Saturday 22 March 2014 21:09, UK
Chelsea and Liverpool both scored six on a high-scoring Premier League afternoon as fellow title contenders Manchester City knocked in five against bottom club Fulham.
Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick, and Martin Skrtel netted a brace, as Liverpool twice came from behind in the first half before running out 6-3 winners over lowly Cardiff in south Wales. A sloppy pass from Joe Allen contributed to Cardiff's opening goal on nine minutes as Fraizer Campbell capitalised on the mistake to set up Jordon Mutch for a low finish. Liverpool were level seven minutes later when Jordan Henderson's excellent pass played in Glen Johnson and his low cross was turned home by Suarez. Cardiff were back in front on 25 minutes as Campbell was played in down the right channel and the striker cut inside before driving a low shot past Simon Mignolet. Yet Liverpool were level again before half-time as Cardiff failed to properly clear a corner and Skrtel pounced on some slack marking to convert Philippe Coutinho's cross. The same two players combined to give Liverpool the lead nine minutes into the second half as Coutinho curled in a corner and Skrtel glanced his header past David Marshall. It was Suarez's turn to get his second of the game on the hour mark after Cardiff failed to properly cut out Johnson's low cross and Daniel Sturridge's back-heel set up his strike partner to score. Cardiff were again undone by poor defending on 75 minutes, this time from Steven Caulker, as Suarez was afforded the chance to roll in a low cross for Sturridge to guide past Marshall. Liverpool were similarly leaky at the back as Mutch helped himself to his second of the game with two minutes to go when the midfielder was left unmarked to head past Mignolet following Kenwyne Jones' knock-down. The slipshod nature of Cardiff's defending was summed up in added time as Suarez shrugged Juan Cala off the ball before biding his time and slipping a shot past Marshall. Manchester United followed up a midweek victory over Olympiakos with a 2-0 success at West Ham thanks to Rooney's first-half brace. Rooney opened the scoring after just eight minutes when he let fly from just inside the West Ham half and his looping shot left home keeper Adrian in a daze in front of former United midfielder David Beckham. United, who had Michael Carrick playing at centre-half, added a second on 33 minutes following a quick counter-attack which ended with Rooney turning the ball home after Mark Noble's clearance from Ashley Young's cross went straight to the England international. Sunderland remain in the drop zone after going down to a 2-0 defeat by relegation rivals Norwich at Carrow Road. Norwich were in front on 20 minutes when Wes Brown's poor clearance went straight to Johan Elmander and he teed up Robert Snodgrass for an emphatic finish. The Canaries' second goal was an absolute belter on 32 minutes when a headed clearance dropped to Alex Tettey 30 yards from the goal and the midfielder let fly with a stunning first-time volley which flew beyond Vito Mannone. The Black Cats' miserable afternoon was compounded in the final minute when Marcos Alonso was sent off after being shown a second yellow card for handball. Roberto Martinez enjoyed victory over his former club as Everton closed out a 3-2 win over Swansea at Goodison Park. Everton took a 20th minute lead when Chico Flores brought down Ross Barkley just inside the box and Leighton Baines placed his penalty beyond the reach of Michel Vorm. Swansea levelled just past the half-hour mark when Wayne Routledge's pass picked out Angel Rangel on the right of the penalty area and his low ball into the six-yard box was tapped in by Wilfried Bony. The hosts regained the lead on 53 minutes when Romelu Lukaku fed Kevin Mirallas on the right and the winger's low cross was finished off by his fellow Belgian from close range. Mirallas was also the creator of Everton's third goal five minutes later when his corner from the left was allowed to drift to the far post where Barkley stooped to head home. Ashley Williams headed a Pablo Hernandez corner in off the bar in added time, but Everton saw out the closing moments to move up to fifth in the table. Liam Rosenior scored his first goal for Hull City and Shane Long was on target against his old club as Steve Bruce's side beat West Brom 2-0 at the KC Stadium. Hull were in front on 32 minutes when Craig Dawson was penalised for an apparent foul on Long and, after Ben Foster saved Nikica Jelavic's penalty, Rosenior reacted the quickest to head beyond the stricken West Brom keeper. The hosts doubled their lead six minutes later when West Brom failed to clear a corner and, after the ball was played back into the box, Long steered his shot beyond Foster. Papiss Cisse headed home a last-minute winner as Newcastle snatched a 1-0 success over Crystal Palace at St James' Park. Palace, who drew 0-0 at Sunderland a week ago, were holding out for a point until Cisse diverted Hatem Ben Arfa's cross beyond Julian Speroni.
