Premier League round-up:A day after missing out of selection for the Republic of Ireland squad to face the Czech Republic later this month, James McClean gave Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni a timely reminder of what he will be missing as he continued his rich vein of form for Sunderland.
The winger couldn’t prevent Sunderland going down 2-1 to Arsenal at the Stadium of Light but had opened the scoring for Martin O’Neill’s side, his second goal in the space of a week.
McClean pounced on a loose ball from Per Mertesacker in the 70th minute after the defender caught his studs in the turf and fired past keeper Wojciech Szczesny. However, Aaron Ramsey cancelled out that strike five minutes later before Thierry Henry signed off his loan spell with a last-ditch winner.
Anthony Pilkington, another notable absentee when Trapattoni named his squad yesterday, was also among the goals as Norwich won 3-2 at Swansea. Danny Graham opened the scoring for Swansea but Pilkington, who also score last weekend for the Canaries, put Norwich ahead after Grant Holt had equalised shortly after the break.
Holt then added a third from a tight angle just after the hour mark but the Norwich captain blotted his copybook by pulling back Ashley Williams to give away a late penalty, which Graham converted, but Norwich held on to become just the second side, after Manchester United, to beat Swansea on their own turf this season.
Chelsea lost their grip on fourth place after a 2-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park. Toffees midfielder Steven Pienaar, who returned on loan last month, did parent club Spurs a favour by scoring in the fifth minute for his first league goal since September 2011.
Fellow on-loan player Denis Stracqualursi hit his first Premier League goal in the 71st minute to wrap up the points and extend Chelsea’s poor run to just 12 points out of the last 30 available.
At the other end of the table Wigan did their survival chances the world of good with a 2-1 derby win over fellow strugglers Bolton. The Latics began the day five points from safety but ended just two behind 16th place.
Just before half-time captain Gary Caldwell powered home a close-range header, only for Mark Davies to smash home a left-footed drive against the run of play in the 67th minute. However, with 14 minutes remaining James McArthur capitalised on Victor Moses’ shot which rebounded back off goalkeeper Adam Bogdan to poke home the winner.
Fellow strugglers Blackburn held off a late rally from QPR to win 3-2 but the concession of those goals prevented them moving out of the bottom three. Striker Ayegbeni Yakubu, returning from a three-match ban, scored his 14th goal of the season, midfielder Steven Nzonzi drove home his first since August 2010 and Nedum Onuoha’s own goal put Rovers 3-0 up at the break.
Jamie Mackie scored twice in the last 19 minutes, the second a brilliant strike in injury time, but they could not force a draw.
Deadline-day signing Pavel Pogrebnyak scored on his Fulham debut with a 16th-minute effort as his sided beat Stoke 2-1. Clint Dempsey’s 35-yard shot cannoned down off the crossbar and hit goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen on the back to make it 2-0 and Ryan Shawcross 78th-minute header from Jermaine Pennant’s corner proved nothing more than a consolation.
