With fixtures coming thick and fast, every Premier league club played both at the weekend and this midweek. The fixture congestion seems to be having no effect on Tony Pulis's Stoke side however, as they remain unbeaten in 2010. After seeing off Blackburn, who beat Hull thanks to a Boaz Myhill own goal last night, by three goals to nil, with Danny Higginbotham, Mamady Sidibe and Matthew Etherington on the scoresheet, the Potters went to Wigan on Tuesday. Paul Scharner headed the hosts in front at the DW Stadium, but Tuncay's third Stoke goal fifteen minutes from time meant it finished all square with Stoke now having not tasted defeat in any of their last seven outings. Wigan had also drawn 1-1 three days before at Sunderland. Again they took a first half lead after Mohamed Diame scored a stunner but again they were pegged back after the break when Kenywne Jones netted an equaliser.
It has been an interested few days at the top of the table and leaders Chelsea had an excellent Sunday, beating top four rivals Arsenal, who had no answer to Didier Drogba's brace, 2-0. The Gunners bounced back in style on Wednesday night, edging out Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium with Abou Diaby heading the only goal of the night. The Liverpool fans will still be content though, as they defeated arch rivals Everton at Anfield despite having defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos sent off. Dirk Kuyt's goal ten minutes after the interval ultimately proved enough to down the Toffees, but emotions at Goodison Park have gone from a massive low to a huge high as they recorded a famous win over Chelsea last night. Florent Malouda put the visitors ahead but Louis Saha netted his 100th and 101st league goals in English football, and also missed a penalty, as David Moyes's men turned the match to win all three points. The other club challenging for the title, Saha's former employers, Manchester United an easy win over troubled Portsmouth on Saturday. Anthony Vanden Borre, Richard Hughes and Marc Wilson all put through their own net for Pompey, while Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov were also on target. They too faltered on Tuesday night though, drawing 1-1 at Aston Villa with Carlos Cuellar scoring for the Villans before James Collins let the visitors back into the game with yet another own goal, before Manchester United's Nani was sent off for a crude lunge. Portsmouth fared better in midweek though, recording a creditable 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland thanks to Aruna Dindane's last gasp winner after Darren Bent had put the Black Cats ahead from the penalty spot early on. Pompey's Ricardo Rocha, and Sunderland's Lee Cattermole and David Meyler all also saw red on a bad tempered night in Hampshire.
Spurs have had a poor week, playing out a goalless draw with Aston Villa before losing 1-0 at Wolves thanks to David Jones's strike. Wednesday's win was the perfect tonic for weekend disappointment for Wolves, who led through Kevin Doyle for much of Sunday's trip to Birmingham but left St. Andrew's empty handed after veteran striker Kevin Phillips found the net twice after coming on as a late substitute. The Blues lost last night at West Ham though, with Alessandro Diamanti and Carlton Cole on target in a 2-0 triumph for the Hammers.
Hull produced the shock of the weekend, beating top six hopefuls Manchester City 2-1 at the KC Stadium. Jozy Altidore and George Boateng both hit their first goals for the club, with Emmanuel Adebayor's goal for the away side proving irrelevant. Roberto Mancini's men were back to winning ways on Tuesday, beating Bolton 2-0 thanks to goals from Adebayor and Carlos Tevez. The Trotters drew 0-0 against Fulham in a dull game at the weekend but Roy Hodgson's men were on much better form on Wednesay, beating Burnley 3-0 with goals from Danny Murphy, David Elm and Bobby Zamora as the Clarets poor run away from home continued, They won again at Turf Moor at the weekend though, beating West Ham 2-1. David Nugent put the hosts ahead and debutant Danny Fox doubled their advantage, with another debutant's goal, that of West Ham's Brazilian striker Ilan, proving nothing but a consolation for the Londoners.