Arsenal cruise past Wolves and goal rush continues

Arsenal moved into second place in the Premier League, and Aston Villa moved into fifth with a destruction of Bolton. The goals continued to fly in across the league and Alex Ferguson launched another attack on a referee - just another weekend in the Premier League...

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Arsene Wenger's men recorded their second 4-1 win of the week, and moved into second place in the Premier League. In seasons gone by, away evening games in the driving rain against gritty sides such as Wolves were the sort that sometimes were outside of the Arsenal comfort zone. But after a difficult opening 20 minutes, the Gunners never looked back, scoring three times before the interval (two own goals and Cesc Fabregas's ninth of the season in all competitions), and toying with Wolves after the break. The only cloud for the French manager would be the inability to keep clean sheets, but to be honest it's probably not keeping him awake at night.

phil brown hangs on at hull
For the first 62 minutes of yesterday's clash at the KC Stadium, it seemed that Phil Brown was slowly losing his job, as Hull struggled to pull back a goal to equalise against Stoke. But then goals from Seyi Olofinjana - playing against his old club - and a dramatic injury-time winner from the wonderfully named Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink ensured that the only man on the Humber to sport a year-round tan should be given some time at the club to effect a turnaround. But the vultures are still gathering, and Alan Curbishley remains long-term favourite to take on the role with the Tigers.

SATURDAY's goalfest
Purists will have sniffed at the reduced Saturday programme - just four games kicked off at 3pm - but not at the excitement on offer as the Premier League goal rush continued with 18 goals. Six came at Villa Park as the hosts crushed sorry Bolton 5-1 (with five different Aston Villa scorers), Burnley notched up their first away point of the season with a brave comeback at Manchester City in a 3-3 thriller, Spurs were too good for Sunderland (2-0) and Portsmouth's 1-0 half-time lead at Ewood Park ended up a comfortable 3-1 win for Blackburn at full time. Add to that Arsenal's evening stroll at Wolves, and 23 strikes came at almost five a game.

manchester city draw againMark Hughes experienced the first signs of fan friction during Saturday's game with Premier League new boys Burnley as his side was jeered by the Eastlands faithful after their fifth consecutive draw in the Premier League. A starting line-up boasting Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor and Craig Bellamy was expected to roll over Owen Coyle's side, who had previously recorded five straight defeats on their travels this season. But Hughes is finding that there's more to building a great team than just buying great players, and his expensively assembled line-up had to battle back from 2-0 down to get to 3-2. The passionate Lancastrian visitors played until the end of the game and nicked back a goal with just three minutes on the clock to leave Hughes puzzled as to how to break City's winless streak. ·