London - Liverpool hammered Newcastle United 5-1 in the Premier League on Sunday to go three points clear of Chelsea, who were held to a 2-2 draw at Fulham. Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was back in the stands after treatment for kidney stones, and raised eyebrows by omitting Robbie Keane and Xabi Alonso from his starting line-up.
He was more than vindicated, though, as Liverpool, aided by a wretched Newcastle performance, produced their most convincing display of the season.
Only the brilliance of Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given and two goal-line clearances from Charles N'Zogbia kept the score down, but the result was never in doubt once Steven Gerrard had sidefooted in Yossi Benayoun's cut-back after 31 minutes.
Sami Hyypia headed a second and, although David Edgar pulled one back in first-half injury-time, but any thought of a comeback was dashed within four minutes of the restart as Ryan Babel bundled in from close range.
Gerrard added his second from Lucas's through-ball, and an Alonso penalty completed the scoring.
Chelsea had a miserable first half at Fulham, falling behind to Clint Dempsey's goal and losing Florent Malouda and Alex to injury.
But they fought back to level through Frank Lampard after confusion between Aaron Hughes and Mark Schwarzer.
Lampard crashed in a free-kick with 18 minutes to make it 2-1 but, with a minute remaining, Dempsey headed an equaliser from a corner.
Arsenal were unimpressive, but stayed in touch as they beat Portsmouth 1-0, William Gallas heading a late winner as goalkeeper David James flapped at a cross.
Ricky Sbragia's reign as full-time Sunderland manager got off to a poor start as they went down 3-0 at Everton, who remain sixth.
Mikel Arteta scored twice in the first 27 minutes, and Dan Gosling wrapped up the win seven minutes from time.
Roman Bednar and Craig Beattie struck late to give West Bromwich Albion a 2-0 victory over Tottenham, who had Benoit Assou-Ekotto sent off in the first half for a dangerous challenge on Gianni Zuiverloon.
Ricardo Fuller put Stoke City ahead at West Ham, but after Carlton Cole had equalised, the Jamaica international was sent off after seeming to strike his team-mate Andy Griffin.
Diego Tristan then diverted in a Cole shot with two minutes remaining to give West Ham a 2-1 victory
Amr Zaki's first-half penalty was enough to give Wigan a 1-0 victory at Bolton.
In the late game at Ewood Park, Manchester City came from 2-0 down with two minutes remaining to draw 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers.
Manchester United face Middlesbrough on Monday, while Aston Villa are at Hull City on Tuesday.
