Premier League round-up

A majority of the games this weekend fell foul of the snowy conditions, which meant only two games were played this afternoon in the Barclays Premier League.

The lunchtime kick off saw Sunderland play hosts to high flying Bolton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light, on form Sunderland striker Danny Welbeck's 32nd minute goal proved to be decisive as Steve Bruce's meant claimed all three points against a battling Bolton side.

Danny Welbeck dives to nod home the only goal of the game.

The other game played today was witnessed at Ewood Park where Steve Kean took charge of his fist Blackburn game as caretaker manager after the sacking of Sam Allardyce earlier in the week. Blackburn took on struggling West Ham United. Ryan Nelsen gave the home side the lead in the 51st minute but substitute Junior Stanislas grabbed an equaliser with 12 minutes to go to give Avram Grant's men an important point away from home.

Paul Robinson can only watch on as Stanislas puts the ball behind the Blackburn keeper and into the net.

All of the games scheduled for tomorrow have been postponed:-

West Brom P-P Wolves
Blackpool P-P Tottenham
Chelsea P-P Manchester United

Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa

Villa boss Houlier concerned with his teams form.

The live televised game on Monday night took place at Anfield where Liverpool took on out of form Aston Villa. It was the return of former Liverpool manager Gerard Houlier who is currently in charge of Villa. He recieved a warm reception from the home supporters. There was some unfortunate news for the home side as Fernando Torres was unavailable to the side due to his wife being in labour as he awaits the birth of his child. Therefore Ryan Babel took his place.

Liverpool started the brighter and had some good opportunities early on with Dirk Kuyt having a half volley effort just sail wide. The home side continued to pressurise their opponents and tested Brad Friedel. However despite the Villa defence staying reasonably strong, Liverpool's hard work paid off and David Ngog got the opener. It resulted from a corner which was headed on by Martin Skrtel which looked to be going wide bu Ngog popped up and sent the ball in the other direction into the back of the net sending the home fans into delirium. It was a good goal and gave Liverpool an important lead.

This wasn't it as Liverpool wanted more, two minutes later the man replacing Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel grabbed the second goal. It was a very well taken goal. Villa lost possession from the restart and Liverpool pounced on the attack, a nicely floated ball over the top found Ryan Babel, who appeared to be offside, smash it across the keeper Friedel and double the lead.

For the remainder of the first half, Liverpool remained the dominant side. However when Martin Skrtel and Gabriel Agbonlahor collided in the penalty area, Villa had a good shout for a penalty. Replays showed that Skrtel slipped when in front of the Villa striker who then slipped over Skrtel so the referee made the right decision to not give the penalty.

Ngog gets the first goal of the night.

At half-time it was Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa.

Aston Villa needed something in the second half- they had to score the next goal otherwise it would be game over. This was not the case and Liverpool started the way they ended the first 45 minutes by attacking a Villa side who looked very weak in contrast to their impressive form and team last season.  It was just damage limitation for Villa after Maxi Rodriguez put the game to bed with a third goal. It was thanks to the Villa defence leaving a gap at the back, allowing Liverpool to break through. Maxi played it to Ngog, who returned it to Maxi from about 20 yards, Maxi made the run into the box, opened his body and curled it into the corner.

It was game over for Villa, Liverpool were cruising. The game remained with Liverpool looking for a 4th goal, Glen Johnson had a few good chances but couldn't find the goal. It finished Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa. Liverpool move up to eighth in the table with this comfortable victory.

Sunday's results

There were two games live today in the Barclays Premier League involving West Bromwich Albion v Newcastle United and Sunderland v West Ham United.

Somen Tchoyi scored the first goal at the Hawthorns

The early kick off was at the Hawthorns where West Brom were looking to bounce back from their shocking midweek carling cup defeat to Ipswich Town. The Baggies looked like they had forgotten it completely. Two goals from Peter Odemwingie and Somen Tchoyi sealed victory for the home side. Peter Lovenkrands  grabbed a consolation in injury time which was too little too late. It finished West Brom 3-1 Newcastle.

Jordan Henderson celebrates his first goal of the season.

The late afternoon kick off saw Sunderland take on bottom of the table West Ham at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland were the brighter side and a goal from Jordan Henderson in the 34th minute proved to be the winner. It was the players first premier league goal of the season. It finished Sunderland 1-0 West Ham.

Barclays Premier League Round-Up

The premier league games on Saturday 4th December, 2010 saw Chelsea and Spurs drop points as Arsenal went top of the league after a 2-1 victory over Fulham at the Emirates stadium.

Samir Nasri celebrates with his team mates.

Manchester United missed out after their game with Blackpool fell foul of the bad weather conditions which gave Arsenal and Chelsea the chance to go back to the top. However it was Arsenal who capitalised and took full advantage thanks to two skillful goals from Samir Nasri. It was the Frenchman who made it 1-0 to the home side in the 14th minute but Fulham hit back 16 minutes later with a goal from Diomansy Kamara. With about 15 minutes to go, Nasri grabbed his second with another classy goal to give Arsenal the three points.

Chelsea captain Terry  shows frustration.

Chelsea's dismal run of results recently continued at home to Everton. Didier Drogba ended a long goal draught putting a penalty away after a foul by Toffees keeper Tim Howard who was lucky not to be sent off. It was looking good for Chelsea but their second half performance dipped and Everton equalised in the 86th minute through former Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford who claimed his second premier league goal to give him a big confidence boost. 7 minutes were added on at the end due to a head injury suffered by Chelsea shot stopper Petr Cech. Despite this long amount of time, neither side could find a winner and it remained 1-1. Chelsea have now won just 1 game in the last 6 matches and dropped to third in the table.

The Spurs free-kick that led to Bassong's goal.

Elsewhere Spurs dropped points at Birmingham despite taking the lead through Sebastian Bassong. It wasn't to be victory for the visitors though as Craig Gardner made it 1-1 in the 81st minute and the game ended at 1-1.

Blackburn players celebrate their second goal.

 Blackburn Rovers bounced back from their heavy 7-1 defeat to Manchester United last weekend with an impressive 3-0 win over Wolves at Ewood Park. Goals from Dunn, Emerton and Nelson secured a comfortable 3 points for Sam Allardyce's men.

Carlos Teves after giving City an early lead.

At Eastlands Manchester City claimed an important 1-0 victory over high flying underdogs Bolton Wanderers. A 4th minute goal from Argentine Carlos Tevez proved to be decisive despite City finishing the game with 10 men thanks to two bookable offencec committed by Aleksander Kolarov.

Wigan's Mohamed Diame battles with Stoke's John Walters.

An interesting game was witnessed at the DW stadium where Wigan drew 2-2 with Stoke City who are now unbeaten in five games. The Potters took the lead through a 40 yard free-kick from Robert Huth which appeared to have taken a deflection which sent Ali Al Habsi the wrong way in the Wigan goal. But Wigan hit back after an own goal from Stoke defender Danny Collins. The visitors responded immediately and Matthew Etherington regained the lead for Stoke but in the 40th minute Tom Cleverly equalised for the home side and it finished 2-2. Stoke moved up to 7th in the table.