Chelsea remain top after cruising to victory over West Ham, while elsewhere there were wins for Arsenal, Blackpool and Fulham in the Premier League.
Saturday’s results:
Arsenal 4-1 Bolton
Everton 3-3 Man Utd (match report here)
Fulham 2-1 Wolves
Man City 1-1 Blackburn
Newcastle 0-2 Blackpool
West Brom 1-1 Tottenham
West Ham 1-3 Chelsea
Wigan 1-1 Sunderland
Chelsea remain top of the Premier League after cruising to a routine victory over West Ham at Upton Park.
A win for the champions never looked in doubt and the game was as good as over as early as the 18th minute after Salomon Kalou scored Chelsea’s second goal of the afternoon.
Michael Essien opened the scoring for the visitors after only two minutes, heading home from Didier Drogba’s cross.
Kalou doubled Chelsea’s lead in fortunate circumstances in the 18th minute when Matthew Upson’s clearance ballooned off the Ivorian’s heel and into the back of the net.
Essien made it three with seven minutes left on the clock with a back post header, while Scott Parker added a consolation goal for the Hammers two minutes later with an excellent lobbed volley from the edge of the area.
Arsenal trail Chelsea by two points in second place after a 4-1 win over Bolton at the Emirates. New signing Laurent Koscielny, Marouane Chamakh, Alex Song and Carlos Vela were all on the scoresheet for the Gunners, with Johan Elmander scoring Bolton’s only goal of the game just before half-time.
A goal from Moussa Dembele in second half stoppage time gave Fulham a valuable victory at Craven Cottage over Wolves after the hosts had fallen behind to a Jelle van Damme effort after ten minutes. Dembele equalised just after the break, before completing a late, late comeback with a free kick with 91 minutes on the clock.
Manchester City were frustrated by Blackburn Rovers at Eastlands and had to settle for a point despite dominating for the majority of the match.
A horrible mix-up between Kolo Toure and Joe Hart allowed Nikola Kalinic to put the visitors in front after 25 minutes, but Patrick Vieira tapped in ten minutes after the break to draw his side level. City had a number of opportunities to win the game, but Blackburn held on for a share of the spoils.
Blackpool earned their second away win of the season after defeating Newcastle United 2-0 at St. James’ Park. A clumsy tackle by Alan Smith on Luke Varney in the box on the stroke of half-time allowed Charlie Adam to put the Tangerines in front from the penalty spot and DJ Campbell made sure of the points at the death with a lovely finish from 20 yards.
William Gallas and Rafael van der Vaart made their debuts for Tottenham Hotspur in a 1-1 draw with West Brom at the Hawthorns. Luka Modric put Spurs ahead after 27 minutes, firing home from 12 yards after the home defence had failed to clear a Van der Vaart cross.
Modric was forced to withdraw with injury only five minutes later and the home side were level four minutes before the break, when Chris Brunt headed in from close range. Neither side could add a second goal after the break but Spurs will be grateful to ‘keeper Carlo Cudicini, who made a number of top class saves after the break.
Antolin Alcaraz scored a late equaliser for Wigan in a 1-1 draw with Steve Bruce’s Sunderland at the DW Stadium. New signing Asamoah Gyan came off the bench to open the scoring in the 66th minute for the Black Cats, who had Lee Cattermole sent off for the second time this season after only 22 minutes.
The hosts levelled with only three minutes left when Alcaraz turned in Tom Cleverley’s volley to earn a share of the spoils.
