Arsenal are still in the title race, Robbie Keane was off the mark for Liverpool and Tony Adams picked up his first win as Pompey boss.
Wins for Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Bolton and Pompey as Wigan held
Arsenal are still firmly in the title race after a thrilling win over Manchester United, Robbie Keane was off the mark for Liverpool and Tony Adams picked up his first win as Portsmouth boss.
Bolton Wanderers climbed out of the relegation zone and into the top 10, Everton came from behind to stun West Ham United at Upton Park, while Stoke City made it three games unbeaten after a battling draw at Wigan Athletic.
Arsenal served up the perfect response at the end of a difficult week after a thrilling 2-1 win over champions
Manchester United at Emirates Stadium.
An absorbing end-to-end encounter in North London could have gone either way and it was a contest neither side deserved to lose.
After overcoming a shaky start, which saw Manuel Almunia handle a Mikael Silvestre backpass and Dimitar Berbatov have a goal ruled out for offside, Arsenal took the lead on 22 minutes.
Berbatov could only clear a free-kick out to Samir Nasri on the edge of the box and the French youngster's crisp shot took a decisive deflection off Gary Neville and flew past Edwin van der Sar.
If there was an element of fortune about Arsenal's opener, Nasri's second had class written all over it as he thumped a shot beyond Van der Sar three minutes after half-time following a wonderfully intricate build-up from the hosts.
Cristiano Ronaldo wasted a golden chance to pull a goal back almost immediately and, though substitute Rafael da Silva fired a volley beyond substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski in the last minute, United were unable to conjure up an equaliser in six minutes of injury-time.
Robbie Keane grabbed his first Premier League goals for
Liverpool as the title hopefuls eased to a 3-0 home win over
West Bromwich Albion.
Irish ace Keane has endured a frustrating time of things in front of goal since his summer move from Tottenham Hospur, but displayed his killer instinct to see off the Baggies at Anfield.
The breakthrough came on 34 minutes when Reds skipper Steven Gerrard's pass picked out Keane's angled run into the box and he deftly lifted his shot over the onrushing Carson.
And, just like buses, another one soon followed as Liverpool hit West Brom on the break, with Fabio Aurelio releasing Keane to round Carson and slide into an empty net.
Fernando Torres was brought on to replace Keane for his comeback and Alvaro Arbeloa curled home a sumptuous third in injury-time to finish off an outclassed Baggies side.
Hull City slipped to a third consecutive defeat after going down 1-0 at home to Phil Brown's former club
Bolton.
In a hard-fought first half, Hull came closest to breaking the deadlock when Marlon King's improvised effort on 18 minutes looped on to the crossbar.
Bolton made the breakthrough five minutes into the second period when Matthew Taylor squeezed his volley just inside the post after Hull had only partially cleared a corner to the edge of the area.
Visiting keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen was then in inspired form as he denied Geovanni and King with superb saves as the Trotters moved out of the bottom three.
Portsmouth came from behind to record a last-gasp 2-1 win at
Sunderland as Jermain Defoe stroked home an injury-time penalty.
Sunderland enjoyed a dream start by taking the lead after four minutes when a long ball sent Djibril Cisse clear and the French striker slotted his shot through David James' legs.
The hosts created further chances before the break, but Pompey came out for the second half a rejuvenated team and levelled on 51 minutes through Nadir Belhadj's well-struck shot from 25 yards.
In the final minute, Pompey snatched a winner from the penalty spot through Defoe's clinical strike after Glen Johnson had been brought down by El Hadji Diouf's clumsy challenge.
West Ham were torn apart by a crazy four-minute spell late in the game as
Everton came away with an impressive 3-1 triumph.
Freddie Sears was given a chance in the Hammers' starting line-up and he almost repaid Gianfranco Zola's faith when he clipped his shot against the bar following good work by Craig Bellamy on the half-hour mark.
Sears was involved in the opening goal on 63 minutes when he started the move which resulted in fellow youngster Jack Collison curling a superb shot inside the far post.
Everton then stunned the Hammers with a triple late blast as the unmarked Joleon Lescott headed home an equaliser on 83 minutes from Louis Saha's cross.
Saha then put Everton in front just two minutes later as his right-footed effort from Victor Anichebe's pass into the area took a deflection on its way past Robert Green.
And, on 87 minutes, Saha scored again as Everton pounced on a poor pass out of defence and the French striker smashed a shot beyond Green from 25 yards.
Wigan failed to make their second-half dominance count after being held to a 0-0 draw at home by
Stoke.
The visitors were indebted to goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen for denying Wilson Palacios and Titus Bramble late on in a match full of effort, but short on quality.
