This round of games had some interesting fixtures on paper. Believe it or not, all the games on the 29th had the winning teams keeping clean sheets.
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle ( Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas)
Newcastle didn’t pose a threat all to the Gunners, and slumped to their eight defeat in 12 games away from St.James’ Park. Dennis Wise would surely not have been impressed.
The Gunners dominated the game and it was all one way traffic. Arsenal go back to the top and await the result of the game between Manchester United and Portsmouth.
Bolton 0-0 Fulham
A goalless draw sees Fulham gain their first point under Roy Hodgson. More bad news for Bolton after their plans to bring Icelandic striker Eidur Gudjohnsen back to the Reebok were dashed. The Trotters are currently fifth from bottom, while the Cottagers are four points away from safety.
Middlesbrough 1-0 Wigan ( Jeremie Aliadiere)
Boro played well in the first half, and should have pumped in more goals than the solitary one that they have to show for their efforts. Stewart Downing was impressive, but the same could not be said for Boro’s Sanli Tuncay and Wigan’s Marlon King, who was making his debut at the Riverside. Tuncay was wasteful in front of goal, and Afonso Alves would have been wishing that he was in the former Fenerbahce forward’s position.
Sunderland 2-0 Birmingham ( Daryl Murphy, Rade Prica)
The Black Cats move out of the drop zone, and now have 23 points from 24 games after starting the day on the same number of points as their opponents. Do not forget to see the highlights if you missed Prica’s goal.
The La Liga have some interesting fixtures lined up this weekend. Barcelona will try to make up for their draw against Athletic Bilbao when they take on Osasuna. Real Madrid will face Almeria while Villareal, whom they beat 3-2, will play Mallorca.
And to sign off, Rangers have signed Neil Alexander from Ipswich Town.