Premier League, Week 8: Fulham storm back to pummel Palace

Fulham have preserved Martin Jol’s job for now, and in spectacular fashion. They were mildly disappointing for most of the first half of their game against Crystal Palace, but managed to come up with a pair of truly spectacular goals. In the beginning of the second half, they were dominant. By the hour mark, they had put the game away, and they ran out very comfortable 3-1 winners.

Adrian Mariappa got Palace off to a surprisingly excellent start in the seventh minute and made Brede Hangeland look bad in the process. The Fulham defender was caught out of position during the attack that led to the corner he conceded, then again on the set piece, where Mariappa headed in off a deflected cross.

What does it feel like to be 21 years old and know that you have already scored the best goal of your life? Ask Patjim Kasami.

Acceptable reactions to that goal:

Lambert threw on the striker an hour in, and the hosts immediately stepped up the pressure, with Benteke causing problems whenever he moved into the box. But just when it looked like Villa would be able to salvage the points, Spurs hit them on the counterattack, with Paulinho flicking on for Soldado, who claimed his first non-penalty goal with a cool finish to kill off the game and secure the points.

Goals: Townsend 31’, Soldado 69’.

Aston Villa injuries and suspensions

Out: Charles N’Zogbia (Achilles), Jores Okore (knee), Gary Gardner (knee). In doubt: Christian Benteke (hip).

Sergio Aguero’s opener came early on, just 16 minutes into the match. While West Ham stacked the midfield with athletic players yet again, they were no match for Fernandinho and Yaya Toure. The former player took advantage of a turnover to set up the first goal, finding Aguero with a through ball, and the Argentinian made the most of the chance with a composed finish.

The remainder of the first half was very back-and-forth, with West Ham having a couple of half-chances, though they couldn’t create anything concrete. The sides headed into the break with City ahead by one goal, and they would go on to expand their lead early in the second half.

Mourinho at first returned to his team’s bench but that apparently wasn’t good enough for the officials. So the Special One retreated a little further, sitting in a seat located in the section just behind the team’s bench. Much to the amazement and joy of the fans who were sitting in the section.

One guy in particular, who ended up sitting next to the Chelsea boss for the final 20 minutes, was justifiably excited and let the world know via his camera phone and Twitter.

West Brom should have had a penalty in the 57th minute when Charlie Adam hauled down Youssouf Mulumbu, but the referee inexplicably waved play on. The Baggies’ best chance came in stoppage time when Sessegnon beat a couple of defenders to get himself one-on-one with Begovic in similar fashion to the chance he had in the first half, but the result was exactly the same.

Stoke: Begovic, Pieters, Huth, Shawcross, Wilkinson, Nzonzi, Adam, Assaidi, Ireland, Walters, Arnautovic

Swansea: Vorm, Davies (Taylor 51’), Chico, Amat, Rangel, Britton, De Guzman, Dyer, Michu, Routledge (Pozuelo 81’), Bony (Vazquez 75’)

Goals: Bardsley (OG 57’) De Guzman (58’), Bony (Penalty 64’), Chico (80’)

It looked as though all of that pressure would come to naught when the Canaries were caught on the counterattack, with Ozil steaming up the pitch to head in Giroud’s cross, but Norwich didn’t let the two-goal deficit dampen their spirits, and were soon back in the match thanks to Jonathan Howson, who picked up a half-clearance at the edge of the box and fired in a perfect shot to bring the score back to 2-1.

Goals: Howson 70’.

The Blues really cranked up the tempo after the goal and put Cardiff under tremendous pressure that finally payed off in the 33rd minute.

As goalkeeper David Marshall casually bounced the ball after picking it up, Samuel Eto’o cleverly stuck his foot out and knocked the ball free to Eden Hazard. Hazard returned the ball to Eto’o who was tackled hard from behind before he could loose his shot, but Hazard was right there to clean up and even the match at 1-1.

Everton continued their fine start to the season by edging out Hull City at Goodison Park, with a surprisingly resilient performance from Steve Bruce’s men eventually failing as the visitors ran out of steam, with the hosts unlucky not to add to their tally.

Everton looked fairly comfortable, but Hull were capable of threatening, Yannick Sagbo missing a free header from a corner which he directed into the turf. The Ivorian soon made amends, however, arriving at the near post to smash the ball into the roof of the net from Elmohammady’s cross to level the scores.

United put Southampton under some early pressure and created the game’s first clear chance in the 12th minute. Nani beat Luke Shaw before squaring for Robin van Persie, but his shot was right at Artur Boruc.

That miss ended up being a massive turning point in the match. Two minutes later, Adnan Januzaj set up United’s goal, taking advantage of some space behind the Southampton defense. He played Rooney through, but United’s attacking midfielder failed to make the most of the chance, putting it right into Boruc. Luckily for him, van Persie wasn’t far behind. He picked up the rebound, rounded Boruc and placed his shot into an empty net.

Out: Andy Carroll (foot), Alou Diarra (knee), James Collins (hamstring). In doubt: None.

Manchester City injuries and suspensions

Mesut Özil picked up a knock on international duty, but he’s expected to start for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger has plenty of different attacking and midfield options to field around him, even though a number of senior players remain on the training table.

Any points at all could seriously jumpstart Norwich’s campaign, but Chris Hughton will be unconcerned if his team can’t quite pull off an upset in North London. Next week’s game -- at home against Cardiff -- will be an entirely different animal.

Out: Darren Fletcher (illness). In doubt: Rio Ferdinand (groin), Tom Cleverley (calf).

Southampton injuries and suspensions

The Bluebirds will be hoping they catch Chelsea looking ahead to an away match against Schalke in Champions League this Tuesday. Chelsea will be resting some of the players they plan on playing in that game, so it’s possible that, despite the Blues’ fantastic depth, they don’t give Cardiff their best on Saturday.

Chelsea injuries and suspensions

Newcastle United injuries and suspensions

Out: Ryan Taylor (knee), Fabio Coloccini (groin). In doubt: Steven Taylor (hamstring), Massadio Haidara (knee).