Premier League round-up: Manchester City hammer Fulham, as Blackburn defeat Aston Villa

Wins for Manchester City and Blackburn see them climb the table, while Aston Villa and Fulham remain dangerously close to the relegation zone.

Blackburn 2-0 Aston Vila

Morten Gamst Pedersen was the star of the show as Blackburn deservedly defeated Aston Villa at Ewood Park. The Norwegian midfielder continued his recent hotstreak in front of goal by bagging both of Rovers goals.

After a dull 45 minutes, Pedersen struck first from a free kick just before half-time. Gerard Houlier’s young Aston Villa side dominated the majority of the second half, but were profligate in front of goal.

In the 66th minute, a David Dunn cornered was cleared only as far as Pascal Chimbonda, whose shot was blocked. Phil Jones then played the ball back in and Pedersen was on hand to put the ball into an empty net.

2-0 was how it finished – the result sees Blackburn move up to 11th, while Villa drop to 13th, only three points clear of the bottom three.

Manchester City 4-1 Fulham

Manchester City put their recent goal drought behind them to inflict more misery on Mark Hughes’ struggling Cottagers. Hughes, who spent much of the week criticising his successor at Manchester City, Roberto Mancini, could scarcely have imagined a worse start to the match for his team.

Only five minutes were on the clock when Carlos Tevez struck home from the edge of the area. Fulham held out for another 25 minutes, before Manchester City trebled their lead in the space of three minutes.

Tevez’ Argentinean compatriat Pablo Zabaleta was the scorer of City’s second, when a Damien Duff clearance from a corner came to him on the half-hour mark. Three minutes later, David Silva played a ball into Yaya Toure, and the Ivorian made no mistake.

Ten minutes into the second half, Carlos Tevez scored again, this time from straight in front of the goal after a Zabaleta shot came to him. Thankfully for Fulham, City’s scoring stopped there and Zoltan Gera even managed to bag his team a consolation.

The result puts Mancini’s team into fourth on their own, while Hughes’ team are fourth bottom and out of the relegation zone only on goal difference.