnson curled in a beauty from the edge of the area. Aguero added a third after the break as he converted a cross from Samir Nasri.
Attendance : 46,321
Assists : Kompany, n/a, Nasri
NEWCASTLE 2 (Ba 34 fk, Ba 81)
WEST BROM 3 (Odemwingie 20, McCauley 44, Scharner 85)
No wins in six for Newcastle whose excellent start to the season is beginning to unravel. West Brom were the victors at St James Park/Sports Direct Arena and they led after twenty minutes as Peter Odemwingie finished confidently after being sent clear by Chris Brunt. The hosts levelled with a bullet free kick from Demba Ba but the Baggies were back ahead at the interval when Brunt's deep cross was nodded across goal by Jonas Olsson and headed in from close range by Gareth McCauley. With time edging away, Ba struck again with another blistering drive from 20 yards after Hatem Ben Arfa had set him up but the visitors went ahead again as Odemwingie's header was volleyed in low by Paul Scharner.
Attendance : 51,060
Assists : Brunt, Obertan (won fk), Scharner, Ben Arfa, Odemwingie
EVERTON 1 (Osman 60)
SWANSEA 0
Everton eased their potential relegation fears with a narrow win against Swansea. The only goal came on the hour when Leon Osman headed in Royston Drenthe's corner.
Attendance : 32,004
Assists : Drenthe
FULHAM 0
MANCHESTER UNITED 5 (Wellbeck 5, Nani 28, Giggs 43, Rooney 88, Berbatov 90)
Man United remain hot on the heels of neighbours Man City with a crushing win at Fulham. Much like City, they had the game over by half time as Nani's run and cross was finished well by Danny Wellbeck and then Nani's header from a cross by Ryan Giggs doubled the lead. Nani set up Giggs who added a third before half time as his deflected effort looped over the keeper and dipped in. Two late goal gave the result as emphatic look as Wayne Rooney unleashed a 30 yard piledriver into the corner before Dimitar Berbatov's cheeky back heel from Antonio Valencia's cross wrapped it up.
Attendance : 25,700
Assists : Nani, Giggs, Nani, Giggs, Valencia
QPR 2 (Helguson 63, Mackie 67)
SUNDERLAND 3 (Bendtner 19, Sessegnon 53, Brown 89)
Martin O'Neill won his first away game at Sunderland boss in a pulsating game at QPR. The Black Cats led when Nicklas Bendtner headed in Kieron Richardson's corner. They then doubled the lead after the break as Sebastien Sessegnon was put through by after a weak home header in midfield and after a superb dummy with wrong-footed the keeper, he rolled the ball in. The hosts battled back when Heidar Helguson toe-poked Armand Traore's cross and they were level four minutes later as Jamie Mackie headed in with Helguson the provider this time. It was heading for a draw until late on when a corner from Richardson was glanced in at the near post by Wes Brown.
Attendance : 16,167
Assists : Richardson, n/a, Faurlin, Helguson, Richardson
WIGAN 0
LIVERPOOL 0
Wigan produced another good home performance as they held Liverpool to a goalless draw. Liverpool blew a golden chance to take the lead early in the second half when Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi did superbly to keep out Charlie Adam's powerful penalty after Gary Caldwell had handled an overhead effort by Luis Suarez.
Attendance : 19,230
Assists : n/a
20 December 2011
WOLVES 2 (Ebanks-Blake 37, Zubar 82)
NORWICH 2 (Surman 12, Jackson 76)
Wolves moved two points clear of the drop zone for 24 hours at least after twice coming from behind at home to Norwich. The visitors led early with a superb header from Andrew Surman from Wes Hoolahan's cross, however Wolves were level at the break thanks to Sylvain Ebanks-Blake whose bobbled effort crawled over the line after Stephen Hunt's shot was blocked. Norwich led again with fourteen minutes left after Steve Morison's ball across goal found Simeon Jackson to tap into an empty net but Wolves battled back again and six minutes later they rescued a point as Milijas sent over a corner, powerfully headed home by Roland Zubar. They thought they'd won it late on but Stephen Fletcher's excellent finish was rightly ruled out for a tight offside decision.
Attendance : 27,067
Assists : Hoolahan, Hunt, Morison, Milijas
BLACKBURN 1 (Yakubu 67)
BOLTON 2 (Davies 5, Reo-Coker 30)
The battle of the bottom two saw Bolton come out on top at Ewood Park against Blackburn. Bolton began by far the better and took an early lead as Nigel Reo-Coker did well to get to the line only for his cross to get cleared to David N'Gog. His cut back found Mark Davies who made space before firing low through a crowd of players and into the net. Rovers were struggling to make any impact and it was no real surprise when the lead was doubled on the half hour as Martin Petrov crossed from the left and Reo-Coker took a touch and turned and fired into the bottom corner, sparking jeers and anger from the home fans, directed largely at boss Steve Keen. The hosts pulled one back with a neat finish having been put through by Junior Hoilett but they will be bottom of the table at Christmas.
Attendance : 25,570
Assists : N'Gog, Petrov, Hoilett
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