Luis Suarez grabs hat-trick as Liverpool add to Cardiff’s woes

Premier League round-up:Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick and Martin Skrtel struck twice as Liverpool underlined their title credentials in a thrilling 6-3 victory away to Cardiff City .

Brendan Rodgers’s team went behind on two occasions in the first-half as Jordan Mutch and then Fraizer Campbell struck for relegation-threatened Cardiff.

But Skrtel claimed Liverpool’s second equaliser just before the break following Suarez’s 16th-minute effort from close range before Cardiff were finished off during a devastating six-minute spell.

Skrtel's 54th-minute header from a corner put Liverpool ahead for the first time, and then an audacious back-heel by Daniel Sturridge gave Suarez all the room he needed to make it six league wins on the bounce.

And Sturridge completed a second-half masterclass when he scored 15 minutes from time to continue Liverpool’s irresistible form and keep Cardiff in deep trouble, despite Mutch claiming a consolation goal two minutes from the whistle as Liverpool triumphed 6-3 when Suarez pounced deep in injury time.

Liverpool remain four points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand, and Rodgers will breathe a sigh of relief after Cardiff arguably produced their best display during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s managerial reign.

But when the Reds turned up the heat, Cardiff could not live with their precision passing and quality finishing, meaning they remain in the relegation zone with just seven games left.

Yaya Toure claimed a hat-trick as Manchester City swept aside 10-man strugglers Fulham 5-0 at the rain-sodden Etihad Stadium.

Toure struck twice from the penalty spot and curled in a stunning third before Fernandinho and Martin Demichelis completed the victory.

City were not at their best but the result became a certainty after Fernando Amorebieta – who conceded the first penalty – was sent off for hacking down David Silva for the second spot-kick early in the second half.

From then on it became an exercise in damage limitation for Felix Magath’s relegation-threatened side but they could do little to keep out Toure’s sublime long-range effort and Fernandinho’s piledriver.

Demichelis tapped in the fifth, his first City goal, two minutes from time.

Toure's goals made him the third City player to reach 20 goals for the season after Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo, leaving Edin Dzeko, who missed the game through illness, behind on 18.

Everton's outside hopes for Champions League qualification improved after a 3-2 victory over Swansea edged them closer to the top four.

Arsenal’s drubbing at Chelsea meant the win moved Roberto Martinez’s side up to fifth place and within eight points of the Gunners with a match in hand.

But the task to overhaul the Londoners remains a stiff one and will require both greater application and urgency on Everton’s part combined with something of a collapse from Arsene Wenger’s men.

For long periods in the first half the home side lacked the necessary spark to mount a challenge to the established top four when this is precisely the time when they need it.

Goals from Leighton Baines, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley got the job done after Wilfried Bony had equalised in the first half and Ashley Williams’s injury-time header did not threaten the final result.

Arsenal’s defeat could possibly prove to be one battering too many this season while Tottenham, whom Everton overtook with this result, and Manchester United below them are troubled by inconsistency and there is no better opportunity for Martinez’s side to gatecrash the Champions League party.

Swansea have now not beaten Everton in 20 meetings – this was their third defeat this season – and dropped a place to 15th and the fact they dropped no closer to the bottom three will be little consolation.

They have taken just two points from five matches and will remain in danger until they can shore up a defence which gave away sloppy goals.

Hull striker Shane Long might think twice about dropping in on old friends in West Bromwich any time soon after masterminding his former club's retreat back into the relegation mire at a rain-lashed KC Stadium on Saturday.

Long lifted his new club to the brink of safety by winning the controversial first-half penalty which led to their opening goal, then turning in a Curtis Davies flick-on seven minutes before the break to seal a solid 2-0 win for the Tigers.

Long, who scored 22 goals in 87 appearances for West Brom before his surprise sale in January, was barracked mercilessly by the massed ranks of visiting fans for his part in the penalty incident, in which former team-mate Craig Dawson appeared to make minimal contact.

Justice looked to have been done when Ben Foster guessed right to block Nikica Jelavic’s penalty – only to flap the ball straight at a grateful Liam Rosenior, who headed home his first senior goal since October 2009.

With Long also coming close when he lashed a long-range effort against the post in the second half, the increasingly nervous visitors were left to reflect on how much brighter their season might have been if the Republic of Ireland international had still been wearing black and white stripes.

Those two goals in eight first-half minutes shattered the mood of cautious optimism which had hung over the Baggies after boss Pepe Mel eased some of the pressure with his first win in charge at Swansea last week.

Chris Hughton's Norwich side always seem to deliver the goods when their manager's position is under threat and that proved the case once again as they outclassed 10-man Sunderland at Carrow Road.

With survival the target for both sides on show in Norfolk it was Hughton’s Canaries who deservedly ran out 2-0 winners with Robert Snodgrass opening the scoring early on.

Alexander Tettey added the second with a contender for goal of the season and Marcos Alonso was sent off late on for a second yellow card after Norwich had been better than Sunderland in every position.

The Norwich players once again seemed to play for their manager, who has come under pressure in recent weeks. Victories over West Ham, Crystal Palace and Hull came at times earlier in the campaign when the strain on Hughton was at its highest and this win certainly ranks in that category.

The victory moves Norwich up to 13th and, more importantly, seven points clear of the relegation zone while Gus Poyet has a job on his hands to keep Sunderland afloat.

Papiss Cisse headed Newcastle to a last-gasp 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace as the Magpies left it desperately late at St James' Park.

The Senegal international, who had earlier been denied three times by Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni, powered substitute Hatem Ben Arfa’s cross home in the fourth-minute of stoppage time to snatch a 1-0 win with his first goal since January 4th.

Midfielder Cheick Tiote had rattled the crossbar seconds earlier as Palace looked to have survived, but Cisse ensured the Eagles remain firmly entrenched in the battle for survival.

Speroni’s heroics had kept the Eagles in a game of little real quality until that point, and they might even have been ahead themselves with Yannick Bolasie clipping the crossbar seconds after Kagisho Dikgacoi had gone one-on-one with Tim Krul.