Liverpool moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League after they beat Newcastle United 5-1 and second-placed Chelsea were held to a 2-2 draw at neighbours Fulham on Sunday.Arsenal ended a run of three successive draws to beat Portsmouth 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium with a late goal from William Gallas to pull level on points with Aston Villa and Manchester United, neither of whom were playing.Liverpool lead the standings with 45 points from 20 matches, three ahead of Chelsea (42), followed by United, Villa and Arsenal, all on 35 points, although United currently have three games in hand on the leaders.At the other end of the table, West Bromwich Albion beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 with both goals coming in the closing stages to move off the bottom although Blackburn Rovers could put them back there if they beat Manchester City later on Sunday (1615).In the other afternoon matches, Wigan Athletic won 1-0 at Bolton Wanderers, Everton beat Sunderland 3-0 at Goodison Park and West Ham United won at home for the first time in seven league games with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Stoke City.BIGGEST WINThe victory at St James' Park was Liverpool's biggest of the season and followed up their 3-0 demolition of Bolton Wanderers on Friday.Steven Gerrard scored twice with Sami Hyypia, Ryan Babel and Xabi Alonso (penalty) adding the others as Liverpool maintained their drive for their first title success since 1990.After Gerrard and Hyypia had broken early Newcastle resistance to put Liverpool 2-0 up, Newcastle pulled one back in stoppage time at the end of the first half when David Edgar headed in from a corner.However, Babel restored Liverpool's two-goal advantage early in the second half before Gerrard added the fourth after 66 minutes when he dinked the ball over Given following a sublime through ball from Lucas Leiva. Alonso made it 5-1 in the 76th minute after Edgar fouled David Ngog.THRILLING DERBYThere was a thrilling derby at Craven Cottage where Fulham took an early lead through Clint Dempsey before two goals from Frank Lampard put Chelsea ahead with 17 minutes to play.But under coach Roy Hodgson Fulham have become hard to beat and the home side stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches when Dempsey scored their equaliser in the dying minutes.While Chelsea's title hopes were dented by a late goal, Arsenal's were kept alive by one with Gallas heading the only goal at the Emirates nine minutes from the end against Portsmouth.Arsenal, who had drawn their last three games, held on for a victory, as the visitors, coached by former Arsenal skipper Tony Adams, were beaten for the fourth straight league match.HAMMERS WINThe third match in London was also settled by a late goal as West Ham came from behind to beat Stoke City 2-1 at Upton Park with Diego Tristan scoring the winner in the 88th minute.Stoke went ahead with a fourth minute goal from Abdoulaye Faye before Carlton Cole equalised early in the second half.Stoke were reduced to 10 men when Ricardo Fuller was sent off for hitting his captain Andy Griffin.West Ham surged forward in a search of a winner against the depleted visitors and it finally came when Tristan scored two minutes from the end.Tottenham Hotspur were also reduced to 10 men at The Hawthorns against West Bromwich Albion when Benoit Assou-Ekotto was sent off in the first half for a clumsy challenge on Gianni Zuiverloon and Spurs, whose revival under new coach Harry Redknapp appears to have stalled, were beaten by two late goals.Roman Bednar headed West Brom ahead after 83 minutes before Craig Beattie made it 2-0 for the home side four minutes into stoppage time.
