Reviewing Sunday’s Premier League Fixtures

There were only two Premier League matches on Sunday, Newcastle United v. Queens Park Rangers and Swansea City v. Arsenal.

Newcastle United v. Queens Park Rangers

Without Demba Ba, who has joined the Senegalese national team at the African Cup of Nations, the Magpies managed to defeat Queens Park Rangers 1-0 in Mark Hughes’ first game as boss of the Super Hoops at the Sports Direct Arena in Newcastle.

Man of the Match

Republic of Ireland international Leon Best did his best Demba Ba impersonation by scoring the winner for the Toon, sending Alan Pardew’s side up to sixth place in the Premier League table.

Good Performances

Furthermore, Ryan Taylor, Mike Williamson and Shola Ameobi turned in good shifts for Pardew, while substitute Hatem Ben Arfa put in a very solid second half display.

For Queens Park Rangers, Jay Bothroyd was the lone bright spot, but even he missed a big chance to level when he was one-on-one with Newcastle goal-keeper Tim Krul.

Woeful Performances

Unsurprisingly, the not-so-good performances came from QPR, with most of Mark Hughes’ selections struggling mightily to make an impact.

Let’s just leave it at that.

Bigger Picture

Prior to the start of the 2011-12 Premier League, I dubbed Newcastle United as the dark-horse candidate to finish fourth in the table.

I can not see them qualifying for the Champions League at the moment, but a Europa League spot is far more likely and attainable.

Meanwhile, QPR are moving in the wrong direction at the moment.

Can Mark Hughes avoid relegation? We shall see.

Swansea City v. Arsenal

The upset of the weekend took place in front of 20,409 roaring Swansea City fans at the Liberty Stadium, with the Swans knocking off Arsenal in a historic victory for the Premier League newcomers.

Man of the Match

A bevy of Swansea City players could have taken this honor, but none were quite as instrumental as Nathan Dyer, who played a part in two goals, scoring one and drawing a penalty to set up Scott Sinclair’s sixth goal of the season.

Good Performances

As mentioned above, every Swansea player did quite well against the Gunners.

For Arsenal, Johan Djourou was the standout at right-back, while Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott shined for bits of the game, each bagging a goal.

Woeful Performances

Aaron Ramsey’s had an absolute nightmare of a game in his home country.

The Wales international not only gave up a penalty, but he was also dispossessed by Joe Allen to set up the Swans second goal.

It was a disappointing performance to say the least for the Arsenal midfielder.

But to be fair to Ramsey, Alexandre Song and Andrei Arshavin also left a lot to be desired.

Bigger Picture

Swansea’s victory took them up to tenth place in the table, while Arsenal passed up a chance to move within one point of Chelsea for fourth place.

Swansea look safe at the moment, and are sitting nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Despite the loss, Arsenal are still contenders for fourth place, and are just four points behind Chelsea.