English Premier League: Maloney and Caldwell fire Wigan to historic Anfield victory

WIGAN’S survival hopes received an unexpected boost as they beat a flailing – and rapidly failing – Liverpool on Merseyside.

Shaun Maloney’s penalty gave the visitors a half-time lead and despite being pegged back just two minutes after the break by a crisp Luis Suarez strike, another Scot, Gary Caldwell, secured Wigan’s first win at Anfield just past the hour with a composed finish. The result added to the pressure on Reds manager Kenny Dalglish who has now overseen five defeats in the last six matches.

Tottenham took a crucial step towards beating London rivals Chelsea to a top-four finish with a more-than-deserved 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge. Spurs stay five points clear of the fifth-placed Blues, who face an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League.

Arsenal tightened their grip on third as goals from Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott and Mikel Arteta earned the Gunners a seventh straight league victory, beating Aston Villa 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium.

Wolves’ woes continued as they let a lead slip to lose 2-1 at Norwich – their fourth defeat in a row. Matt Jarvis’ goal was quickly cancelled out by Grant Holt and he took his league tally to 12 by scoring a penalty just before the break after former Hearts man Eggert Jonsson handled. Holt was sent off late on for a second bookable offence. Wolves are now three adrift at the bottom.

QPR dropped back into the bottom three following a 3-1 defeat at Sunderland.

Nicklas Bendtner and James McClean and Stephane Sessegnon had Sunderland cruising before QPR, who dropped captain Joey Barton to the bench and had Djibril Cisse sent off in the 54th minute, pulled back a consolation through a Taye Taiwo free-kick.

Everton ended Swansea’s three-match winning streak with a 2-0 win at the Liberty Stadium thanks to goals from Leighton Baines and former Rangers striker Nikica Jelavic.