LONDON, Dec 5: Liverpool’s Luis Suarez showed his devastating ability to act as a one-man wrecking ball with four goals in a 5-1 demolition of Norwich City to cap a goal-laden night in the Premier League that saw the top four all win but Manchester United lose 1-0 to Everton to be cut adrift in the title race, 12 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Arsenal preserved their four-point lead by beating Hull City and United’s cause was not helped by further victories for title rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.
Arsenal’s forgotten man Nicklas Bendtner jogged a few memories in the Premier League, scoring two minutes into his first start in more than two years to help the Premier League leaders beat Hull 2-0.
Second-placed Chelsea and Manchester City in third came through tight tussles to beat Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion.
Eden Hazard capped a brilliant performance with two goals in Chelsea’s wild 4-3 victory at Sunderland while City beating West Brom 3-2, mainly thanks to Yaya Toure’s brace, but the star of the night was Suarez.
Suarez delivered a dazzling collection of goal-of-the-season contenders at Anfield which included a 45-yard looping volley as part of a first-half hat-trick.
“Just the fear he puts in defenders — the quality of his finishing is phenomenal,” Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said of the Uruguay striker, who has now scored 11 goals in his last four games against Norwich.
Results:
Arsenal 2 Hull City 0
Fulham 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2
Liverpool 5 Norwich City 1
Manchester United 0 Everton 1
Southampton 2 Aston Villa 3
Stoke City 0 Cardiff City 0
Sunderland 3 Chelsea 4
Swansea City 3 Newcastle United 0
West Bromwich Albion 2 Manchester City 3
—Agencies
English Premier League table after Wednesday’s matches (tabulated under: played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):Arsenal 14 11 1 2 29 10 34Chelsea 14 9 3 2 28 14 30Manchester City 14 9 1 4 40 14 28Liverpool 14 8 3 3 30 17 27Everton 14 7 6 1 22 13 27Tottenham 14 7 3 4 13 15 24Newcastle 14 7 2 5 19 21 23Southampton 14 6 4 4 18 13 22Man United 14 6 4 4 22 18 22Aston Villa 14 5 4 5 16 16 19Swansea 14 5 3 6 20 19 18Hull 14 5 2 7 12 18 17West Brom 14 3 6 5 17 19 15Stoke City 14 3 5 6 12 18 14Cardiff 14 3 5 6 11 20 14Norwich 14 4 2 8 12 28 14West Ham 14 3 4 7 12 15 13Fulham 14 3 1 10 12 26 10Crystal Palace 14 3 1 10 8 22 10Sunderland 14 2 2 10 11 28 8