Premiership roundup: United slip up as City thrash West Brom

At the opposite end of the table, Wolves were dealt a further blow in their survival efforts as goals from Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott put Arsenal 2-0 up after 11 minutes, with Yossi Benayoun adding a third in the second half. Terry Connor’s team now sit six points adrift of second bottom Blackburn Rovers, having lost their last 5 matches, and suffered the added insult of on-loan Spurs defender Sebastian Bassong receiving a red card after only seven minutes, with van Persie scoring the resultant penalty.

Following their 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the weekend, many had predicted that Manchester City would be unable to catch their fiercest rivals, but a double from Sergio Aguero, one from David Silva and Carlos Tevez’s first goal in almost a year gave City a convincing win, moving them to within five points of the leaders. Tevez, replacing the suspended Mario Balotelli, hadn’t scored for Manchester City since last May, but made the points safe for City, scoring on the hour mark to make it 3-0.

At the DW Stadium, an unusually lacklustre Manchester United failed to perform in the first half, with a header from Victor Moses being ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper David De Gea. However, a controversial goal from Shaun Maloney - scored from a corner given instead of a goal kick - gave Wigan their first win in 15 attempts against the Old Trafford side, in all competitions, moving them up to 17th. United could have had a penalty late on, but Maynor Figueroa’s handball went unpunished. Wigan’s victory means they leapfrog Bolton and Blackburn Rovers to escape the bottom three.

Goals from Scot Jamie Mackie, Joey Barton and Akos Buzsaky gave relegation-threatened QPR a much-needed - and convincing - 3-0 win over Swansea City at Loftus Road. The Londoners now sit two points off the drop zone following the victory, whilst Swansea missed out on the chance to go level on points with Sunderland in 11th.