PremWatch 30th October 2008

A night of intrigue completed a fascinating week of football in the Premier League. Here's the LD:

Joey Barton stole the headlines on Tuesday, making a Premier League start and scoring a penalty as Newcastle United defeated West Bromwich Albion. Ishmael Miller scored a consolation for Albion after Oba Martins scored Newcastle's second.

Last night, Evil Harry's first North London derby saw Arsenal lead 4-2 after 89 minutes only for Tottenham Hotspur to level in stoppage time. An impressive strike from David Bentley put Spurs ahead but Arsenal went 3-1 up through Mikael Silvestre, William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor. Darren Bent pulled one back before Robin Van Persie looked to have sealed the game. Amazingly, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon scored late on.

Stephen Warnock scored Blackburn Rovers' first in a dismal game at Villa Park. Luke Young bundled in the equaliser for Aston Villa, before Gareth Barry's well-worked goal and a predictably brilliant one-on-one finish from Gabriel Agbonlahor put the game beyond Paul Ince's side. Brett Emerton bent in a free kick at the death to make it 3-2.

Marouane Fellaini scored in the last minute to give Everton a 1-0 win away at Bolton Wanderers. It really cranked up the pressure on Bolton boss Gary Megson.

Andy "Andrew" Johnson scored league goals number 100 and 101 to take Fulham to a 2-0 win over struggling Wigan Athletic. Steve Bruce's team seem to have started playing badly having failed to pick up points when performing well.


The Hull City bubble burst when Chelsea came to visit. Frank Lampard scored a beauty to give Chelsea an early lead. Nic Anelka scored the second, and Florent Malouda the third to keep the Blues in touch with the top of the table.

A handball from Papa Bouba Diop gifted Liverpool a win over Portsmouth. Yet another lucky goal for Liverpool, though on this occasion at least it seems that they were all over Tony Adams' men and deserved the win.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit the scoring trail with a vengeance at Old Trafford. His brace provided the only goals of Manchester United's 2-0 win over West Ham United, continuing a terrible start to managerial life for Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola.

Manchester City fell foul of a cold night on Teesside. Robinho and Co couldn't cope as a pair of second half goals for Middlesbrough bagged the three points. Afonso Alves netted the first from the spot, and Gary O'Neil lashed in the second in injury time.

Finally, Ricardo Fuller scored the only goal for Stoke City as Tony Pulis' men ran out 1-0 winners over Sunderland.

So, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa make up the top four, with Hull City occupying the UEFA Cup spot in fifth. The brand spanking new bottom three is Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic.

(Photo Credits: BBC Sport)