EPL Boxing day round-up

The English premiership provided its usual Boxing day feast of football and with the battle at the top and bottom tightening up, three points were at a premium.
Here's a round-up.

Stoke City-Manchester United
Stoke suffered a 1-0 loss to the Red Devils, a match that Abdoulaye Faye went 90 minutes at the back and Amdy Faye started at center-midfield before leaving in the 90th for Seyi George Olofinjana.

Manchester City-Hull City
Manchester City delivered a 5-1 thrashing to Hull at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Nedum Onuoha came on at half-time for Micah Richards. Benjamin Mwarurari aka Benjani is still out with a thigh injury.

Chelsea-West Bromwich Albion
The Blues defeated West Brom 2-0 on goals from Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard.
Droggles and Lamps knocked in goals a few minutes after the start of the match and right at the end of the first half to end any hope the Baggies had of making it competitive.

Everton-Middlesbrough
Everton used a goal from Tim Cahill in the second half to defeat a Middlesbrough side with Egyptian striker Mido leading the line. Victor Anichebe was an unused sub for Everton while Joseph Yobo is still out with a hamstring injury suffered in last week's match to Chelsea.

Portsmouth-West Ham
Kanu Nwankwo was a 73' minute sub for Jermain Defoe in Pompeys 4-1 defeat to the Hammers. John Utaka didn't make the bench for Pompey but D.R. Congo international
Herita Nkongolo Ilunga got the full 90' at left back for the Hammers.

Liverpool-Bolton
Fabrice Muamba played the full 90' in Bolton's 3-1 loss to Liverpool. Young forward Tope Obadeyi made the bench for Wanderers again as he makes progress in his bid for playing time while Super Eagles defender Danny Shittu is still stuck to his seat in the dugout as he is out favor with Wanderers manager Gary Megson.

Tottenham-Fulham
Fullbacks Benoit Assou-Ekotto and John Paintsil got the starts for Tottenham and Fulham respectively as did Didier Zokora at midfield for Spurs.All three players went the full 90 in a boring 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane. Dickson Etuhu was on the bench for Fulham but got in the game before the end of the first half due to an injury to Jimmy Bullard.

Sunderland-Blackburn
El-Hadji Diouf was an unused sub for the Black Cats of Sunderland in a 0-0 draw with Blackburn. Christopher Samba got the start at the back as usual for Blackburn and Benni McCarthy continues to show he deserves to be a part of the Rovers starting
eleven. Aaron Mokoena came on as a sub in the final minutes of the match.

Wigan-Newcastle
Amr Zaki knocked in the winning penalty for Wigan in a 2-1 win over Newcastle. Henri Camara came on as a late sub for Wigan while Habib Beye started for Newcastle on the right but had to leave after 38' due to a leg injury sustained after a typical reckless challenge from Wigan's Lee Cattermole. Kazenga Lua Lua was an unused sub while Obafemi Martins and Shola Ameobi are still out with groin and hamstring injuries.

Aston Villa-Arsenal
An Abou Diaby goal put Arsenal 2-0 up in this match before Villa tied things up at 2-2 to take a point from the match. Gabriel Agbonlahor went the full 90 for Villa while Diaby, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue played the full match for the Gunners. Alex Song started the match at midfield but left before the end of the first half. Emmanuel Adebayor missed the match due to a suspension.