Premier League, Week 23: Arsenal Draw Bolton While Newcastle Go To Fifth

Newcastle United move into fifth place in the Premier League despite a worryingly inept display against Blackburn Rovers that somehow ended up being a 2-0 win. Things started well for Alan Pardew and the Magpies, with Scott Dann deflecting Ryan Taylor's speculative long-range effort into the back of the net for an own goal in the 12th minute, but from then on the hosts absolutely dominated the match, forcing Newcastle back into their own half and letting fly with an astonishing 26 shots on target.

Poor finishing, however, doomed Blackburn to defeat. They managed to miss the target with 21 attempts (Anthony Modeste was particularly poor) and had a penalty saved, leaving them to lose a game they should have breezed through. Their misery in chasing an equaliser was ended when Gabriel Obertan finished off a rare Newcastle counterattack to make it 2-0 in stoppage time. Neither team can be pleased with themselves, but the visitors were clinical when they could be, and that's what counts.

Martin O'Neill brought his magic touch to the Stadium of Light when he replaced Steve Bruce and Sunderland are much better off for it. The Black Cats extended their run of good form under O'Neill on Wednesday, throughly defeating Norwich City 3-0 on Wednesday to make it just two defeats from 11 matches since O'Neill took over on December 11.

The oft-injured Fraizer Campbell opened the scoring with his second goal in four days just 21 minutes in. It was a gorgeous goal too as he ripped a volley that got over John Ruddy before dipping under the bar for the opening tally. Seven minutes later Stephane Sessegnon doubled the Black Cats' lead when a defensive header fell to him in front of goal and he poked it home. Right on the other side of the break, Daniel Ayala put the ball in his own net and Sunderland were on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win.

Now that Campbell is back from a 17 month injury absence, O'Neill might not need to worry about his crop of strikers, which he tried desperately to boost before the signing deadline. Heck, the way Sunderland are playing under O'Neill, there's not much to worry about at all.

Roy Hodgson's return to Craven Cottage was a good one as took his West Brom side to Fulham for the first time since leaving the Cottagers in 2010 and came away with a 1-1 draw. Somen Tchoyi's 82nd minute strike canceled out Clint Dempsey's 10th goal of the season and the post-Bobby Zamora era started quietly for Fulham, who lacked much of a scoring threat for most of the evening.

With new signing Pavel Pogrebnyak not registered in time for the match and Andrew Johnson left out of the 18, Fulham played without a true striker and it showed as they struggled to generate much in the attack. Even so, it looked like Dempsey had come to the rescue in the 69th minute when he collected a pass from Bryan Ruiz and slotted the ball home from inside the box.

Fulham couldn't make that 1-0 lead stand up though. Tchoyi came on for Simon Cox in the 77th minute and five minutes later he made his mark when he got on the end of a James Morrison pass. Tchoyi finished well and West Brom got to walk away with a crucial away point.

With Chelsea stumbling against Swansea on Tuesday, the a match against lowly Bolton Wanderers was just what the doctor ordered for Arsenal in their quest to jump back into the top four. Unfortunately for the Gunners, they completely failed to take advantage of their relatively weak opponents, wasting a host of opportunities in the first half before getting pegged back and largely outplayed in the second.

Theo Walcott was in large part to blame for Arsenal's failure to score, twice blowing impossibly easy opportunities, shooting straight against Adam Bodgan's legs when one on one with the Trotters goalkeeper in the first half before blasting wide from a very promising position in the second. Not even Robin van Persie could redeem the situation for the Gunners, although the captain did manage to flick the ball onto the post in Arsenal's most promising moment.

Bolton had plenty of chances to do some damage, with David N'gog hitting inches wide twice and Mark Davies coming perilously close to scoring a shock late goal when he battered his way past Per Mertesacker and was thwarted by Wojiech Szczesny's fingertips as he attempted to round the Polish keeper. After the interval, the hosts were more or less comfortable, easily breaking up Arsenal's predictable attacks, and they were well worth the point on the day after fighting their way to a 0-0 draw.

How does that make Gunners fans feel? We asked one:

/plays depeche mode
/lights scented candles
/turns out all the lights
/paints entire body black

Let's go with 'cheerful'.

It took Charles N'Zogbia a while to get his first goal for Aston Villa, but that first goal was a timely one. Trailing 2-1 late on, Stiliyan Petrov got free down the left and crossed for Z'Nogbia, who drove a left-footed volley past Patrick Kenny to earn the home side a 2-2 draw against Queens Park Rangers.

Djibril Cisse also picked up his first goal for his club in the match, but instead of it taking half of a season like N'Zogbia, Cisse scored a day after joining QPR. Just 12 minutes into his first match with QPR, Cisse ran into the path of a terrible shot by Shaun Wright-Phillips and cooly finished low to open his QPR account.

QPR then saw their lead double, although they had little to do with it. Taye Taiwo's cross was right into the path of Stephen Warnock, who should have had no problem clearing the ball away, but it apparently was troublesome for Warnock. The Villa defender headed the ball back across to the far post and into his own net, leaving Shay Given flabbergasted and Villa down 2-0.

Darren Bent's 100th Premier League goal brought Villa to within one, then N'Zogbia finally got off the schneid with the equalizer 10 minutes from time. Villa will feel as if they should have won too with several questionable handball calls going against them and their utter dominance They had 26 shots, 12 on target, but they just couldn't get a gift from the football gods so a draw it is.

That Wolverhampton Wanderers were blown out isn't much of a surprise considering the way their season has been going, but there was still a shock at the Molineaux on Tuesday. Andy Carroll scored! The much-maligned striker finally got himself a Premier League goal and that is all it took to get Liverpool going as they smashed Wolves, 3-0.

Neither Wolves nor Liverpool could find a goal in the first half and neither side really came close to a goal either. Both sides were poor and when they went into the dressing rooms at halftime everyone watching could have rightly demanded their money back.

The second half was a whole other animal though as Liverpool turned up their game and Carroll finally broke the deadlock off of a gorgeous Charlie Adam cross. Caroll was making a good far post run and just had to poke Adam's cross over the line. With that, Liverpool were off.

Less than 10 minutes after Carroll broke the deadlock, Craig Bellamy doubled the Reds' lead. He was never closed down as he ran down the pitch and he let a shot go that was good and low, but one that Wayne Hennessey will be disappointed not to have saved. The ball went off of his hands and in as Liverpool went up 2-0.

Dirk Kuyt put a bow on things in the 78th minute when he received Adam's pass down the right and streaked towards goal. He was at a sharp angle, but he still managed to beat Hennessey and Liverpool had themselves three goals and three points.

Manchester United were without 11 senior team players on Tuesday when they took on Stoke City as their injury list just continues to grow, but it didn't matter because they had the referee on their side. The result was a penalty in each half and a 2-0 win for the Red Devils, although to say that the referee was on their side isn't really fair considering both were clear penalties. Three points in their pocket, United are now joint-top of the table as they get ready for two stiff tests against Chelsea and Liverpool in the next two weeks.

Jermaine Pennant gave away the first penalty when he went to ground to win the ball from Ji-Sung Park, only he never touched the ball and just got the Korean's ankle. Javier 'Chicharito' Hernandez got to take the penalty and he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way with a cool finish.

After the break, United double their lead from the spot. Jon Walters was the guilty party this time as he took Antonio Valencia down for another clear penalty. Dimitar Berbatov got to take the kick this time around and he was just as cool as Chicharito, finishing to make it 2-0 United.

Ben Amos made his Premier League debut for the Red Devils and it couldn't have been any more boring as he spent most of the match watching the match go on dozens of yards away. Amos won't complain though because United are now atop the table with their three points from Stoke.

You can call him Agent Gibson. Just a few weeks after leaving Manchester United for Everton, Darron Gibson gave United's title hopes a big boost when he scored the winner for the Toffees to beat Manchester City 1-0. The Red Devils now find themselves joint-top of the table with City thanks to Gibson's strike at Goodison Park on Tuesday, while the Toffees are on a high now that they have pushed their unbeaten streak to four.

The best chance of the first half fell to Denis Stracqualursi, whose header beat Joe Hart, but Joleon Lescott nodded the ball off the line to keep the match level. Samir Nasri had a chance of his own when he rattled the bar, but the ball bounced away to safety. That left the highlight of the opening stanza a fan who ran onto the field and handcuffed himself to the post, delaying the match for five minutes.

Everton got their break at the hour mark when Landon Donovan laid the ball off for Gibson, who had a rip. The shot deflected off of Gareth Barry and left Hart rooted to the spot as Goodison Park exploded. City had a few late chances, but nothing exceptional. The Citizens were left to lament a Phil Neville handball that went uncalled as the Toffees grabbed all three points and City fell into a tie with their red rivals.

Swansea City have proven to be a surprisingly good team in their first Premier League season and even better at home, where they have made the Liberty Stadium a nearly impossible place to win. Chelsea were the latest to find this out, struggling in the first half and looking set for a 1-0 loss, but Jose Bosingwa got a fortunate deflection in the 93rd minute to net the Blues a crucial point in a 1-1 draw.

The Swans came out playing well to start and they were rewarded in the 39th minute when Scott Sinclair scored a beauty of a goal. While slightly drifting away from goal, Sinclair was able to loop a sweet volley over Petr Cech to put the Swans on top in front of their adoring home crowd.

Whatever Andre Villas-Boas told him team in the dressing room at halftime worked though and the Blues were all over Swansea in the second half. Daniel Sturridge just missed wide on one attempt and Michael Essien hit over the bar with another chance, but it looked like they were always likely to get an equalize.

In the 93rd minute, the Blues finally did get level when Bosingwa got the a deflection to help him out. He came in down the right before cutting back towards the middle and let rip towards the far post. Michel Vorm was moving towards the far post when the ball hit off of Neil Taylor and changed directions. Vorm had no chance as the ball crossed the line and Chelsea had themselves a draw at the very tough Liberty Stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur weren't supposed to have any problem with Wigan Athletic at home on Tuesday and to the surprise of no one, they cruised to victory. Gareth Bale scored two and Luka Modric added another in a match that saw Spurs blaze ahead then fall asleep in the final half-hour to pick up a 3-1 victory. They now sit seven points clear of fourth place Chelsea and five points behind the leading Manchester clubs, while Wigan remain at the bottom of the table.

The match was all Spurs right from the opening kick and twice Younes Kaboul got on the end of corner kicks, only to be denied by Ali Al Habsi once and having the ball cleared off the line a second time. Modric came close another time and Spurs kept pressing.

Just before the half-hour mark, Modric unlocked the Wigan defense and Bale made it count to put the home side in front. A brilliant ball across the field found Bale cutting inside of his marker on a diagonal run. The Welshman chested the ball down and finished well for his 10th goal of the year.

It was only give more minutes before Modric doubled the Spurs lead. He was given time at the top of the box and he had a go at goa with a clean, precise strike. It was hard and low, leaving Al Habsi no chance as it hit the side netting for the 2-0 Spurs advantage.

The second half saw Spurs take their foot off the gas pedal a bit. Bale made it 3-0 with his 11th of the season on a good individual play, cutting and striking across to the back post. James McArthur answered with a fantastic goal of his own, but the match was in the bag by then and Tottenham were well on their way to three points.