| Aston Villa | 2-2 (HT 0-1) | Arsenal |
| Barry (pen) 65 Knight 90+2 | Denilson 40 Diaby 49 | |
| Bookings: Agbonlahor 72 Reo-Coker 77 Petrov 82 Barry 90+4 | Bookings: Song Billong 25 Toure 36 Diaby 51 Van Persie 77 |
Zat Knight scored in injury-time as Villa hit back from 2-0 down to earn a draw to put them fourth in the table.
Steve Sidwell, Curtis Davies and James Milner all struck the woodwork before Denilson slotted in Arsenal's opener.
Gabriel Agbonlahor's header was cleared off the line before Abou Diaby scored a superb breakaway goal for the second.
Robin van Persie hit the post before Gareth Barry pulled a goal back for Villa from the penalty spot and Knight rescued a point with a 12-yard drive.
It was an astonishing end to a remarkable match that swung wildly one way and then the other.
And while the hosts will be delighted to have secured a draw with a late, late equaliser they might also wonder how they did not virtually secure victory in the first half.
Villa's first chance came from a corner, when Sidwell thumped a header against the near post and shortly after an unmarked Davies headed off target when he should have done better.
The one-way traffic continued when Luke Young shot from the edge of the box and the ball deflected off Mikael Silvestre before being tipped over by Manuel Almunia.Aston Villa: Friedel, Reo-Coker, Davies, Knight, Luke Young, Milner, Sidwell, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor.
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Harewood, Delfouneso, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner, Osbourne.
Booked: Agbonlahor, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Barry.
Goals: Barry 65 pen, Knight 90.
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Eboue, Toure, Silvestre, Song Billong (Ramsey 43), Denilson, Nasri (Clichy 82), Diaby, Gallas, Van Persie.
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Vela, Wilshere, Bendtner.
Booked: Song Billong, Toure, Diaby, Van Persie.
Goals: Denilson 40, Diaby 49.
Att: 42,585
Ref: Lee Mason (Lancashire).
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| Chelsea | 2-0 (HT 2-0) | West Brom |
| Drogba 3 Lampard 45+2 | ||
| Bookings: Ballack 74 |
First-half goals from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard temporarily moved Chelsea to the top of the Premier League table as they comfortably beat West Brom.
Drogba's looping header after three minutes, his first league goal of the season, set up a dominant performance.
Albion fought hard until Lampard's close-range finish in first-half stoppage time killed them off.
West Brom had a little more of the game after the break but Chelsea were able to cruise to victory.
The win keeps Chelsea in touch with Liverpool, who knocked Luiz Felipe Scolari's side back off the top with victory over Bolton in the later kick-off.
Scolari chose to pair Premier League top scorer Nicolas Anelka with Drogba up front, and the decision paid immediate dividends.
Drogba met Joe Cole's swirling cross from the right and delivered a well-placed header past the helpless Scott Carson.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa (Belletti 46), Ivanovic, Alex, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole (Deco 79), Drogba (Malouda 66), Anelka.
Subs Not Used: Ferreira, Kalou, Cudicini, Mineiro.
Booked: Ballack.
Goals: Drogba 3, Lampard 45.
West Brom: Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite (Barnett 27), Olsson, Robinson, Morrison, Koren, Greening, Kim (Bednar 69), Brunt, Beattie (Moore 60).
Subs Not Used: Kiely, Cech, Dorrans, Borja Valero.
Att: 43,417.
Ref: Rob Styles (Hampshire).
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| Liverpool | 3-0 (HT 1-0) | Bolton |
| Riera 26 Keane 53 Keane 58 | ||
| Bookings: Agger 57 | Bookings: Nolan 44 Steinsson 46 McCann 81 |
Liverpool defeated Bolton to end a sequence of three home draws and reclaim top spot in the Premier League.
The Reds took the lead through Albert Riera, who volleyed home beyond the near post direct from a corner.
Robbie Keane collected a Steven Gerrard pass and finished with his left foot to extend the home team's lead.
Keane then slotted home from eight yards to finish a sharp break that involved Xabi Alonso and Yossi Benayoun to take his team back above Chelsea.
Bolton had won three of their last four away fixtures but were very much second best against a team who had seen Luiz Felipe Scolari's outfit move above them with victory over West Brom earlier on Boxing Day.However, with manager Rafa Benitez watching from the stands as he recovers from surgery on his kidney stones, Liverpool took the game to a Bolton side that arrived with the aim of stifling their opponents and fully deserved their victory.
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Insua, Benayoun, Gerrard (Leiva Lucas 73), Alonso, Riera (El Zhar 69), Keane, Kuyt (Ngog 76).
Subs Not Used: Cavalieri, Babel, Mascherano, Darby.
Booked: Agger.
Goals: Riera 26, Keane 53, 58.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O'Brien, Samuel (Davies 46), Muamba, Nolan, McCann, Taylor (Riga 66), Gardner, Elmander (Smolarek 66).
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Shittu, Basham, Obadeyi.
Booked: Nolan, Steinsson, McCann.
Att: 43,548
Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).
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| Man City | 5-1 (HT 4-0) | Hull |
| Caicedo 15 Caicedo 27 Robinho 28 Robinho 36 Ireland 82 | Fagan 80 | |
| Bookings: Geovanni 45+1 Zayatte 72 Fagan 72 Mendy 75 |
Manchester City looked a rejuvenated side as they destroyed Hull with a scintillating display to move out of the Premier League relegation zone.
Stephen Ireland had a superb match, setting up Felipe Caicedo for the first two goals, and then providing the third for the returning superstar Robinho.
Shaun Wright-Phillips set up Robinho's second to make it 4-0 before the break.
Hull sub Craig Fagan hit a consolation goal before Ireland had the final say, finishing off a move he had started.
Furious Hull boss Phil Brown gave his half-time team talk on the pitch. He spent three minutes with his players, in front of the fans who had travelled from east Yorkshire, wagging his finger at various individuals.
It had little effect on the second half, except for stemming the tide of City goals in what was generally a subdued period given added gloss by the two late strikes.
Mark Hughes had said in his programme notes that he had already identified players for City to sign in January. But the current crop provided ample evidence that there is plenty of skill in the existing squad.
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Dunne, Richards (Onuoha 46), Ball, Wright-Phillips, Ireland (Fernandes 85), Kompany, Elano, Robinho, Caicedo (Jo 46).
Subs Not Used: Schmeichel, Vassell, Garrido, Sturridge.
Goals: Caicedo 15, 27, Robinho 28, 36, Ireland 82.
Hull: Myhill, Mendy, Zayatte, Turner, McShane, Boateng (Doyle 34), Geovanni (Cousin 70), Ashbee, Marney, Windass (Fagan 46), King.
Subs Not Used: Duke, Barmby, Hughes, Halmosi.
Booked: Geovanni, Zayatte, Fagan, Mendy.
Goals: Fagan 80.
Att: 45,196
Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)____________________________________________________________________
| Middlesbrough | 0-1 (HT 0-0) | Everton |
| Cahill 51 | ||
| Bookings: Arca 45 Riggott 65 Johnson 72 Taylor 88 McMahon 90 | Bookings: Fellaini 29 |
Everton's rise up the Premier League continued as Tim Cahill's goal gave them victory at Middlesbrough.
Cahill scrambled home from close range following Mikel Arteta's corner six minutes after the interval to move Everton up to sixth in the table.
It was no more than Everton deserved after carving out a host of chances, with debutant Dan Gosling twice coming close to his first senior goal.
Afonso Alves missed a chance to snatch a point for Middlesbrough late on.Middlesbrough: Turnbull, McMahon, Riggott, Pogatetz, Taylor, Aliadiere (Johnson 70), O'Neil (Emnes 85), Arca, Downing, Sanli (Alves 54), Mido. Subs Not Used: Jones, Huth, Wheater, Walker.
Booked: Arca, Riggott, Johnson, Taylor, McMahon.
Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Arteta, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar, Gosling, Cahill. Subs Not Used: Nash, Van der Meyde, Rodwell, Jutkiewicz, Anichebe, Kissock, Wallace.
Booked: Fellaini.
Goals: Cahill 51.
Att: 30,253
Ref: Mike Riley (Yorkshire).
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| Portsmouth | 1-4 (HT 1-1) | West Ham |
| Belhadj 8 | Collison 20 Cole 67 Bellamy 70 Bellamy 83 | |
| Bookings: Wilson 44 | Bookings: Noble 45+2 Behrami 65 Parker 86 |
Craig Bellamy scored a second-half brace as West Ham beat Portsmouth for the first time in the Premier League.
The striker capped a fine performance by lashing in West Ham's third after racing clear from halfway and side-footing the fourth from 12 yards.
Nadir Belhadj fired Pompey ahead from 10 yards, but Jack Collison rifled past an unsighted David James to level.
Pompey's Jermain Defoe missed a penalty before Carlton Cole tapped in a second for West Ham after another Bellamy run.
Marc Wilson, making his Premier League debut for Pompey, was constantly tested in the first half as West Ham looked to make use of Bellamy's trickery down their left.
But for all their early endeavour, a Bellamy free-kick that cleared the crossbar and a Cole stab wide was all the visitors could muster before Portsmouth took the lead.
Portsmouth: James, Wilson, Campbell, Distin, Belhadj, Little (Armand Traore 71), Davis, Hughes, Kranjcar, Crouch, Defoe (Kanu 73).
Subs Not Used: Ashdown, Hreidarsson, Diop, Nugent, Pamarot.
Booked: Wilson.
Goals: Belhadj 8.
West Ham: Green, Neill (Faubert 46), Davenport, Upson, Ilunga, Collison, Noble (Boa Morte 73), Parker, Behrami, Cole (Tristan 87), Bellamy.
Subs Not Used: Lastuvka, Mullins, Collins, Di Michele.
Booked: Noble, Behrami, Parker.
Goals: Collison 20, Cole 67, Bellamy 70, 83.
Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent).
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| Stoke | 0-1 (HT 0-0) | Man Utd |
| Tevez 83 | ||
| Bookings: Cresswell 21 Wilkinson 29 Fuller 43 Whelan 87 | Bookings: Evans 27 Neville 87 | |
| Sent off: Wilkinson 72 |
Carlos Tevez hammered home a late winner as Manchester United turned up the heat on the Premier League pacesetters with victory at Stoke.
Tevez made no mistake from six yards with seven minutes left.
Stoke had mounted fierce resistance, but were reduced to 10 men for the last 18 minutes after Andy Wilkinson was sent off for fouling Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ricardo Fuller wasted Stoke's best chance in the opening seconds but United's pressure deserved the win.
It was the perfect return to domestic action for United after they beat LDU Quito in Japan on Sunday to lift the Club World Cup in Japan.
The league leaders will now feel the champions closing in, especially as they have games in hand.
Stoke: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Abdoulaye Faye, Shawcross, Higginbotham, Delap (Davies 74), Whelan, Amdy Faye (Olofinjana 89), Pugh, Cresswell (Pericard 90), Fuller.Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Lawrence, Tonge, Sonko.
Sent Off: Wilkinson (72).
Booked: Cresswell, Wilkinson, Fuller, Whelan.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Evans, Vidic, O'Shea (Berbatov 64), Ronaldo, Scholes (Carrick 90), Fletcher, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez.
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Park, Welbeck, Rafael Da Silva, Gibson.
Booked: Evans, Neville.
Goals: Tevez 83.
Att: 27,500
Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside).
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| Sunderland | 0-0 (HT 0-0) | Blackburn |
| Bookings: Ooijer 23 McCarthy 31 Samba 47 |
Striker Jason Roberts spurned a gilt-edged chance two minutes into injury-time to deny Sam Allardyce his second win in two games as Blackburn manager.
Roberts was through on goal with keeper Martin Fulop beaten, but somehow sidefooted his shot from 15 yards wide of the left-hand post.
Fulop had earlier palmed Morten Gamst Pedersen's fine curling 20-yard free-kick on to his post after 52 minutes.
And the Hungarian denied Keith Andrews from 12 yards seven minutes later.
Although he will be disappointed to leave the Stadium of Light with a point, Allardyce can take satisfaction from a solid - if unspectacular - performance in only his second match at the helm.
Allardyce, who at one point had been favourite to succeed Roy Keane at the Stadium of Light, named an unchanged starting XI, although he was still without injured star striker Roque Santa Cruz, whose future at Ewood Park looks increasingly bleak after he admitted his desire join a more ambitious club.
Sunderland caretaker boss Ricky Sbragia also kept faith with his starting team that comprehensively beat Hull 4-1 last week.
Sunderland: Fulop, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Ferdinand, Collins, Malbranque, Tainio (Whitehead 62), Richardson (Leadbitter 81), Reid, Cisse (Murphy 80), Jones.
Subs Not Used: Colgan, Edwards, Diouf, Chimbonda.
Blackburn: Robinson, Ooijer, Samba, Nelsen (Mokoena 90), Warnock, Emerton, Dunn (Kerimoglu 62), Andrews, Pedersen, Roberts, McCarthy (Derbyshire 88).
Subs Not Used: Brown, Khizanishvili, Treacy, Olsson.
Booked: Ooijer, McCarthy, Samba.
Att: 44,680
Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
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| Tottenham | 0-0 (HT 0-0) | Fulham |
| Bookings: Konchesky 79 | ||
 | ||
Tottenham and Fulham played out a draw in a tame London derby that illustrated Spurs's need for another striker.
Aaron Lennon had the hosts' best chance but saw his close-range effort well saved by Cottagers keeper Mark Schwarzer after 30 minutes.
Clint Dempsey came close with a spectacular overhead-kick from 20-yards but it was kept out by Heurelho Gomes.
The Brazilian keeper then did well to save at the feet of Andy Johnson after he got behind his marker Ledley King.
Gomes, who spilled Simon Davies's cross over his own goal-line in the corresponding fixture showed how much he has improved since that costly fumble.
The often beleaguered keeper was in fine form for Spurs in what turned out to be a cagey London derby Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone (Jenas 20), Bentley (Campbell 58), Modric, Bent (Pavlyuchenko 72).
Subs Not Used: Cesar, Bale, O'Hara, Woodgate.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Baird, Hughes, Konchesky, Dempsey, Murphy, Bullard (Etuhu 37), Davies (Nevland 90), Johnson, Zamora.
Subs Not Used: Zuberbuhler, Gray, Stoor, Andreasen, Kallio.
Booked: Konchesky.
Att: 35,866
Ref: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).
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| Wigan | 2-1 (HT 1-0) | Newcastle |
| Taylor 29 Zaki (pen) 73 | Guthrie (pen) 88 | |
| Bookings: Cattermole 34 Palacios 44 | Bookings: Butt 74 Duff 75 Carroll 90+6 | |
| Sent off: Bassong 72 |
Ryan Taylor continued his remarkable goalscoring form against Newcastle, notching his fourth goal in four games against them to set up Wigan's victory.
The midfielder curled in a delightful 25-yard free-kick to open the scoring.
Amir Zaki rammed home number two from the penalty spot after Emile Heskey was tugged to the ground by Sebastien Bassong, who was also sent off.
Danny Guthrie's penalty then made it 2-1 late on after Chris Kirkland felled Andy Carroll but Wigan held on.
Damien Duff almost stole a point in injury-time but he lashed an effort wildly wide from 10 yards with the goal at his mercy.
A draw would have been very tough on a Latics side who controlled much of the game and appeared to be coasting to victory when Zaki made it 2-0 from the penalty spot after Bassong's clumsy challenge on Heskey.
Wigan: Kirkland, Melchiot, Bramble, Scharner, Figueroa, Valencia, Cattermole, Palacios (Kilbane 90), Taylor (Brown 71), Heskey (Camara 85), Zaki.
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Koumas, Boyce, De Ridder.
Booked: Cattermole, Palacios.
Goals: Taylor 29, Zaki 73 pen.
Newcastle: Given, Beye (Taylor 38), Coloccini, Bassong, N'Zogbia, Gutierrez, Butt, Guthrie, Duff, Owen (Edgar 77), Viduka (Carroll 68).
Subs Not Used: Harper, Xisco, Geremi, LuaLua.
Sent Off: Bassong (72).
Booked: Butt, Duff, Carroll.
Goals: Guthrie 88 pen. Att: 20,266
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