Aston Villa responded to their midweek defeat at West Ham United in decisive fashion in what has become something of a traditional romp over outplayed Bolton Wanderers . The Lancashire side had conceded four goals on their last two visits to Villa Park and though their manager Gary Megson had called for a display of resolute defending, his players mustered only further incompetence by going one better, or worse, during this latest trip to the West Midlands.

John Carew was Villa’s most influential player, involved in four of the goals that amounted to an embarrassing rout for the visitors.
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Bolton survived a comeback from Everton before winning 3-2 to seal their first home win of the season in the Premier League. Gary Megson’s side triumphed at the Reebok Stadium as substitute Ivan Klasnic scored his first goal for the club with the decisive strike in the 87th minute.
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Manchester United received more last-gasp salvation at Old Trafford - this time from Edwin van der Sar as they scrambled back to the Premier League summit with a 2-1 win over Bolton. Late goals against Manchester City and Sunderland have kept United afloat at Old Trafford this season. This time the drama was all at the other end. (more…)

Fulham gets first away win of the year.  Johnson, Davies, and Kamara all score.  Dempsey plays a part in each.

With injuries to Michael Owen and Joey Barton during Newcastle’s 2 - 1 loss at City during the midweek, Mike Ashley and Joe Kinnear splashed out 4.5 Million Pounds for Wanderers midfielder Kevin “Mr. Bolton” Nolan ahead of Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby at St. James’ Park.

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After Bolton head coach Gary Megson took referee Rob Styles to task over his awarding of a Penalty over Cristiano Ronaldo’s fall / dive in the box during Bolton’s 2 - nil loss to Manchester United, the Premiership ref sucked it up and put his ego in check.

In a private call to Megson, Styles apologized for getting it wrong in the 60th minute after awarding the penalty after contact with JLloyd Samuel, where replays showed the Bolton defender got all ball and non of Ronaldo.

This isn’t the first time Styles has sacked up after making a mistake, the last time publicly apologizing after mistakenly giving a penalty to Chelsea during their match with Liverpool.

Styles will continue in his Premiership status after referee Chief Keith Hackett backed Styles, giving him the Tottenham v Hull match on Sunday.

image via DailyMail