ARSENAL MAINTAINS TOP SPOT AS MAN CITY AND CHELSEA RECORDED AWAY WINS

Arsenal scored two late goals to maintain their position at the top of the Premier League as Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool all recorded victories.
Arsenal had faced the prospect of dropping to third in the table but goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott gave them a 2-0 win over Cardiff at the Emirates.Arsene Wenger's side failed to have a shot on target in the first half for the second successive home game, but after the restart they spurned several good opportunities to take the lead, with Per Mertesacker guilty of missing two free headers.However, Nicklas Bendtner struck two minutes from time, reacting quickest to put the ball home after David Marshall had saved Bacary Sagna's header, although he injured himself while celebrating. Theo Walcott then added some gloss to the scoreline in injury time, dinking Jack Wilshere's pass over the goalkeeper.Manchester City sit a point behind the Gunners after they defeated Swansea City 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium in Wednesday's early kickoff.Fernandinho gave the visitors the perfect start with a low shot that whistled into the net off the slick surface on 14 minutes, but a header from Wilfried Bony -- who appeared to be marginally offside -- brought Swansea level in first-half stoppage time.However, Toure put them back ahead 10 minutes into the second half with a deflected shot, and any remaining nerves were eased when Kolarov scored a terrific individual effort on 66 minutes.Bony scored a late consolation in injury time with a swerving strike that flew past Joe Hart.Substitute Oscar turned from zero to hero as Chelseaenjoyed a 3-0 victory against Southampton at St Mary's.Jose Mourinho introduced Oscar in the 53rd minute following a goalless first half, but the Brazilian's first real contribution was getting booked for diving when challenged in the penalty area by Kelvin Davis.However, it was Oscar's deflected cross that led to the opening goal as Fernando Torres reacted quickest to head the away side into the lead when the ball came back off the post.With 20 minutes remaining, Oscar laid the ball off for another Mourinho substitute, this time Willian, and his compatriot whipped the ball past Davis to double Chelsea's lead.Oscar added a late third when blasting home following good play from Hazard as the West London team sealed all three points in style.Luis Suarez continued where he left off in 2013, with a superb free kick helping Liverpool to a 2-0 victory over Hull City at Anfield.Suarez had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half, but Daniel Agger made the breakthrough on 36 minutes with a header from a corner.Suarez finally did get his name on the scoresheet with a wonderful free kick early in the second half, which he whipped over the wall and into the top corner for his 20th goal of the season, and extended his home scoring streak to seven league matches.The result, which also avenged a 3-1 defeat at Hull in early December, moves Liverpool back up to fourth place in the table.Everton ceded their place in the top four to Liverpool after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City.On-loan Liverpool winger Oussama Assaidi scored his fourth goal of the season and his second in three games when he beat Tim Howard in the Everton goal with a low shot four minutes into the second half.It had seemed that Everton were sliding to defeat until the final minute of normal time, when Leighton Baines converted a penalty after Jermaine Pennant had tripped Leon Osman in the box.Newcastle United, meanwhile, slipped further from the European qualification places as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion.Newcastle saw full-back Mathieu Debuchy dismissed after a two-footed challenge on Claudio Yacob with just over an hour played, and the Baggies clinched all three points late on as Saido Berahino held his nerve with an 87th-minute penalty after Tim Krul had brought down Matej Vydra.At the other end of the table, Fulham recovered from their 6-0 mauling at Hull on Saturday to record a 2-1 victory over fellow strugglers West Ham United.They had to come from a goal behind after just seven minutes, as Mohamed Diame gave the visitors an early lead at Craven Cottage, but Steve Sidwell equalised on 32 minutes before Kevin Nolan was shown a red card for kicking out shortly before half-time.Dimitar Berbatov then struck midway through the second half to seal all three points, moving Fulham out of the bottom three and leaving West Ham second bottom.Sunderland remain at the foot of the table after a 1-0 defeatat home to Aston Villa.Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the winner in the 15th minute, but the hosts had cause to feel aggrieved as Fabio Borini looked to have levelled only to see the goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.Crystal Palace complete the bottom three, and they may end up ruing not taking advantage of Norwich City being reduced to 10 men in the closing stages of their 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park.Bradley Johnson had put the visitors ahead on 39 minutes only for Jason Puncheon to level with a penalty five minutes later, and Palace could not take full advantage in the last eight minutes of the match after Leroy Fer was sent off for a second bookable offence.