The Centre Circle

In the early game at Villa Park, Wolves earned a creditable 2-2 draw with Aston Villa who missed the chance to put pressure on Man City, Spurs and Liverpool in the chase for 4th place. John Carew scored a brace of goals but Wolves earned the draw through a James Milner own goal and a  rare strike from Jody Craddock.
Sunderland hit Birmingham early at the Stadium of Light with Darren Bent scoring twice in the first 11 minutes. However Birmingham reduced the deficit in the 60th minute when Cameron Jerome broke the offside trap and finished sweetly. Sunderland wrapped up the three points with a goal from Frazier Campbell.
At Stoke after a scoreless first half, the game burst into life when Eidur Gudjohnson latched onto a Peter Crouch pass and he made no mistake. To make matters work for Stoke Dean Whitehead was then sent off after receiving a second yellow card after a tackle on Modric. Amazingly, Stoke fought back and levelled with a Matthew Etherington penalty, Assou-Ekotto fouling Kitson in the box but Spurs restored their lead through Krancjar.
In the battle of the teams at the bottom, it was 1-1 at half time at Fratton Park, Craig Fagan scoring for Hull and Tommy Smith for Pompey. Hull restored their lead with Caleb Folan poaching a goal after good work from Richard Garcia but Portsmouth levelled again through Jamie O’Hara and stunned Hull with a last minute winner from substitute Kanu. An amazing fight back!

At Wigan, there was not much to shout about for the first 75 minutes as there were few chances. Burnley were holding out for a welcome away point, which would have been only their second of the season with two fantastic late saves from Brian Jensen, but it was not to be. Wigan broke Burnley hearts with a last minute diving header from Hugo Rodallega.
Everton had a comfortable victory over Bolton, with Michal Arteta punishing Bolton severely after Grettar Steinssen was sent off for bringing down Yakubu. He struck the resulting free kick curling into the top corner. Stephen Pienaar completed the win in the 90th minute.
In the late game at the Emirates, Arsenal took an early lead against West Ham through a sharp finish from Denison after a one-two with Nicklas Bentner. Arsenal seemed to be cruising, but just before Tomas Vermaelen saw red after he brought Franco down in the box. Diamanti stepped up but saw his penalty saved by Almunia. The second half saw West Ham pressure without a cutting edge, and Arsenal slowly hauled themselves into the ascendancy, culminating with Matthew Upson handling the ball in the area. Fabregas made no mistake from the spot, taking Arsenal top of the premiership for at least 24 hours.

Aston Villa 2-2 Wolves
Sunderland 3-1 Birmingham
Stoke City 1-2 Tottenham
Portsmouth 3-2 Hull City
Wigan Athletic 1-0 Burnley
Everton 2-0 Bolton Wanderers
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham