NEWCASTLE UNITED HELD on to sixth place in the Barclay’s Premier League by winning 3-0 at relegation threatened Crystal Palace through goals from Yohan Cabaye, a Danny Gabbidon own goal and a late Hatem Ben Arfa penalty.
Alan Pardew’s men have now won six of their last seven Premier League games and sit just six points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Crystal Palace — who, while lively in the second half, rarely threatened — stay in the relegation zone, third from bottom.
Elsewhere, Matej Vydra came off the bench to earn West Bromwich Albion a 1-1 draw at home to Hull City in the first game since Steve Clarke’s dismissal as manager, netting four minutes from time.
It had looked as if Jake Livermore’s first half goal would condemn the Baggies to their fifth successive defeat but caretaker-manager Keith Downing’s decision to send on Vydra — a loan signing from Udinese — and Zoltan Gera proved to be a masterstroke.
Shane Long picked out Gera with a neat backheel and the Hungarian’s pass proved too good for the Hull defence and Vydra finished calmly to move West Brom three points clear of the relegation zone.
The news was not so good for Aston Villa fans as goals from Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch combined to give Stoke City a 2-1 win in a game that featured bookings for two Irish internationals, Ciaran Clark and Marc Wilson.
Indeed, Wilson was lucky not to see red as his clumsy foul on Andreas Weinmann had the Villa bench claiming he was the last man but the 26-year old escaped with a caution.
In the day’s other game, bottom club Sunderland couldn’t get any bounce from their League Cup heroics and played out a 0-0 draw with Norwich. A disappointing afternoon for the hosts was made worse by a red card for Wes Brown following a reckless tackle on Ricky van Wolsfwinkel in the third minute of injury time.
Additional reporting from AFP.
