• Premier League Plays of the Day

Plays of the Day: Goal of the season?

Hatem Ben Arfa produced something really, really special for Newcastle © Getty Images

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On a day that saw Newcastle pull level on points with fourth-placed Spurs, we round up the best and worst of the Premier League action...

Sweet FA
Who said the FA Cup had lost its allure? Loads of reshuffling in the Everton and Tottenham sides, probably with one eye on the cup semi-finals next weekend (Spurs play Chelsea, Everton meet Liverpool). Harry Redknapp left out Scott Parker, William Gallas, Rafael van der Vaart and Emmanuel Adebayor (and paid the price as Norwich won), while David Moyes really swung the axe: no Leighton Baines, Tim Cahill, Nikica Jelavic, Sylvain Distin or Darron Gibson.

Cheers mate
Slapstick at St James' Park in the match between Newcastle and Bolton. Trotters 'keeper Adam Bogdan came out to punch clear, made a real mess of it, and the ball went flying into the face of his team-mate Sam Ricketts. Ouch; think he'll be trying to catch them in future.

Not arf bad
From the ridiculous to the sublime. Hatem Ben Arfa broke the deadlock at St James' with an absolutely world-class strike, running from inside his own half, beating several players before rolling past Bogdan. What a signing he's been; what a job Alan Pardew has done. The Magpies could yet end up finishing above Redknapp's Spurs, yet it's Harry who's favourite for the England job.

Frankly prolific
Chelsea missed the chance to move into the Champions League spots after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham at Craven Cottage, but it was a memorable night for Frank Lampard, who became the first midfielder to score 150 Premier League goals. After opening the scoring from the penalty spot, Lampard wheeled away in celebration, kissing the badge on his shirt.

Seconds out
We didn't see the footage of this one, so apologies if exaggerated, but several sources were reporting that at half time between Everton and Sunderland at Goodison Park, former Toffees hitman Duncan Ferguson was sparring on the pitch with light-heavyweight boxer Tony Bellew, who was unlucky to lose a world-title tilt against Nathan Cleverly last year. Sounded a damn sight more entertaining than the first half.

Ending the hoodoo
Well, in contrast, the second half was pretty good: Everton scored four times to walk away with a resounding 4-0 triumph. The first time Moyes has managed a winning team against Martin O'Neill, at the tenth time of asking.

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