Premier League 2011-12 week 31 part 2



Queens Park Rangers' bid for English Premier League survival continued with a surprise 2-1 win at home to Arsenal on Saturday.


Mark Hughes' team backed up their shock 3-2 victory at home to Liverpool on March 21 with an equally improbable triumph over Champions League-chasing Arsenal.

The hosts went in front 21 minutes into the match at Loftus Road courtesy of Adel Taarabt's first goal this season.



Gathering a pass mid-way into Arsenal's half, the Morocco international shrugged off the attentions of Thomas Vermaelen, before bearing down on goal and dispatching a well-taken strike beyond goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Arsenal equalised in the 37th minute, with Theo Walcott netting on the rebound from his own shot, which struck a post before bouncing kindly for the England winger.


QPR forced the decisive goal, with the unfortunate Vermaelen again at fault.

The Belgian centre-back's slip allowed Jamie Mackie to advance into the area and set up Samba Diakite, who guided the ball home to make it 2-1.




Leon Osman's deflected strike and a Victor Anichebe goal saw Everton defeat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.

Osman opened the scoring in the 18th minute for the hosts at Goodison Park when his strike took a huge deflection off West Brom defender Gareth McAuley before beating Ben Foster.


The second half was a dull affair until Anichebe extended Everton's advantage with a well-taken goal on 67 minutes.

The Nigerian striker fired in off the far post after good work from Steven Pienaar, who should have then put the result beyond doubt in the 74th minute but could only fire straight at Foster after being played in by Nikica Jelavic.




Fulham defeated Norwich City 2-1 in the English Premier League on Saturday thanks to early goals from Clint Dempsey and Damien Duff.

USA international Dempsey opened the scoring for home side Fulham two minutes into the match at Craven Cottage.

Bryan Ruiz had a low shot saved John Ruddy, but the Norwich goalkeeper could only parry the strike, allowing Dempsey to net on the rebound.

In the 13th minute Irishman Duff made it 2-0 to Fulham.

Goal-scorer Dempsey provided the assist, setting up the former Chelsea winger to slot home Fulham's second.


Wes Hoolahan and Andrew Surman threatened after the break for the visitors, who finally got on the scoresheet with 13 minutes to go.

A shot from substitute Aaron Wilbraham found the target with the aid of a deflection off Fulham defender Aaron Hughes.




Wigan gave their Premier League survival hopes a boost after defeating Stoke City 2-0 at DW Stadium on Saturday.

Antolin Alcaraz and Victor Moses netted goals in the second half to give Roberto Martinez's side their first win in front of their DW Stadium faithful since August.

Martinez's side continued to press after the interval and were rewarded in the 55th minute when Beausejour picked out Alcaraz, who fired home a header for a deserved lead.

Despite their wastefulness in front of goal, Wigan made sure of the victory in injury time when Moses capped a fine performance by rounding Begovic and sending the ball home.


Bolton came from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 in the English Premier League on Saturday.

After a goalless first half, Wolverhampton hit the front, went 3-1 down and then scored again to set up a tense final few minutes at Molineux Stadium.


The hosts' opening goal was deserved after they dominated the first half.

After 53 minutes, Michael Kightly received the ball wide on the right with just one opponent to beat and the winger drove inside to shoot across Bolton's goalkeeper Adam Bogdan and into the far bottom corner of the goal.


In the 63rd minute, Bolton's Martin Petrov scored from the spot after Mark Davies had been tripped inside the penalty area.

It only got worse for Wolves as goals to Marcos Alonso and Kevin Davies within four minutes of each other gave Bolton a two-goal buffer with just six minutes to play.

A defensive mistake allowed Matthew Jarvis to thump home Wolverhampton's second goal of the match in the 88th minute but Connor's men could not find an equaliser.