England winger nets first Premier League goal for Liverpool in 4-0 win at Anfield

England winger Stewart Downing enjoyed a memorable day as he produced his first Premier League goal for Liverpool in a 4-0 victory over Fulham.

Downing started on the right wing for the Anfield side as manager Brendan Rodgers left teenager Raheem Sterling on the bench 'to give him a breather'.

And former Middlesbrough and Aston Villa man Downing certainly made his mark.

England captain Steven Gerrard's corner helped create the opener for Martin Skrtel before Downing took over by providing one of the through-balls of the season to set up Gerrard to make it 2-0. It was his first assist Premier League for Liverpool.

He then made it 3-0 in the second half himself with a shot from the edge of the box before Luis Suarez wrapped things up to the delight of the home fans.

Afterwards modest Downing was more interested in discussing the result than his own man of the match performance - insisting it made up for losing 3-1 at home to Aston Villa last week.

He said: "We let ourselves down against Aston Villa," he said. "Tonight it came together and there were some quality goals.

"I'm just trying to enjoy it, do the best I can and give the manager a problem."

At the Etihad Stadium, Three Lions midfielder Gareth Barry scored a dramatic winner for Manchester City against Reading - and sparked a long debate over whether he fouled his marker before heading home in the 92nd minute.

The goal gave City all three points just when it seemed Reading were going to hold out; and the visitors claimed Barry fouled defender Nicky Shorey before scoring the all-important goal.

Barry, however, shrugged it off.

"I haven't seen it again," he insisted. "Shorey was just standing there and I got over the top of him.

"The lads in the dressing room were saying it was possibly a foul but I'm delighted the referee did not see it as a foul. I will have to see it again to make my own mind up."

City manager Roberto Mancini also selected England's Joe Hart in goal and brought on Scott Sinclair in the second half.

The Italian said he was not shocked to see defensive midfielder Barry grab the winner when so many of his more attacking players had failed to find the net.

He said: "I'm not surprised because sometimes Gareth scores and he usually scores important goals."

Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was voted man of the match in Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Wigan at the end of a week in which he signed a new contract for the club.

He said: “They made it really hard for us and at half time the boys exchanged a lot of words about what we had to.

"We all pulled together and I am learning all the time from the senior players at the club.”

Arsenal’s penalty came after Theo Walcott went down following a Jean Beausejour challenge.

Once again he played in his favoured central striking role and manage Arsene Wenger said: “I believe he has potential in that position; his runs are good, his finishing is good and he is efficient.

"Today he didn't get that much service but he worked hard and got us the penalty.”

Also in action were Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere with Carl Jenkinson an unused sub.

At White Hart Lane, Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas refused to blame his star striker Jermain Defoe and his other attacking stars as Spurs were held 0-0 by Stoke City.

He said: "It is difficult to break them down. We tried everything from the first minute but Stoke proved why they are on a magnificent unbeaten run.

"It's difficult to create chances against them. We had lots of possession and lots of shots from outside the box, but we can't be negative because we gave it a go.

"We tried to get the three points but we couldn't do it today."

Tottenham also fielded Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and Kyle Walker in their starting line-up. But England's Ryan Shawcross stood firm at the heart of a defiant Stoke defence.

Everton - including England's Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Leon Osman - came from behind to win 2-1 at West Ham. And Osman won special praise from team mate Phil Neville, who returned from injury.

Neville said on his Twitter account: "Great to be back playing again, I've missed it so much. We deserved the victory today. Leon Osman was fantastic for us, back in the top-four!

Carlton Cole gave the Hammers an early lead but was later sent off as Victor Anichebe and Steven Pienaar replied.

Everton also had Darron Gibson sent off but still move up to fourth in the table.

Meanwhile, in the Championship, Wilfried Zaha scored a stunning goal as Crystal Palace took on Huddersfield and drew 1-1.