There were only 6 teams on show today in the Premier League due to European games during the week.
In the early kick off Sunderland hosted Newcastle at The Stadium of Light in the northern derby. The Black Cats had the better of the opening half with several good goal scoring opportunities, but Roy Keane's men failed to capitalize on the lackluster Toon defending. They went in at half time 0-0 and the Geordies were the happier of the two sides, but it took the home side only seven minutes in the second period to score, and it came through the unlikeliest of sources, when Danny Higginbotham headed home from close range. This pushed Allardyce's men up a gear however and James Milner equalised after 65 minutes with an inswinging cross finding it's way in off the back post. 1-1 it finished but Sunderland will fell hard done by having hit the woodwork on a few occasions in the latter part of the game.
West Ham steam rolled through Derby at "Prideless" Park in the 3 pm kick off, but it took until just 3 minutes before the break for the Londoners to break down The Rams, and the goal came through Lee Bowyer. Bowyer was on hand to set up Matty Etherington 6 minutes into the second period to make it two nil to the Hammers. West Ham's third came after a scrappy mix up in the Derby defence when Rams full back, Lewis turned the ball into his own net. Bowyer doubled his tally for the day when he netted his second on 59 and the victory was rounded off when Nobby Solano curled a beautiful free kick into the far corner with 20 minutes remaining. 5-0 it finished at Pride Park. I'm starting to believe the article below about the worst team in the Premier League and Derby really do have to improve if they want to have any chance of staying up, but the Rams are now out to 1/50 to get relegated, good odds if you ask me !!!
And finally in this evenings game Liverpool entertained Fulham after coming off the back of an 8-0 midweek victory at home to Turkish side Besiktas. Liverpool dominated the first half but failed to take any of the half chances which fell to them. The home side upped their game a bit in the second half and an "inspired" Rafa Benitez substitution of some guy called Fernando Torres changed the game as took the Liverpool new boy only 11 minutes to finally break the deadlock with a deftly taken goal. Steven Gerrard added a second on 85 with a penalty after Crouch was taken down. 2-0 it finished at Anfield.
