PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND-UP: Saturday, Feb 23

Fulham 1-0 Stoke City

A fantastic volley from Dimitar Berbatov on the stroke of half-time was enough to secure a much needed win for the Cottagers. In his 200^th Premier League appearance, the Bulgarian with a pacy right footed volley broke the deadlock off Robert Huth’s clearance. Stoke had a chance to equalize from the spot in the 56^th minute, but Mark Schwarzer saved Jonathan Walters’ penalty. The hosts had further chances in the 2^nd half to extend their lead with Berbatov, Riise and Sidwell all going close.

QPR 0-2 Manchester United

An absolute screamer in the first half from right-back Rafael and a neat finish in the second from veteran Ryan Giggs gave Man United a 15 point lead at the top of the table as they came away from their Loftus Road encounter with a 2-0 win. United were largely untroubled, controlling the game for the most part. The only worry for United was when striker Robin van Persie suffered a hip injury as he fell into a cameraman on the side-lines.  He was replaced by Danny Welbeck at half-time.

Arsenal 2-1 Aston Villa

Santi Cazorla was the hero at the Emirates, as his brace helped Arsenal to a much needed win over a fighting Aston Villa. Goals 5 minutes into the match and 5 minutes from the end of the match from the Spaniard helped ease some of the pressure on the club and their manager Arsene Wenger. Arsenal move within a point of 4^th placed Tottenham who play away at West Ham on Monday.

Norwich City 2-1 Everton

Norwich left it late against Everton, scoring 2 goals in the final 6 minutes to earn a come from behind victory against the Toffees. The home side created the better chances, but it was Everton who took the lead through Leon Osman on 39 minutes. Fighting back in the second half, the Canaries equalized through new boy Kei Kamara who powered a thumping header past Everton keeper Tim Howard. Captain Grant Holt then scored the winner in injury time ghosting in at the far post to tap the ball in to end Norwich’s barren run of 10 games without a victory.

West Brom 2-1 Sunderland

Two goals from Romelu Lukaku, one of them a penalty, saw the Baggies past Martin ‘O O'Neill's Sunderland at the Hawthornes. A first half penalty had given West Brom the lead, before Lukaku took advantage of a horror back pass from Titus Bramble to close down keeper Simon Mignolet forcing a clearance from his Belgian colleague that struck the onrushing Lukaku and went into goal. Sunderland did pull one back through Stephane Sessegnon, but West Brom held on for the win.

Reading 0-3 Wigan Athletic

Wigan took made full use of the man advantage, as they put 3 past Reading in a relegation 6 pointer at the Madejski stadium. Reading striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was given his marching orders in the second half for a cynical foul on Maynor Figueroa. It was Figueroa who finished things off with the third goal on 48 minutes after Arouna Kone had scored a quick double in the closing minutes of the first half. With the win, Wigan leapfrog Reading into 17th place.