On a rough weekend for Americans in England, Fulham got rolled over by Arsenal, Reading proved no match for
Manchester United and Watford were held at home.

--------------------------
GUNNERS STORM THE COTTAGE
Fulham remain marooned in the relegation zone after losing 3-0 to a marauding Arsenal at Craven Cottage.

A pair of headers from Emmanuel Adebayor sent the Gunners in at the break two goals to the good and Tomas Rosický sealed the win in the 81st minute to keep Arsenal level on points at the top with Manchester United.

Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey went the 90 for Fulham, but could do little to stop coach Roy Hodgson crashing to 0-3 in the Premier League since replacing Lawrie Sanchez.

Fulham began brightly as their 4-5-1 formation, with Dempsey as the lone striker, took the game to their much-fancied visitors. All their work was undone, however, when Arsenal's first meaningful attack of the game produced a score on 18 minutes.

Fullback Gael Clichy made yards down the left and swung over a teasing cross into the Fulham six-yard box. The towering Adebayor outleapt Dejan Stefanovic to power his header into the corner for a goal of simplicity.

Arsenal's polished passing moves were now beginning to bewitch and seven minutes before the break they carved open the Cottagers once again. Aliaksandr Hleb motored up the right flank and sent over another cross for the elongated Adebayor to head unerringly past Antti Niemi to make it 2-0.

Danny Murphy squandered a chance at the other end five minutes before the break when he side-footed over the bar
to end a flowing counterattack.

Fulham struggled to hit the second half running. Indeed, it was Arsenal who came closest again when Rosický shaved a post in the 49th.

Hodgson responded by bringing on David Healy to help Dempsey in attack and switching to 4-4-2. The US striker had the ball in the net in the 69th minute, heading in Alexei Smertin's center, but had strayed offside.

Hleb turned on some real magic seven minutes later when he led Fulham's backline on a merry dance. The Byelorussian dribbled through their left side before exchanging passes with Cesc Fabregas, but could not put the finishing touch on his endeavor and shot wide.

Nine minutes from time, Arsenal drove the knife in with a third killer strike, again turning the opposition defense from wide on the flanks. This time, it was the Brazilian-born Croat Eduardo who played supplier, beating Dempsey to a foot race on the left before cutting the ball back to a stretching Rosický, who directed it into the bottom corner.

Fulham replay their Third Round FA Cup tie at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday.

Scoring
ARS - Emmanuel Adebayor 14 (Gail Clichy) 19'
ARS - Emmanuel Adebayor 15 (Aliaksandr Hleb) 38'
ARS - Tomas Rosický 6 (Eduardo) 81'

Line-ups
FUL - Antti Niemi; Moritz Volz, Aaron Hughes, Dejan Stefanovic, Carlos Bocanegra, Seol Ki-Hyeon (David Healy 61'), Alexei Smertin (Shefki Kuqi 78'), Steve Davis (Jimmy Bullard 46'), Danny Murphy, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey

ARS - Manuel Almunia; Bakary Sagna, Philippe Senderos, William Gallas, Gael Clichy, Aliaksandr Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosický, Emmanuel Adebayor, Eduardo

--------------------------
UNITED VANQUISH BRAVE ROYALS
In a game full of chances, Reading fought bravely but went down 2-0 to Premier League leaders Manchester United at the Madejski Stadium.

United's dynamic duo supplied the goals; Wayne Rooney broke the deadlock in the 77th minute and then Cristiano Ronaldo, hailed by Royals' boss Steve Coppell as the best player in the world before kickoff, settled the contest in the final minute.

Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey both started for the home team; Convey was replaced by Czech debutant Marek Matejovsky with 10 minutes remaining.

Coppell, while disappointed to have lost to the club he starred for as a player, could still be proud of the way his current team hustled and ran Man U close throughout the game.

In the first half, Reading were particularly impressive. Convey almost instigated a goal in the ninth minute when he found Leroy Lita in the box, but Lita and strike partner Dave Kitson saw their shots smothered.

At the other end, Hahnemann pulled off a stunning diving save to tip Owen Hargreaves' curling set piece away for a corner in the 28th.

Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand both cleared from their own goalmouth as the Royals turned the screw, but almost went ahead fortuitously shortly after the break when Hahnemann's punch-away of a Ryan Giggs corner hit Kitson and nearly rebounded over the line.

The insertion of Giggs at the interval paid dividends as United started to boss the game and both Rooney and Ronaldo saw shots fly past the woodwork.

Reading were still in the hunt however. In the 67th, Dave Kitson beat Nemanja Vidic to a long Nicky Shorey punt, and for a moment was one on one, but his attempted lob was not high enough to beat the experienced Edwin Van der Sar.

Convey and Rio Ferdinand both saw yellow in the 69th minute for an altercation following a strong tackle from the US international.

United finally grabbed the lead after 76 minutes of slugging. Carlos Tevez took advantage of a deflection to chip deftly into the path of the diagonally advancing Rooney, whose outside of the shoe clip past Hahnemann was a strike of true class.

Michael Carrick and Kevin Doyle both missed chances and United wasted a three-on-two break in the 86th when Hahnemann blocked Ronaldo, before the Royals created a final chance to equalize a minute from time.

The ever-industrious James Harper broke from midfield and cleverly split the United defense with his angled run to latch onto Shorey's long pass, but fired just wide of the post from 18 yards.

The visitors then made sure of their points in the final minute. Ronaldo picked up the ball from halfway inside his own half and took off, putting his foot on the gas as he spotted the gaps at the back.

The Portuguese wizard burnt the yards in front of him before finishing off his run with a cool finish into the far corner to seal the day.

While United stay top of the tree on goal difference over Arsenal, Reading stay 14th, two points above the drop
zone. The Royals visit Chelsea on January 30th.

Scoring
MU - Wayne Rooney 6 (Ryan Giggs) 77'
MU - Cristiano Ronaldo 17 90'

Line-ups
REA - Marcus Hahnemann; Graeme Murty, Nicky Shorey, Kalifa Cisse, Ivar Ingimarsson, James Harper, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle, Bobby Convey (Marek Matejovsky 80'), Dave Kitson, Leroy Lita (Shane Long 83')

MU - Edwin Van der Sar; Wes Brown, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves
(Nani 70'), Cristiano Ronaldo, Ji-Sung Park (Ryan Giggs 45'), Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez (Darren Fletcher 81')

--------------------------
ROVERS SCRAPE A POINT
Blackburn Rovers barely got away with a point in Saturday's 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough.

Brad Friedel started and played the full 90 as usual for Rovers, who saw their run of three Premier League wins ended while continuing their habit of giving up the first goal.

Indeed, it was Boro defender David Wheater who was the first to break through after only 13 minutes, heading home a beautifully placed free kick service by Stewart Downing.

Blackburn could offer little in the way of a response in the first half, and the second half didn't start off much better when Tuncay Sanli really should have made it two for Boro. The Turkish striker had half the goal wide open from only a few yards out, but his badly-placed effort came right to Friedel.

Remarkably, Wheater should have had two goals on the night, were it not for the crossbar on Friedel's goal saving a rising headed effort from doubling the Boro advantage.

Blackburn made Boro pay for their wastefulness in the 75th minute, as Matt Derbyshire was in the right place at the right time to finish off a square lob in the box by a resilient Jason Roberts.

Still, Middlesbrough found a way to waste even more chances, with Downing's header cleared off the line by Andre Ooijer and Jermaine Aliadière's close range effort sailing over the bar.

Scoring
BORO - David Wheater 3 (Stewart Downing) 13'
BLA - Matt Derbyshire 2 (Jason Roberts) 75'

Line-ups
BLA - Brad Friedel; Andre Ooijer, Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Stephen Warnock, David Bentley, Steven Reid, David Dunn (Brett Emerton 65'), Morten Gamst Pedersen (Matt Derbyshire 65'), Roque Santa Cruz, Jason Roberts

BORO - Mark Schwarzer; Luke Young, Robert Huth, David Wheater, Emanuel Pogatetz, Gary O'Neil, George Boateng, Julio Arca (Fabio Rochemback 46'), Stewart Downing, Tuncay Sanli, Jeremie Aliadière

--------------------------
POMPEY KEEP DERBY ANCHORED
Derby County started off strong, but finished as poor as usually in Saturday's 3-1 loss to Portsmouth.

Eddie Lewis came on for the Rams in the 32nd minute, playing the rest of the game as a substitute for Danny Mills. Maccabi Tel Aviv target Benny Feilhaber, however, did not dress.

Surprising to everyone, Derby got off on the right foot as loan returnee Lewin Nyatanga got his foot on the end of a header off the crossbar, giving Derby a 1-0 lead only four minutes in.

Both Derby and Portsmouth had chances go close in the minutes afterwards, but for the most part it was the Benjani
Mwaruwari show for the rest of the game.

The Portsmouth striker finished his first goal of the day - and Portsmouth's first at home in over 9 hours - in the 38th
minute, added another before halftime and finished his hat trick with a breakaway goal in the 55th minute.

Scoring
DC - Lewin Nyatanga 1 4'
POR - Benjani Mwaruwari 10 (Pedro Mendes) 38'
POR - Benjani Mwaruwari 11 (Herman Hreidarsson) 42'
POR - Benjani Mwaruwari 12 (Pedro Mendes) 55'

Line-ups

POR - David James; Sylvain Distin, Hermann Hreidarsson, Glen Johnson, Lauren, Noe Pamarot, Lassana Diarra (Richard Hughes 81'), Niko Kranjčar, Pedro Mendes, Benjani Mwaruwari (Arnold Mvuemba 89'), David Nugent

DC - Lewis Price; Danny Mills (Eddie Lewis 32'), Darren Moore, Lewin Nyatanga, Andy Todd, Hossam Ghaly, Laurent Robert (Giles Barnes 56'), Robbie Savage, Craig Fagan (Gary Teale 68'), Kenny Miller, Emanuel Villa

--------------------------
TOFFEES INTO THE TOP FOUR
Everton won their third straight, a 2-1 decision at Wigan Saturday, to vault into a Champions League slot in the table.

Tim Howard worked the full contest in goal, his big stop coming in the form of a tipped over Marcus Bent header in the first half.

The Toffees would win the day with a quick fire double; Andy Johnson opened with a low lash in the 39th minute and
Joleon Lescott added on three minutes later from a Phil Jagielka serve.

Confusion in the Everton area allowed a 53rd minute own goal to slice the lead in half, but the visitors would close out the match.

The Toffees will try to overhaul a 2-1 deficit in their League Cup semifinal second leg against Chelsea at Goodison Park on Wednesday.

Scoring
EVE - Andy Johnson 5 39'
EVE - Joleon Lescott 5 (Phil Jagielka) 42'
WIG - Own Goal (Phil Jagielka) 53'

Line-ups
WIG - Chris Kirkland; Mario Melchiot, Titus Bramble, Paul Scharner, Kevin Kilbane, Luis Antonio Valencia, Michael Brown (Julius Aghahowa 82'), Wilson Palacios, Danny Landzaat (Jason Koumas 52'), Emile Heskey (Antoine Sibierski 52'), Marcus Bent

EVE - Tim Howard; Tony Hibbert, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka, Nuno Valente, Mikel Arteta, Lee Carsley, Phil Neville (James Vaughan 74'), Leon Osman, Tim Cahill, Andy Johnson

--------------------------
HAMMERS HOLD CITY SLICKERS
West Ham opened early, but had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Manchester City on Sunday.

Jonathan Spector made a brief cameo for the visitors in the waning moments.

Carlton Cole got the Hammers started on eight minutes by applying a spectacular overhead finish to Freddie
Ljungberg's cross.

City needed only another eight minutes for Darius Vassell to level the easy way from a twice deflected cross.

West Ham appeared to have a 72nd minute decider from substitute Julian Faubert, but a whistle on Lee Bowyer negated the play.

The Hammers have a long gap until hosting Liverpool on January 30th.

Scoring
WHU - Carlton Cole 3 (Fredrik Ljungberg) 8'
MC - Darius Vassell 3 16'

Line-ups
MC - Joe Hart; Vedran Corluka, Richard Dunne, Micah Richards, Michael Ball, Darius Vassell (Fernandes Gelson 58'), Dietmar
Hamann, Stephen Ireland (Geovanni 68'), Martin Petrov, Elano (Javier Garrido 78'), Rolando Bianchi

WHU - Robert Green; Lucas Neill, Anton Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, George McCartney, Fredrik Ljungberg, Mark Noble, Hayden Mullins, Lee Bowyer (Jonathan Spector 89'), Luis Boa Morte (Julien Faubert 71'), Carlton Cole

--------------------------
ADDICKS HOLD WATFORD AT HOME
Watford kept their place in the top two of the Championship, but could have hoped for something more as a late
goalkeeper error cost them two points at Vicarage Road.

Jay DeMerit started and went the full 90 for the Hornets, who found themselves playing in torrid conditions at their home stadium. Injured defender Cory Gibbs did not feature for the visitors.

The weather prevented any kind of solid play from developing in the first half, but Nathan Ellington still managed to pop up in the second to score his first goal for Watford in the 59th minute.

However, Darren Ambrose scored a lucky equalizer for Charlton when his long-range effort was misjudged by Richard Lee and rolled into the back of the net.

Scoring
WAT - Nathan Ellington 1 (Darius Henderson) 55'
CHA - Darren Ambrose 3 78'

Line-ups
WAT - Richard Lee; Lloyd Doyley, Jay DeMerit, Calum Davenport [Adrian Mariappa 45' (Jon-Joe O'Toole 70')], Jordan Stewart, Tommy Smith, Lee Williamson, Damien Francis, Jobi McAnuff, Darius Henderson, Nathan Ellington (Al Bangura 80')

CHA - Nicky Weaver; Yassin Moutaouakil, Patrick McCarthy, Madjid Bougherra (Jonathan Fortune 90'), Kelly Youga,
Lloyd Sam (Chris Dickinson 81'), Matthew Holland, Zheng Zhi, Darren Ambrose, Luke Varney, Chris Iwelumo (Andy
Gray 68')

--------------------------
DONS FALL ON THE ROAD
League Two cellar dwellers Wrexham completed a shock 1-0 win over leaders Milton Keynes Dons on Saturday.

Jemal Johnson started and played 87 minutes for Dons, who still hold a seven-point lead at the top of the table despite the defeat.

The winning goal was not without controversy - Dons goalkeeper Willy Gueret felt he was blocked on the corner kick
that led to Neil Roberts' deft finish - but it stood to send MK Dons to their first back-to-back losses of the season.

Scoring
WREX - Neil Roberts 4 71'

MKD - Willy Gueret; Luke Howell (Kevin Gallen 75'), Drissa Diallo, Sean O'Hanlon, Dean Lewington, Mark Wright,
Keith Andrews, Colin Cameron (Lloyd Dyer 61'), Alan Navarro, Jemal Johnson (Matt Carbon 87'), Aaron Wilbraham

-------------------------
ON THE SIDELINE
Injured defender Frank Simek missed out as Sheffield Wednesday topped cross-town rivals United 2-0.

Zak Whitbread did not take part as Millwall dropped a 1-0 decision against Tranmere.