The EPL provided another weekend of upsets and surprises as we are slowly coming down to the business end of the season in the worlds most popular league.

League leaders Manchester United continued their surge to the title as they entertained lowly, manager-less, Reading. United were far from their best, but they did enough to extend their lead at the top with a 1-0 win. The result extends their win streak to  6 games, and their lead to 15 incredible points.  Wayne Rooney scored the sole goal extending his personal goalscoring streak.

Champions league chasing EPL stars

Reigning champs Manchester City were not so fortunate, as the were again undone by Everton, losing 2-0. The loss pretty much ends City’s chances of retaining their title as they were out hustled and outworked by a determined Everton. City were without Yaya Toure and the dominant midfielder was clearly missed as City never seemed up to the challenge.

Elsewhere, Chelsea came through a difficult match in their London derby against West Ham, with a solid performance with goals coming from Frank Lampard and Eden Hazard. For Lampard, it was a landmark moment as it was his 200th goal in his Chelsea career. For Hazard, who is back in fine form, it was his 4th goal in the last 7 games. Chelsea looked good in all phases of the game except up front where Demba Ba could not convert his chances. The win puts Chelsea back up into third place and favorites to secure a champions league spot.

For Spurs the other Champions league hopeful, they had a tough game against former manager,  Martin Jol’s fulham. Spurs had most of the play, but went down 1-0, with their former star Dimitar Berbatov scoring the winner. Spurs had the run of the play and the best chances. If not for the great goal keeping of Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer, Spurs would have run out easy winners.  Schwarzer was especially strong on two great stops from Jermaine Dafoe, which looked certain goals.

Arsenal kept their hopes for a champions league alive by picking up a well deserved win over a confident Swansea side. Arsenal came into the game in good mood themselves, after there midweek champions league win over Bayern Munich, although not advancing. The Gunners find themselves in 5th place, 4 points behind Spurs, and are getting hot just at the right time, ready for the final push for the 4th place champions league spot.

On the relegation front there were winners and losers. Aston Villa probably pulled off the biggest win of the weekend as they beat fellow strugglers QPR 3-2 in a game totally dominated by the Londoners. If not for the heroics of Villas American keeper Brad Guzan, QPR would have run out worthy winners. The win lifts Villa out of the relegation zone and the loss keeps QPR rooted to the bottom.

Southampton and Wigan did their hopes for survival a world of good as both pulled out big wins. Southampton had a stunning 3-1 win over Liverpool while Wigan got a controversial win over Newcastle.