[ 2014-01-02 ]

Arsenal 2 - 0 Cardiff
Arsenal returned to the top of the Barclays
Premier League thanks to a home win over Cardiff
City but the leaders left it late return to the
summit.
The Gunners had begun New Year's Day at the top of
the table but by 3pm knew that only a victory over
the Bluebirds would suffice to return to first
place due to Manchester City's 3-2 victory over
Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium.
And it appeared as though Arsene Wenger's charges,
for whom Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud
and Kieran Gibbs were all absent through injury,
would be unable to break down a resolute Cardiff
side as they failed to find the breakthrough until
the 88th minute. But Nicklas Bendtner came to the
rescue for Arsenal, injuring himself in the
process of scoring, before Theo Walcott added an
even later second.
The north Londoners lie a point ahead of Man City,
who overcame Swansea 3-2 thanks to goals by
Fernandinho, Yaya Toure and Aleksandar Kolarov,
despite two strikes for the hosts by Wilfried
Bony.
Chelsea remain a point further back in third after
an impressive 3-0 success at Southampton. Jose
Mourinho's side looked set to leapfrog Arsenal
into second place on goal difference after a
victory achieved thanks to second-half strikes by
Fernando Torres, Willian and Oscar, until their
rivals' late rally kept the Blues at bay.
Liverpool are four behind Chelsea after a 2-0
success against Hull City that took them above
Everton into fourth place. A header by Daniel
Agger broke the deadlock for the Reds before Luis
Suarez curled in a 50th-minute free-kick to seal
the win and take his personal tally for the season
to 20 Barclays Premier League goals.
Everton found themselves overtaken by their
Merseyside neighbours but it could have been worse
for Roberto Martinez's side, who avoided defeat to
Stoke City thanks to Leighton Baines' added-time
penalty. Liverpool loanee Oussama Assaidi had
given the Potters the lead four minutes after the
interval.
In the late fixture Manchester United were
leapfrogged into sixth place by Tottenham Hotspur,
who won at Old Trafford for the second season
running. Goals in either half by Emmanuel Adebayor
and Christian Eriksen gave Spurs a two-goal
cushion that was halved by Danny Welbeck's
67th-minute reply, and the visitors held on for
their third victory in four Barclays Premier
League matches under Tim Sherwood. For United, now
in seventh and 11 points off the pace, this was a
sixth defeat of the campaign.
Elsewhere, Fulham strengthened their prospects of
avoiding relegation with a 2-1 home win against
fellow strugglers West Ham United, who had taken
the lead at Craven Cottage through Mohamed Diame's
early opener, but ended the match with 10 men
following the dismissal of Kevin Nolan. After
Steve Sidwell headed the hosts level, Dimitar
Berbatov marked his return to action with the
winning goal midway through the second half, after
Nolan had been sent off for kicking out at
Fernando Amorebieta.
Like Fulham, West Bromwich Albion also moved clear
of the relegation zone, by four points, courtesy
of a narrow win over 10-man Newcastle United, for
whom Mathieu Debuchy was shown the red card for a
foul on Claudio Yacob midway through the second
period. Saido Berahino scored a late penalty as
West Brom ended their nine-match winless run in
the Barclays Premier League.
Jason Puncheon also scored from a spot-kick to
earn Crystal Palace a 1-1 draw with Norwich City,
who were also reduced to 10 men at Selhurst Park.
Puncheon's first-half strike cancelled out Bradley
Johnson's 39th-minute opener, and although Leroy
Fer was given his marching orders for a foul on
Mile Jedinak, the Canaries held on for a point.
Sunderland missed out on the chance to move off
the foot of the table as they succumbed to a 1-0
home defeat by Aston Villa. Despite going four
Barclays Premier League matches unbeaten leading
into this encounter, Gabriel Agbonlahor's solitary
strike proved the difference between the two
sides.
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Source - Barclays Premiere League

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