Jermaine Defoe scored five times against Wigan on Sunday at White Hart Lane en route to a 9-1 win for Tottenham. It was Spurs’ largest win in the Premier League and the second largest in the history of the EPL. At the top of the table, Chelsea pushed on to keep their lead over Manchester United at five points. While Defoe was the stand out performer of the weekend, there was no shortage of intrigue on Saturday either.

High Five: Jermaine Defoe put 5 past Wigan to lead Spurs on the way to a 9-1 win.

In the early kickoff, Liverpool was held to a 2-2 draw at Anfield by Manchester City. The Reds were forced into two substitutions inside the first 15 minutes, but took the lead in the second half through Martin Skrtel’s first goal for the club. Manchester City equalized and quickly took the lead after goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Stephen Ireland, but the advantage lasted less than 2 minutes before Yossi Benayoun leveled the score at 2-2. Despite late chances for both sides, the draw stood and kept both sides from moving into the top four.

Later in the day, Chelsea momentarily extended their lead at the top to eight points with a 4-0 home win over Wolves. Florent Malouda started the scoring early with a fifth-minute goal, while a Michael Essien double put the Blues in control of the match before half. Joe Cole’s second half strike was his first in over a year now that he’s returned from a prolonged injury layoff.

Chelsea’s lead was cut back down to five points later on Saturday as Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 home win over Everton. Darren Fletcher struck with a well-taken volley in the 35th minute to open the scoring, before second half goals from Michael Carrick and Antonio Valencia truly ended any chance of Everton returning to Merseyside with points.

Of the front runners, it was Arsenal that had the most surprising result of the weekend. The Gunners fell 1-0 to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. It was Darren Bent’s 71st minute strike after a goal-mouth scramble that held up for the Black Cats. The result moves Arsenal into third in the table, while Sunderland continues to impress in eighth place.

Saturday also saw West Ham United surrender a two goal lead to Hull City, before relying on a 67th minute strike from Manuel Da Costa to rescue a point. Finishing 3-3, the result left both sides sitting just above the bottom three.  Also notable was Sunday’s win for Blackburn Rovers, who came away from the Reebok Stadium as 2-0 winners. The victory over Bolton gave Rovers their first away win in over eight months.

Elsewhere:

Stoke 1 – 0 Portsmouth

Birmingham City 1 – 0 Fulham

Burnley 1 – 1 Aston Villa

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