Cabaye wonder goal leaves Newcastle flying high

Newcastle closed the gap on the top three with a 1-0 defeat of Wigan at St James Park. Yohan Cabaye scored the all-important goal for the Magpies, his first for the club, as Newcastle joined third-placed Chelsea on 19 points.
"Yohan is a really class player and he brings an elegance to us that everybody really appreciates," said relieved Newcastle boss Alan Pardew afterwards. "If our fans are a little bit disappointed with our performance it was worth the admittance just for the goal."

Newcastle were expected to make short work of a Wigan team who had lost their last five Premier League games, but it was the visitors who started the brighter of the two teams. Victor Moses and Hugo Rodallega both missed chances early on but after the break Newcastle began to look like the side who are enjoying their best start to a league season in 20 years.

It still needed something special to break down Wigan, however, with Cabaye conjuring up a cracker with a 20-yard curler past Ali Al Habsi. "Great credit to Wigan in their approach to the game because they were faster and crisper than us," admitted Pardew. "But we must have something in the team to get to the break at 0-0."

Liverpool wasted an opportunity to also keep up the pressure on the leading pack as they were held 1-1 at home to Norwich. The Reds dominated possession in the first period, twice hitting the woodwork through Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez before a deflected Craig Bellamy shot gave them the lead on the stroke of half-time.

But the Kop were stunned into silence on the hour mark when Grant Holt levelled for the Canaries. Three minutes after coming on as a substitute, Holt headed Anthony Pilkington's cross past Pepe Reina for the equaliser.

Liverpool had chances to win the game late on but Andy Carroll missed a sitter after being teed up by Steven Gerrard and Luiz Suarez saw his shot brilliantly tipped over the bar by Norwich keeper John Ruddy.

Suarez later found himself embroiled in another controversy when he appeared to take a dive under a challenge from Marc Tierney but referee Peter Walton refused to penalise the Norwich defender. With Suarez under investigation for alleged racist comments aimed at Manchester United's Patrice Evra last week, Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish came to the defence of his Uruguayan striker.

"There are people that question Luis Suarez's integrity, but it's their integrity that needs questioning, not his," Dalglish fumed. "On the football pitch he's exemplary, a classic footballer with the way he handles himself and conducts himself."

Elsewhere West Bromwich secured their first league win at Villa Park in 32 years in a dramatic encounter. Villa had taken the lead through a Darren Bent penalty on 23 minutes, but then came the turning point of the match. Olsson and Villa's Chris Herd got in a tangle in the hosts penalty area and when Olsson hit the turf, referee Darren Cann gave Herd his marching orders.

Villa escaped further punishment when Chris Brunt sent his spot kick high and wide. But the one man advantage proved decisive for the Baggies with Jonas Olsson netting on 45 minutes and Paul Scharner grabbing the winner ten minutes into the second half.

Villa boss Alex McLeish said later he was "baffled" by the red card, but WBA manager Roy Hodgson claimed: "It was a kick, he stamped on him."

In other results Sunderland beat Bolton 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium thanks to goals from Stephane Sessegnon and Nicklas Bendtner, while Wolves staged a late comeback against Swansea at Molineux with Kevin Doyle and Jamie O'Hara scoring in the last six minutes as the game finished two apiece. ·