Manchester United crushed Portsmouth 5-0, with a hat-trick of Pompey own goals helping Sir Alex Ferguson's side climb to the top of the Premier League and piling more woe on the struggling south coast club.
Wayne Rooney, in irrepressible form of late, headed United in front with his seventh goal in the past four league games and when Anthony Vanden Borre put through his own net in first-half stoppage time, the game was over as a contest.
Two more own goals, first from Richard Hughes and then Marc Wilson, sandwiched an increasingly rare Dimitar Berbatov strike, as United turned up the heat on their title rivals with a ruthless display.
In Saturday's early kick-off Liverpool got the better of city rivals Everton, with a Dirk Kuyt goal giving Rafel Benitez's side a 1-0 victory in a feisty Merseyside derby.
When Sotirios Kyrgiakos was sent-off for the Reds after 34 minutes, it appeared Everton had a great opportunity to record their first win at Anfield since Kevin Campbell netted the winner in 1999. Marouane Fellaini went off injured after the two-footed challenge from Kyrgiakos, but was lucky not to have been sent from the pitch himself after replays revealed he stamped on the Greek defender.
Tim Cahill had a great chance just before half-time but his header was well over and in the second-half, Kuyt nodded home from Steven Gerrard's corner to send the Kop into raptures. Steven Pienaar was given his marching orders in injury time for a second booking - having been lucky to be on the pitch after a poor challenge in the first-half - and Liverpool held on to temporarily up to fourth in the league.
Tottenham Hotspur could not find a way past Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel as two of this season's top-four hopefuls in the Premier League cancelled each other out in a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane.
Spurs thought they could have had a last-gasp penalty when Jermain Defoe was challenged by Stiliyan Petrov - but it remained goalless.
Brian Laws claimed his first win as Burnley manager as goals from David Nugent and debutant Danny Fox earned a 2-1 win that fired the Clarets out of the relegation zone and plunged West Ham into the bottom three.
The Hammers signed three strikers in the transfer window and Gianfranco Zola handed Benni McCarthy his first start at Turf Moor, but it was Burnley's January recruits who shone the brightest, with David Nugent - fresh from having his loan from Portsmouth extended - opening the scoring after being put through by new boy Fox.
And the left-back was not content with creating goals, getting on the scoresheet himself with a left foot thunderbolt to give the Clarets a two-goal cushion. Zola threw on Mido and Ilan in the second-half and it was the latter who took his chance, scoring with nine minutes left on the clock, but it was Laws who was celebrating holding out for a win as the Hammers slipped into 18th place.
Stoke City produced a dominant display to down ten-man Blackburn Rovers 3-0 and continue their excellent form at the Britannia Stadium. It was a disappointing performance from Sam Allardyce's side who certainly weren't helped by Christopher Samba's second-half dismissal.
With two games in hand on Fulham - ahead of them in tenth - the Potters could potentially climb into the top half of the table with a couple of positive results. But boss Tony Pulis will have been content enough to see his side perform like a true Premier League outfit. Danny Higginbotham scored the first with a left-foot volley, before strikes from Mamady Sidibe and Matthe Etherington wrapped up the points.
Hull City beat moneybags Manchester City 2-1 to put a dent in Roberto Mancini's Champions League ambitions. Jozy Altidore broke the deadlock after half an hour, slotting home his first Premier League goal followingsome excellent work by Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, before George Boateng fired home a sensational second-half strike to double the lead.
Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed one back for City to make it a nervy end at the KC Stadium and Patrick Vieira came on for his second Premier League debut but the Tigers survived to climb out of the relegation zone.
Sunderland and Wigan shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw, as Steve Bruce failed to get one over on his old club. Mohamed Diame netted his first goal for the Latics to give Roberto Martinez's side a 20th minute lead but Kenwyne Jones salvaged a draw for the Wearsiders, heading home a Jordan Henderson cross.
Bolton Wanderers and Fulham played out a goalless draw in a dire encounter at the Reebok stadium. Mark Clattenburg disallowed a Kevin Davies goal late on, penalising the striker for a challenge on Cottagers defender Brede Hangeland to keep the score at 0-0.
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