Premier League round-up

Tottenham put aside any speculation over the future of manager Harry Redknapp to demolish Newcastle 5-0 at White Hart Lane and remain firmly in the title race.

Chelsea came unstuck against Everton to drop below London rivals Arsenal, who hit back from behind to beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

There were a couple of important games at the bottom of the table as Wigan edged out Bolton and Blackburn withstood a thrilling Queens Park Rangers comeback to pick up three points.

Elsewhere, Norwich got the better of Swansea in a five-goal cracker, while Fulham inflicted a fourth straight loss on Stoke.

The lunchtime kick-off between Manchester United and Liverpool was dominated by further controversy involving Suarez, recently back from an eight-match suspension after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra at Anfield in October.

Suarez decided not to shake Evra's hand during the pre-match formalities and there was a sense of heightened tension for the rest of the afternoon, with players reportedly scuffling in the tunnel at half-time and having to be kept apart at the final whistle.

The first half had seen little goalmouth activity but that all changed within a couple of minutes of the restart as Wayne Rooney blasted home an unstoppable volley from close range following a flick-on at a corner.

Rooney added a second in the 50th minute when he coolly slotted past Pepe Reina after a mistake by Jay Spearing had been seized upon by Antonio Valencia.

Suarez temporarily silenced the Old Trafford boos that he had received all game with a predatory finish 10 minutes from time, but the Red Devils withstood a late spell of pressure to go a point ahead of Manchester City at the Premier League summit.

Tottenham boss Redknapp has been firmly in the media spotlight this week with speculation that he will replace Fabio Capello as England manager reaching fever pitch.

But all the conjecture in recent days was put to one side as Spurs swept into a two-goal lead against Newcastle inside just six minutes in North London, with the evening not improving after that for Alan Pardew's side, who are now sixth in the standings.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto fired the hosts in front before January signing Louis Saha celebrated his first start by finding the net soon after, with the French striker then adding a second with just 20 minutes on the clock.

Niko Kranjcar continued the steady flow of goals beyond the unfortunate Tim Krul in the 34th minute, with the outstanding Emmanuel Adebayor getting in on the act in the second half as the Magpies headed back to the North East with their wings well and truly clipped.

Chelsea's bid for a top-four finish suffered a setback after slumping to a 2-0 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park.

Andre Villas-Boas insisted in the build-up to the match that he would not make Manchester City's mistake of underestimating Everton, but Chelsea were still slow out of the blocks as Steven Pienaar took advantage of hesitant defending to break the deadlock after five minutes with his first goal since returning to the club.

Chelsea were frustrated in their attempts to get back into the game and their hopes were finally extinguished when Denis Stracqualursi showed good composure to open his Premier League account on 71 minutes.

Grabbed the glory

Arsenal are now above Chelsea on goals scored after Thierry Henry stepped off the substitutes' bench to score the winner in their 2-1 success at Sunderland.

The stage was set for an exciting encounter, with the Black Cats in excellent form since Martin O'Neill took charge and the Gunners demolishing Blackburn last weekend, but instead they cancelled each other out in a goalless opening 45 minutes.

The match finally exploded into life with 20 minutes remaining as Per Mertesacker crumpled to the floor and James McClean took advantage to pick up possession and drill a shot across Wojciech Szszesny.

Aaron Ramsey came on to replace the injured Mertesacker and pulled Arsenal back on level terms within five minutes with an effort from the edge of the area that hit both posts before going in.

Henry then grabbed the glory with a 90th-minute goal following great work by the much-maligned Andrey Arshavin.

Blackburn recovered from their heavy defeat at Arsenal with a 3-2 victory over fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers to boost their survival hopes.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni showed what Blackburn have been missing during his three-match suspension with a classy turn and shot on the edge of the area to open the scoring after a quarter of an hour, and Steven N'Zonzi swept home a second eight minutes later following a fast break and Junior Hoilett cut-back.

There was further misery to come for QPR before half-time when Hoilett's angled drive took a deflection off Nedum Onuoha to leave Paddy Kenny with no chance and put Rovers 3-0 in front.

Jamie Mackie turned in Taye Taiwo's cross with 19 minutes left to give QPR hope of mounting a late fightback, before scoring a stunning second to set up a grandstand finale.

Unfortunately for QPR the damage had been done and the victory belonged to Blackburn, although the Londoners remain just outside the bottom three ahead of their opponents and the two sides who met at the Reebok Stadium.

Battle

Wigan are now just a point behind Bolton at the bottom, though, following a 2-1 win over Owen Coyle's men.

Gary Caldwell's towering header from a corner just before half-time put Wigan in control, only for Mark Davies to equalise with a stunning first-time effort from 20 yards that flew into the top corner.

Wigan were not to be denied, though, as James McArthur tucked the ball away on the rebound in the 76th minute after Victor Moses had initially been denied by Adam Bogdan.

Fulham produced an impressive first-half performance to set up a 2-1 victory against Stoke which leapfrogs them over the Potters

Pavel Pogrebnyak may not have been the most famous name to make a move in the January transfer window but he made an immediate impact at Craven Cottage with a fine goal 16 minutes into his Fulham debut.

Fulham made it 2-0 just before the half-hour mark when the in-form Clint Dempsey thundered a powerful, swerving strike against the crossbar from distance and the ball bounced in off Thomas Sorensen's back for an own goal.

Stoke responded strongly after the interval and reduced their arrears thanks to Ryan Shawcross' glancing header, but could not claim a point.

The battle of the promoted teams at the Liberty Stadium was won by Norwich, who became only the second Premier League team to taste victory on Swansea territory.

The Swans have earned a lot of admirers for their passing football this season and it was a typically slick attack that created the opportunity for Danny Graham to curl home a sumptuous opener midway through the first half.

Norwich turned the game on its head with two goals in the space of four minutes early in the second half, with Grant Holt's neat header bringing the scores level before Anthony Pilkington's shot ricocheted off Neil Taylor and rolled over the line to make it 2-1.

Holt extended the Canaries' advantage in the 63rd minute after being played in by Elliott Bennett, but Swansea showed great determination to try and get back into the match and were given a lifeline when Graham scored from the penalty spot following Holt's tug on Ashley Williams.

Norwich then had to cling on in the face of a late onslaught to seal a 3-2 victory and move on to 35 points for the season, just four behind Liverpool.