Premier League 2012, Saturday Wrap: WBA Smash Sunderland, QPR Lose Again
Martin O'Neill's Sunderland renaissance met its first major roadbump as they were slaughtered at the Hawthorns by West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies set the tone early, going 1-0 up after three minutes via Peter Odemwingie, and they never looked back. James Morrison doubled their lead with an excellent header just before halftime, and Odemwingie wrapped things up just after the break with a well-placed finish beyond the reach of Simon Mignolet. Keith Andrews finished up the 4-0 win in injury time, leaving Sunderland with the first major setback since Steve Bruce left the club in November.
Basically, nothing happened in this game apart from Darren Bent injuring his Achilles, which looks like it could see the England striker missing much of the rest of the season. The game was only slightly less ugly than the injury, mostly because Aston Villa are incredibly boring. 0-0.
QPR slumped to yet another loss as they were beaten 1-0 by Fulham at Loftus Road. The Cottagers wasted no time in going ahead through Pavel Pobgranek, who rounded Paddy Kenny in the 7th minute to give the visitors the lead, and Rangers' cause was not helped by Samba Diakite picking up red card for a second bookable offence shortly after the half hour mark. QPR had a few chances to score - not least Shaun Wright-Phillips' late curling effort, but they couldn't find an equaliser, and probably didn't deserve one anyway.
