Manchester City moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League thanks to a convincing 3-0 win at home over Fulham.

Heading into the Fulham match a lot of questions were being asked about a City side that had lost four of their eight matches in 2012, exiting the FA and League Cups and seeing Manchester United draw level with them on points at the top of the Premier League.

But in snowy conditions in Lancashire, City showed that why they are top of the table with an impressive performance. It took them only 10-minutes to go one-up via a Sergio Agüero penalty after Adam Johnson had been fouled, then Fulham defender Chris Baird doubled the lead when he turned Johnson’s low cross into his own goal. When the two sides met earlier in the year at Craven Cottage, Fulham came back from a two-goal deficit to get a point, but they never looked like repeating that today and it was no surprise when Edin Dzeko wrapped up the win 18 minutes from time.

Here is Roberto Mancini talking about the win after the game:

Arsenal is another side that has struggled in 2012, winless in the league this yer, but they rectified that Saturday with a 7-1 mauling of Blackburn Rovers at the Emitaes. Robin van Persie’s second hat-trick of the season and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first league goals for the club set the Gunners on their way to fifth place in the table, with Mikel Arteta and Thierry Henry also on target.

Sunderland continued their impressive revival under Martin O’Neill as they went to Stoke and won 1-0, never an easy place to get a result. Sunderland have now taken 22 points from a possible 30 since O’Neill took over.

Elsewhere Swansea City and Wolves both picked up important away wins. Swansea won 2-1 away to West Brom, a side that continues to struggle at home, while Mick McCarthy’s side moved out of the bottom three with a come-from-behind victory at QPR, who had Djibril Cisse sent off in his home debut.

Finally a howler from Tim Howard appeared to have given Wigan a much needed win against Everton, but Wigan’s lead lasted only seven minutes when Everton substitute Victor Anichebe heading in the equaliser.

Newcastle United are up to fifth in the Premier League after they beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0, while Arsenal‘s poor run of form continues as they were held 0-0 at Bolton.

Newcastle are now just three points behind Chelsea and a UEFA Champions League place as the Magpies leapfrog both Liverpool and Arsenal with the win.

Newcastle took a 12th-minute lead when Blackburn‘s Scott Dann deflected a 25-yard shot from Ryan Taylor past stranded Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson. Blackburn, who remain in the bottom three, had a gilt-edged chance to equalise before the break, but David Dunn’s penalty was saved by Tim Krul and the Newcastle keeper blocked Gael Givet’s follow-up.

Rovers’ failure to convert several second-half chances was compounded when Gabriel Obertan made it 2-0 to Newcastle in the closing seconds.

At the Reebok Stadium, Arsenal dominated possession, but the closest they came to scoring was two efforts from Robin van Persie that hit the woodwork. The draw dropped Arsenal to seventh in the table, and they are in real danger of not qualifying for the Champions League.

Sunderland meanwhile, have climbed to eighth after their Martin O’Neill-inspired resurgence continued with a 3-0 home win against Norwich City. Fraizer Campbell’s exquisite shot, Stéphane Sessegnon’s delightfully-worked header and Daniel Ayala’s own goal earned O’Neill’s team a sixth victory in nine league games since he succeeded Steve Bruce as manager.

Elsewhere, Djibril Cissé scored 12 minutes into his QPR debut but could not prevent his team from surrendering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Aston Villa, while Clint Dempsey was on target again as Fulham and West Brom drew 1-1 at Craven Cottage.

Newcastle’s hopes of taking advantage of Chelsea‘s draw at Norwich were stopped by a five-goal second-half blitz from Fulham as they lost 5-2 at Fulham.

Fulham were poor in the first-hald and it was no surprise that Newcastle scored first thanks to a Danny Guthrie thunderbolt from outside the area.

Not sure what Martin Jol said at half-time, but it was a completely different Fulham side that took the pitch in the second half. Fulham got a hat-trick from Clint Dempsey and penalties from Danny Murphy and Bobby Zamora as the Cottagers picked up three big points.

Mark Hughes has had an immediate impact at QPR as they beat fellow strugglers Wigan 3-1 today to move out of the relegation zone.

Heidar Helguson put Rangers ahead from the penalty spot after 33 minutes, and Akos Buszaky doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time. Hugo Rodallega pulled one back to give the Latics hope but Tommy Smith confirmed victory with a stunning 81st minute strike. Wigan remain rock bottom, while QPR move up to 16th two points clear of the bottom three.

On-loan striker Robbie Keane made a dramatic return to English football as he scored two late goals to lead Aston Villa to a 3-2 win against local rivals Wolves.

Villa took the lead through a Darren Bent penalty but Michael Kightly and Dave Edwards put Mick Mccarthy’s men in front before Keane made a massive impact against his former side. Wolves drop into the bottom three while Villa move up two to 11th.

Another new manager having a instant impact is Martin O’Neill at Sunderland. Sunderland are up to 10th after a 2-0 win at home over Swansea. Stephane Sessegnon opened the scoring after 15 minutes and Craig Gardner finished it with an 85th minute.

Elsewhere Blackburn continued their resurgance under Steve Kean as they battled to a 1-1 draw at Everton. Tim Cahill and David Goodwillie on the scoresheet as Blackburn stayed out of the relegation zone and Everton continued below mid-table.

In the other game Graham Dorrans’ late strike earned a 2-1 win for West Brom against Stoke. James Morrison put the Baggies ahead after 35 minutes before substitute Cameron Jerome thought he had earned a point for Stoke with his 86th minute goal.

Chelsea moved back up to fourth place in the Premier League after picking up a 2-1 away victory against Wolves, although it took an 89th-minute winner by Frank Lampard to end Chelsea’s four-match winless run.

Stephen Ward thought he had done enough to earn Wolves their fourth consecutive draw when he cancelled out Ramires’s second-half effort with just five minutes remaining, but Lampard pounced to take the Blues a point above Arsenal, who failed to reclaim fourth spot after losing 2-1 at Fulham.

Despite taking the lead through Laurent Koscielny’s header the Gunners endured a torrid second period, during which Philippe Senderos, Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz all came close before Johan Djourou was sent off. The hosts then levelled through Steve Sidwell and claimed all three points thanks to Bobby Zamora’s injury-time goal.

After beating Man United at Old Trafford on Saturday, Blackburn Rovers were brought back down to earth by a Stoke City side inspired by Peter Crouch, whose first-half double sent Rovers to their eighth home lose of the season.

Norwich City also won 2-1 after coming from behind to beat QPR, who had goalscorer Joey Barton sent-off in the first-half.

Elsewhere, Swansea City picked up their first away win in the English top-flight since May 1982 with a 2-0 win at Aston Villa.

Chelsea failed to give a special Christmas treat for their fans as Andre Villas-Boas’ team only picked up a draw against Fulham at Stamford Bridge, making it their third 1-1 result in a row.

Juan Mata’s goal wasn’t enough to secure all three points for the Blues as their poor performance on the day was punished by Clint Dempsey, who netted the away side’s equalizer.

Staging the boxing day in front of their home crowd, Chelsea were obviously eying to secure all three points which would made a wonderful Christmas present for their devotees. However, the home team’s didn’t really put out the performance that the fans were looking for especially in the first half where they were simply too slow in moving the ball forward, making things very easy for Fulham’s back-line.

There were not many chances made by both teams in the first period as Fernando Torres, who got a surprised starting spot, was the one that picked up the best goal scoring opportunities when his well controlled effort was expertly saved by David Stockdale. Apart from Torres’ striker, other times Chelsea caused problems were coming from long range efforts from Juan Mata, Raul Meirelles and als Daniel Sturridge.

Fulham, who was demolished by Manchester United in their last league game, were obviously feeling comfortable with Chelsea’s poor performance as they ease their way into the break with a 0-0 draw. Despite not changing much in the second half, the Blues did get a lucky break early after the restart when Mata’s nicely placed shot breach into the back of Stockdale’s net and erupting the Stamford Bridge faithful, who were fairly quite in the first half.

However, the joy didn’t lasted that long as Fulham deservedly got their equalizer around 10 minutes later when Dempsey managed to tap in Bryan Ruiz’s low cross from Chelsea’s left area of the defense. The goal opened the game even more as both teams doesn’t seem settle for a point but the away team apparently drop their intensity in the last 15 minutes of the match, letting the home team vigorously attacking them in search of the winning goal.

Luckily for Fulham, Stockdale was having one of his best performance on the day as he saved several good goal scoring chances for Chelsea in the last few minutes of the second half, including Florent Malouda’s back heel in front of the penalty box. In the end, the 1-1 result might be something that both teams deserved as although the Blues managed to create several chances in the final minutes but they just didn’t play well enough to deserve a victory.

Match Reports:
Chelsea v Fulham 1-1

Goals: Mata 47 (Chelsea); Dempsey 56 (Fulham)

Chelsea: Cech; Bosingwa(Ferreira 81), Luiz, Terry ©, A. Cole; Romeu, Meireles, Lampard(Malouda 62); Mata, Torres, Sturridge(Drogba 71)
Fulham: Stockdale; Kelly, Hangeland, Senderos, Riise; Dempsey, Dembele, Murphy, Frei, Ruiz; Orlando Sa(Kasami 83)

photo credit: Ben Sutherland

The festive programme kicks off in the EPL on Monday with 14 teams taking to the field to run off the turkey.

Traditionally when you look at the Premier league fixture list at this time of year, the schedulers have taken their time to make sure that teams (and more so fans) don’t have to travel too far. It is also hoped that the added spice of a local derby might also get more fans going to the games. This happens right throughout the English leagues.

So with that in mind, Fulham fans have just the short distance to travel down the Kings Road in London on Monday to see their side take on a Chelsea side who are unbeaten in their last five games in the league. Martin Jol’s Fulham have shown very mixed form in recent weeks with wins over Liverpool and Bolton and a defeat to Swansea. The Londoners will be happier making the trip around the corner after the long drive home from Manchester the other night after a 5-0 drubbing at Old Trafford.

No matter how close it is though, Chelsea away is not the ideal fixture after a heavy defeat to one of the title contenders.Two of the other relatively local games see top versus bottom as Bolton host Newcastle and Liverpool welcome Lancashire neighbours Blackburn. Many are surprised that Steve Kean hasn’t got the sack for Christmas but the owners are sticking by him and he has another chance to try to impress Monday. Owen Coyle’s Bolton will be on a high after a win, even if that win was against Blackburn and despite Newcastle‘s start to the season, Bolton have the players to compete against the Magpies.

League leaders City travel to the West Midlands to take on West Brom at the Hawthorns. The Albion will be in confident mood after an excellent win in midweek against Newcastle which came on the back of a win away at Blackburn. After a poor start to their campaign those two wins have seen WBA climb up to tenth in the table which is an incentive to any of the teams this Christmas who find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the league.

The other games on Boxing Day see Villa travel to Stoke, Man Utd host Wigan and Everton travel to the north east to play Sunderland.

photo credit: nicksarebi

Manchester United keeps on unleashing their fury after failing in the Champions League by destroying their opponents in the league and after beating QPR last weekend, this midweek it was Fulham, who received a battering from the defending champion.

Playing in a difficult ground, Man United players surprisingly demolished the North London outfit by scoring five goals without receiving any reply from the home side.

Aiming to keep their pressure on their city rival, Manchester City, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side didn’t really waste any time to attack their opposition and it took them only five minutes to score the opening goal. Young striker, Danny Wellbeck, was the one who opened the scoring for United after successfully capitalizing a defensive error at Fulham back line.

Portuguese winger, Nani extended the away team’s lead in the 28th minute after receiving a wonderfully weighted cross from veteran Ryan Giggs, who once again proved that he still has the quality to perform at the highest level. Giggs further proved his quality two minutes before the break by netting Man United’s third in the match with a deflected shot which simply tricked David Stockdale on Fulham’s goal, who is forced to take the ball on his net for the third time in the match.

Leading three goals up in the first period apparently didn’t really bring much satisfaction yet for Man United players as they keep on pressuring Fulham’s back line before eventually adding two more goals in the final five minutes. Wayne Rooney got United’s fifth with an electrifying 30 yard effort which simply capped the player’s fine performance on the day, not long after that it was Dimitar Berbatov’s turn to add Fulham woes.

The Bulgarian also scored a lovely goal as he back heeled Antonio Valencia’s cross inside the penalty area right at the final 90, giving all smiles for Ferguson, who will keep on pushing his players to chase City until the end of season. Man United’s 5-0 victory at Craven Cottage also ended their recent bad run at the stadium as in previous three matches in that stadium.

Match Reports:

Fulham v Man United 0-5

Goals: Wellbeck 5, Nani 28, Giggs 43, Rooney 88, Berbatov 90

photo credit: apasciuto

Fulham Football Club today announced a record profit of £5.4m and a record net profit of £4.8m for the year ended 30 June 2011. The Cottagers have also revealed a record revenue of £77.1m for the last season.

Fulham recorded a profit of £5.4m, before interest and taxation, and enjoyed a 4.9% increase in attendance, which saw Craven Cottage secure a 98% occupancy figure for the seaso.

Fulham’s Chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed was delighted at the results saying:

“The Club has made great strides in recent years, and this excellent set of financial results is just reward for our progress. As always, I am determined to ensure the Club moves in the right direction whilst remaining true to our history, heritage and past traditions.”

In order to continue to grow revenue, Fulham has announced plans to increase capacity at Craven Cottage to 30,000. The stadium has been Fulham’s home since 1896 and would be subject to wider facility improvements, as well as the Riverside Stand development.

Al Fayed added:

“The announcement of our plans to redevelop the Riverside Stand, whilst opening up the Riverwalk for the benefit of the community, is further proof that my ambition for this football club remains resolute.”

The big game in the Premier League this weekend is a clash between Manchester City and Arsenal and City captain Vincent Kompany is confident his side can bounce back to winning ways:

“I definitely have a lot of respect for Arsenal,” Kompany said. “On Sunday, we are looking to do what they have done. They have picked themselves up after a difficult month. The way they have done that is absolutely incredible. I consider them as a top team, who will make a top game of it. But we are a difficult team to beat at home. There is no reason for us to be arrogant about this fixture. Arsenal are a great team. But we can beat great teams.”

City could find themselves in the usual position of looking up to someone in the table as Manchester United play away at Queen’s Park Rangers at lunchtime on Sunday. Should United win, they will leapfrog over City in the table, at least until City play later in the day.

On Saturday, third-placed Chelsea will look to build on their massive win over City when they travel to lowly Wigan. Chelsea’s west London rivals Fulham will look to overcome their last-second Europa League exit when they host bottom club Bolton in a relegation battle.

Another relegation six pointer will be at Ewood Park where Blackburn will welcome West Brom. An injury-depleted Newcastle will look to end a four-game winless run that has seen them slip to seventh when they host Swansea, Everton welcome Norwich and Wolves play Stoke.

On Sunday, Spurs will look to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat at Stoke when they are at home to Sunderland while Liverpool travel to Aston Villa.

Disappointing midweek arrived for English teams in their Europa League campaign, Fulham have to forget their European ambition as they’re journey ended on Wednesday after only picking up a point against Odense BK.

Meanwhile, Stoke City suffered their first defeat in the competition but still secure their passage into the next round although that loss relegated the Potters into runners up position behind Besiktas.

Late Equalizer Ended Fulham’s Journey

A dramatic result occurred at Craven Cottage as the home team wasted a two goals lead which eventually also ended their journey in the Europa League as their competitor in their group, Wisla Krakow, picked up a victory against Fc Twente. Fulham pretty much have themselves to blame for their failure considering things were going well until the first half when the London club were leading 2-0 with goals from Clint Dempsey and Kerim Frei.

However, things turned into disaster in the second period especially after Odense pulled a goal back in the 64th minute through Hans Henrik Andreasen. Things obviously become much stressful for the home team players as the tragedy finally arrived in the final minutes of injury time when Djilby Fall netted the equalizer which at the same time ended Fulham’s European experience this season.

Stoke Unbeaten Run in Europe Ended by Besiktas

Having already confirmed their qualification into the next round, Stoke didn’t really take their trip to Turkey in a serious manner as manager Tony Pulis rested nearly all of his main starters. Despite playing with mostly second string line up, the Potters managed to take the lead through Ricardo Fuller in the 29th minute.

However, things turned upside down for the away team after Mathew Upson saw red after challenging Hugo Almeida in the penalty area which also resulted in an equalizer for Besiktas, scored by Manuel Fernandes. The home team made use of their man advantage by scoring two more goals from Mustafa Pektemek and Edu which not only ended Stoke’s unbeaten run in the Europa league but also gives the Turkey’s side a top spot in their group.

photo credit: wonker