Newcastle’s hopes of taking advantage of Chelsea’s draw at Norwich were stopped by a five-goal second-half blitz from Fulham as they lost 5-2 at Fulham.
Fulham were poor in the first-hald and it was no surprise that Newcastle scored first thanks to a Danny Guthrie thunderbolt from outside the area.
Not sure what Martin Jol said at half-time, but it was a completely different Fulham side that took the pitch in the second half. Fulham got a hat-trick from Clint Dempsey (the first ever by an American in the Premier League) and penalties from Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora as the Cottagers picked up three big points.
Bolton Wanderers claimed a shock 3-1 victory over Liverpool at the Reebok Stadium to boost their survival hopes and dent Liverpool’s Champions League hopes.
Mark Davies gave the home side an early lead in Lancashire when he powered through the Liverpool defence and poking the ball past Pepe Reina after four minutes.
And it got even worse for Kenny Dalglish’s side on the half-hour mark when Nigel Reo-coker, managed to chest down a ball into the box and fire it into the back of the net. Craig Bellamy gave Liverpool fans hope when he raced onto Andy Carroll’s flick on and slotted the ball in the far corner from 18-yards.
But Liverpool were poor all day and were completely outplayed for most of the game by Bolton. Any hopes that Liverpool had of getting back into the game ended five minutes into the second half when Gretar Steinsson drilled the ball home after a corner wasn’t cleared.
Mark Hughes has had an immediate impact at QPR as they beat fellow strugglers Wigan 3-1 today to move out of the relegation zone.
Heidar Helguson put Rangers ahead from the penalty spot after 33 minutes, and Akos Buszaky doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time. Hugo Rodallega pulled one back to give the Latics hope but Tommy Smith confirmed victory with a stunning 81st minute strike. Wigan remain rock bottom, while QPR move up to 16th two points clear of the bottom three.
On-loan striker Robbie Keane made a dramatic return to English football as he scored two late goals to lead Aston Villa to a 3-2 win against local rivals Wolves.
Villa took the lead through a Darren Bent penalty but Michael Kightly and Dave Edwards put Mick Mccarthy’s men in front before Keane made a massive impact against his former side. Wolves drop into the bottom three while Villa move up two to 11th.
Another new manager having a instant impact is Martin O’Neill at Sunderland. Sunderland are up to 10th after a 2-0 win at home over Swansea. Stephane Sessegnon opened the scoring after 15 minutes and Craig Gardner finished it with an 85th minute.
Elsewhere Blackburn continued their resurgance under Steve Kean as they battled to a 1-1 draw at Everton. Tim Cahill and David Goodwillie on the scoresheet as Blackburn stayed out of the relegation zone and Everton continued below mid-table.
In the other game Graham Dorrans’ late strike earned a 2-1 win for West Brom against Stoke. James Morrison put the Baggies ahead after 35 minutes before substitute Cameron Jerome thought he had earned a point for Stoke with his 86th minute goal.
