Arsenal capitalised on Manchester United's shock defeat by West Ham to roar back to the top of the Premier League table on Saturday night.
The Gunners came from behind to crush Everton 4-1 at Goodison Park, just hours after United had blown a 1-0 lead to go down 2-1 at Upton Park.
Tim Cahill put the Toffees ahead 19 minutes into a hotly-contested affair at Goodison Park.
But two high-quality finishes from Eduardo da Silva turned things round early in the second half.
Emmanuel Adebayor added a third after a horrendous mix-up between Joseph Yobo and Tim Howard before Tomas Rosicky blasted home a fourth.
To add insult to injury Everton had Mikel Arteta sent off late on after catching Cesc Fabregas with a stray elbow, while the Gunners had Nicklas Bendtner red-carded for two bookable offences - the second a rash challenge on Andy Johnson.
Earlier in the afternoon Cristiano Ronaldo was made to pay dearly for a crucial penalty miss as the reigning champions slipped up in their bid to end 2007 on top of the table.
The Portugal winger dragged a second-half spot-kick wide with his side 1-0 up, and then the Hammers scored twice in five minutes to seal a famous victory.
Ronaldo had earlier put the Red Devils ahead with his 18th goal of the season, finishing a superb 14th-minute break with a header from a Ryan Giggs cross.
But late headers from Anton Ferdinand and Matthew Upson completed a dramatic turnaround.
The match of the day came at White Hart Lane as Tottenham recorded an extraordinary 6-4 win over Reading.
Dimitar Berbatov scored four times, the first after only seven minutes.
But the home side were forced to come from behind three times.
First Kalifa Cisse and Ivar Ingimarsson made it 2-1 before Berbatov levelled.
That was the first of seven goals in 20 crazy minutes as Dave Kitson, Berbatov, Kitson again and Steed Malbranque made it 4-4 before a Robbie Keane penalty and Berbatov completed the carnage.
Injury-hit Chelsea closed to within four points of the reigning champions with a battling 2-1 win over Newcastle.
Michael Essien gave the home side a half-time lead when he swept home from six yards shortly before the half-hour mark but Nicky Butt levelled when he eventually bundled home Charles N'Zogbia's cross at the second attempt.
However, Salomon Kalou scored a controversial winner three minutes from time after the ball deflected through to him, Newcastle appealing for offside.
Sunderland hauled themselves out of the drop zone with a 3-1 victory against Bolton.
Kieran Richardson, who only returned from a four-month injury lay-off on Boxing Day, scored his first goal for the club when he blasted the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen following brilliant work from Kenwyne Jones.
The roles were reversed when Jones powered home a header from Richardson's corner.
El-Hadji Diouf halved the deficit before half-time when his flighted free-kick evaded everyone and curled into the net but Sunderland substitute Daryl Murphy kept his composure in stoppage-time to seal the win.
Fulham dropped to second-bottom after Sebastian Larsson handed Birmingham a 1-1 draw at St Andrews.
Carlos Bocanegra's eighth-minute header put the visitors ahead in Ray Lewington's final match as caretaker-boss.
But Blues equalised after the interval when Larsson latched on to Fabrice Muamba's through-ball before his finish deflected in off Elliot Omozusi. Hameur Bouazza was then sent off for a second yellow card.
Wigan replaced Sunderland in the bottom three after Aston Villa staged a second-half fightback at the JJB Stadium.
Titus Bramble notched his first Latics goal with a bullet header from Ryan Taylor's pinpoint corner in the 28th minute but Curtis Davies marked his first Premier League start for Villa with his first goal for the club, heading in Gareth Barry's corner after the break.
Gabriel Agbonlahor then flicked a header past Chris Kirkland to complete the turnaround.
Tuncay Sanli's fourth goal in the last six games handed Middlesbrough a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth.
The Turk tapped into an empty net after David James parried Gary O'Neil's volley from Stewart Downing's inswinging cross.
Source : www.sportinglife.com
