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LONDON -- Manchester City rediscovered its attacking verve in the English Premier League on Saturday, beating Fulham 3-0 to maintain its perfect home record and keep Manchester United at arms length in the title race. Bastian Schweinsteiger fc bayern munich jersey . Citys 12th straight league victory at Etihad Stadium left the leaders three points clear of United, which visits fourth-place Chelsea on Sunday looking for a win to maintain the pressure on its neighbour. The most resounding victory came at Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal rebounded in style from its miserable recent run in the league by hammering Blackburn 7-1 -- with Robin van Persie grabbing a hat trick to take his tally for the campaign to 22 goals. Thierry Henry also scored for Arsene Wengers team, which climbed above Newcastle and Liverpool provisionally into fifth place and within two points of Chelsea -- the holder of the final Champions League qualification spot. Argentina forward Sergio Aguero converted a penalty for his 15th league goal of the season and also set up strike partner Edin Dzeko as City battled through heavy snow that afflicted the majority of games in the English program. Fulham defender Chris Baird scored an own goal to compound the misery for Fulham, which was the first team to take points off City this campaign by rallying to a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture in September. Elsewhere, Sunderlands impressive run under new manager Martin ONeill continued with a 1-0 win at Stoke, while Wolverhampton Wanderers capitalized on the sending-off of Djibril Cisse on his home debut for Queens Park Rangers to rally to a 2-1 win and climb out of the relegation zone. Bolton dropped into the bottom three with a 2-0 loss at Norwich, Swansea came from behind to defeat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 and bottom team Wigan held Everton to a 1-1 draw. City has struggled for form and luck in January, losing to both Sunderland and Everton in the league and getting dumped out of both domestic cup competitions. Countering increasing talk of the title jitters, the big-spending northwest team brushed aside Fulham with ease. "It was important to win quickly after losing to Everton (on Tuesday)," Mancini said. "We started well and put pressure on them and Im happy. "If we want to win this league, we need to win lots of games here until the end. We cant think about United or Tottenham." Arsenal had picked up just one point from its last four games to slump to seventh place and endanger its habitual spot among the Champions League positions, where the team had resided ever since Wenger joined the club in 1996. However, the feel-good factor returned to the Emirates thanks to an attacking masterclass led by Van Persie. Goals in the second, 38th and 62nd minutes moved him above fellow Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp into 10th place on Arsenals all-time scorers list with 123 overall. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored twice -- his first league goals for Arsenal -- while Mikel Arteta and Henry also got in the act in the hosts first league win in 2012. Blackburn was punished for Gael Givets sending-off for a two-footed tackle on Van Persie with the score at 3-1. "Its a horrible afternoon," said Blackburn manager Steve Kean, whose teams goal came when Morten Gamst Pedersen equalized in the 31st. Wenger again praised Van Persie, who he was thinking of resting for the game. "When you feed him in the box, he is deadly," the Frenchman said. What looks to be a four-way battle for fourth place continues when Newcastle hosts Aston Villa on Sunday. Liverpool is at home to third-place Tottenham on Monday. Sunderland will also feel it can make a late challenge for the European spots if the team keeps up its stunning run since ONeill took charge at the start of December. A 60th-minute solo goal by highly rated Irish winger James McClean earned Sunderland a seventh victory in 10 league matches under ONeill, who replaced Steve Bruce when the club was in relegation trouble. The Black Cats are now eighth, seven points behind Arsenal, and are the team with the best current form in the division. Juan Bernat fc bayern munich jersey . Ekblad led all defencemen with 23 goals and finished tied for fifth in scoring among blue-liners with 53 points in 58. Pierre Hojbjerg fc bayern munich jersey .J. -- If people were looking for Richard Sherman to get the weeklong hype for the Super Bowl started with another rant, the Seattle cornerback disappointed them.Memphis, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant was not effective in his return after a two-game absence, and the Memphis Grizzlies tough defense shut down the Oklahoma City Thunder, 85-74, on Saturday. Durant and Russell Westbrook each shot 5-of-16 for Oklahoma City, losers in four of its last five. The Grizzlies were led by their frontcourt duo of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Randolph paced the game with 21 points and 18 rebounds, and Gasol added 15 points, 12 boards and five assists. In his own return from a two-game absence, Mike Conley scored 10 points for Memphis, which has won six in a row. Its a standard thats being set, Conley said. Hopefully, we will continue to play with that effort and energy. The first three quarters were evenly played, but Memphis pulled away with an 11-2 run to start the final period. Nick Calathes scored four of those points, and all 11 were from the Grizzlies bench. After Serge Ibakas fadeaway cut Oklahoma Citys deficit to 11 with 5:17 to go, the Thunder went three minutes without scoring to end any chance of a comeback. In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City turned the ball over eight times and only had one assist on four made baskets. We lost our composure, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. When we got down three or four points, we didnt come together. Durant was actually sharp in his return to action early, scoring five points on 2-of-3 shooting in the firrst quarter. Mitchell Weiser fc bayern munich jersey. The same was true for Conley, who scored all 10 of his points in the period to help the Grizzlies take a 25-20 lead after one quarter. Each team shot below 30 percent in the second quarter, and Memphis held a 45-40 lead at the break. Despite holding the Grizzlies frontcourt duo of Gasol and Randolph to 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting through one half, the Thunders own struggles from the field prevented them from taking advantage. Oklahoma City started the second quarter on a 7-0 run before an acrobatic Tony Allen layup got the Grizzlies on the board. That started an 8-0 Memphis run that gave it the lead for the remainder of the game. Anthony Morrows triple after a loose ball scramble pulled the Thunder within three with 32 seconds to go, but Gasol hit a pair of free throws to end the half. The third quarter was evenly played, but Randolph and Gasol started to take over. The two combined for 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and a Jeff Green bucket accounted for the Grizzlies only two other points in the period. They led 68-62 after three. Game Notes Durant was out of action with a toe injury, and Conley was battling a wrist injury ... Memphis scored 18 points off 18 Oklahoma City turnovers ... The Grizzlies and Thunder shot 37 and 34.6 percent, respectively ... Memphis outscored Oklahoma City in the paint, 44-22. cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '
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