Manchester City go clear at top; Arsenal hit seven

By Ben James Feb 4, 2012, 19:41 GMT

London - Manchester City got their title bid back on track as they beat Fulham 3-0 on Saturday to go three points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Goals from Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko and a Chris Baird own goal sent City three points clear of neighbours Manchester United, who play Chelsea on Sunday.

Robin van Persie scored a hat-trick as Arsenal thumped Blackburn Rovers 7-1 to go fifth while Wolves moved out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at 10-man Queens Park Rangers.

Having lost at Everton in midweek, City manager Roberto Mancini needed a response from his side and he got it as they were easily too good for Fulham, who have now lost six away games this season.

Aguero eased any nerves with an early goal and a Baird own goal doubled their lead on the half-hour before Dzeko wrapped up the points 18 minutes from time on a snowy night.

At The Emirates, Van Persie took his goal tally this season to 28, 22 of them in the league as Arsenal ripped apart Blackburn, who slipped to second-bottom as a result.

The sending-off of Gael Givet just before half-time didn't help but Arsenal were already 3-1 up by that stage through two Van Persie goals and one for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Arteta scored Arsenal's fourth before Van Persie completed his hat-trick and Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thierry Henry - with his first league goal since returning last month - put the icing on the cake.

'I do not give much importance to the seven goals, it is just we won and played well,' Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said.

'I felt that recently we had quite good performances but did not get the results. Today we got the performance and the result, which is ideally what you want.'

Wolverhampton Wanderers moved out of the bottom three with a 2-1 win at Queens Park Rangers, helped by the sending-off of Djibril Cisse when QPR led 1-0.

Angry at a two-footed challenge from behind by Roger Johnson, Cisse grabbed Johnson by the throat and pushed him away, and was promptly sent off.

Matt Jarvis equalized within a minute of the restart and Kevin Doyle won it for Wolves 20 minutes from time.

Cisse later said his frustration had boiled over because he has suffered two broken legs in his career to date.

'My reaction was stupid and I feel really bad because I let my team down and we lost three vital points,' he said via Twitter.

But Wolves manager Mick McCarthy was delighted at what he saw as a 'huge win'.

'We got a bit of luck with the sending-off but sometimes you get a bit of fortune,' he said. 'It turned it round for us because our extra man paid dividends in the second half.'

Danny Graham scored the winner in Swansea's 2-1 triumph at West Brom as they moved into the top half of the table, while Andrew Surman and Anthony Pilkington secured a 2-0 triumph for Norwich over struggling Bolton.

Sunderland made it seven wins since Martin O'Neill took over as manager, James McLean's goal cementing their position in eighth with a 1-0 win at Stoke.

In the day's other game, Victor Anichebe came off the substitutes' bench to equalize for Everton in their 1-1 draw at bottom side Wigan, who had taken the lead through a Phil Neville own goal.