Premier League Round up for Saturday, 29 December 2007

Defeat for Manchester United today has gifted Liverpool the chance to catch up some valuable points ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash at Manchester City.

West Ham stunned Alex Ferguson’s men by coming from behind to win 2-1 late on at Upton Park and subject the Premier League leaders to their third league defeat of the season.

However Arsenal picked themselves up from falling behind early to a Tim Cahill goal at Goodison Park to beat the Toffees 1-4. Goals from Da Silva Eduardo (2), Emmanual Adebayor and Thomas Rosicky completed the rout for the Gunners.

Victory for Rafael Benitez’s side in their final match of 2007 at the City of Manchester Stadium tomorrow afternoon will put them six points off (39 points) Manchester United (45 points) and nine points from Arsenal (47 points) with a game in hand going into the New Year.

Liverpool’s opening run of fixtures in 2008 would appear kind on paper too with Wigan (H), Middlesbrough (A), Aston Villa (H), West Ham (A) and Sunderland (H) the first five league fixtures. With title rivals Manchester United stumbling today, tomorrow’s match looks like a golden opportunity to catch up on previously spurned points.

Third place Chelsea continued their run of form snatching victory at home to hapless Newcastle Utd. A goal from Saloman Kalou three minutes from time won it for the Blues. The result moves them five points ahead of Liverpool, however the Reds have two games in hand over the Londoners.

Elsewhere there was a ten-goal feast of football at White Heart Lane where Spurs beat Reading 6-4; Dimitar Berbatov getting four of the goals.

Former Red El Hadji Diouf got on the scoresheet for Bolton this afternoon, but was on the losing side as Roy Keane’s Sunderland beat the Trotters 3-1 at the Stadium of Light.

Birmingham and Fulham shared the points at St Andrews with a 1-1 draw. Middlesbrough snatched all three points at Portsmouth with Sanli getting the only goal of the game. And a goal from Titus Bramble wasn’t enough to secure Wigan any points as Aston Villa came back from behind to win 2-1 at the JJB Stadium.

Liverpool’s clash with Manchester City kicks-off at 4pm on Sunday afternoon and is live on Sky Sports.