Premier League round-up:Nicklas Bendtner's second goal in a week secured a 1-0 victory for Sunderlandover Liverpoolas Jose Reina endured another miserable afternoon on Wearside.
The Denmark international pounced from close range with 56 minutes gone to fire the home side ahead after strike-partner Fraizer Campbell’s shot had twice hit the woodwork with the Spaniard unable to do anything about it.
Reina was the goalkeeper beaten by Darren Bent’s infamous beachball goal at the Stadium of Light, and could be forgiven for not counting the venue among his favourites in England.
Bendtner’s strike ended the Black Cats’ three-game winless Premier League run and in the process dealt a further blow to the Reds’ hopes of dragging themselves into a Champions League spot - they trail sixth-placed Newcastle by five points with 11 games remaining.
Everton
striker Nikica Jelavic promised goals when he signed from Rangers in January and he duly delivered with the winning strike on his full debut in a 1-0 victory over
Tottenham
at Goodison Park.
The Croatia international capped an impressive performance on his first start with a well-taken goal midway through the first half.
It extended Everton’s unbeaten run to 10 in all competitions and they head into Tuesday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield just two points behind Kenny Dalglish’s side.
Spurs, conversely, have north London rivals Arsenal breathing down their necks and could see the gap to the fourth-placed Gunners cut to just a point on Monday night.
This was their third successive league defeat. The last manager to suffer that was Juande Ramos in October 2008 and it resulted in him being replaced by Harry Redknapp.
Didier Drogba, who turns 34 tomorrow, celebrated the Blues’ 107th anniversary with his 100th Premier League goal as
Chelsea
finally managed to break down 10-man
Stoke
to win 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
However, Chelsea were far from convincing ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Napoli, despite playing almost three-quarters of the game with the advantage.
That was after Stoke forward Ricardo Fuller lost the plot, getting himself sent off for a horrible stamp on Branislav Ivanovic in his first league start since New Year’s Day 2011.
That ultimately handed Chelsea victory to lift them back level on points with fourth-placed Arsenal ahead of the latter’s game with Newcastle on Monday.
Substitute Andreas Weimann scored an injury-time winner to earn
Aston Villa
a 1-0 first home win for four months at the expense of
Fulham
.
Villa fans had booed manager Alex McLeish and chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ when he replaced Charles N’Zogbia with Weimann after 73 minutes.
But McLeish had the last laugh as Weimann headed home from close range after a shot from another substitute, Gary Gardner, had been parried by Mark Schwarzer.
It was Villa’s first home win in eight matches since November 5th and was well deserved.
Two fine strikes from Junior Hoilett secured
Blackburn
a vital 2-0 victory over fellow strugglers
Wolves
in this afternoon’s crunch relegation clash at Molineux.
Hoilett put the visitors in front in the 43rd minute with a well-executed shot after Wanderers’ David Davis had only been able to flick on a throw into the box from Rovers midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen.
The Canadian forward then fired in a second from 25 yards in the 69th minute, clinching a result that moves his team up from 18th to 16th in the table, three points clear of the relegation zone, and leaves the hosts 19th, one adrift.
In the lunchtime kick-off, Ivan Klasnic struck four minutes from time to earn
Bolton
a priceless 2-1 win over fellow Premier League strugglers
QPR
but it was a controversial result after Clint Hill was denied what appeared a clear goal for the visitors in the first half.
The defender’s header had indisputably crossed the line before it was clawed out by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan in the 19th minute but referee Martin Atkinson waved play on and Bolton took the lead eight minutes before the break through Darren Pratley.
Djibril Cisse equalised three minutes after half-time but substitute Klasnic had the final say to lift Bolton out of the relegation zone and ensure Rangers will end the day inside it.
