There were some potentially big results towards the bottom of the Premier League over the last three days.

The most impressive of them all came at The Hawthorns, where Queens Park Rangers ran out 4-1 winners over hosting West Bromwich Albion.

Sunderland and Leicester City also picked up vital home victories, while Burnley collected a 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor.

The biggest losers were Hull City, who went down 3-1 at Swansea City, with Aston Villa suffering the same fate at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

That win for United has seen them open up an eight-point gap to rivals Liverpool in the race for the Champions League places after the Merseysiders were beaten 4-1 by Arsenal in North London.

Elsewhere, Everton overcame Southampton on Merseyside and Chelsea tightened their grip on top spot by seeing off Stoke City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Talking of the title, Manchester City's defence is all but over following their 2-1 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.

Here, Sports Mole has looked back over all 10 contests to pick out the 11 most impressive players.

Tim Howard (Everton)
It may not have been the American's finest season between the posts, but he certainly showed his best form to keep a clean sheet at Goodison Park. His acrobatic stop to deny Graziano Pelle was the highlight.

Patrick van Aanholt (Sunderland)
Jermain Defoe has understandably claimed the headlines from the Tyne-Wear derby, but the performance of Van Aanholt warrants a mention. The left-back defended well and also offered a threat going forward.
Steven Caulker (Queens Park Rangers)
The centre-back has not always been a solid influence on the QPR defence, but he showed just what he's capable of as the R's claimed a vital victory.
Scott Dann (Crystal Palace)
Having been heavily involved in the first goal, Dann went on to put in a real solid performance at the heart of the Palace defence to ensure that Sergio Aguero's goal drought continues.
Hector Bellerin (Arsenal)
The young Spaniard is fast becoming an established right-back at the Emirates Stadium. Another good display was rounded off by him scoring the opening goal against Liverpool with his left foot.

Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
Player of the season? It's hard to identify someone that has been consistently better than the Belgian. He kept his cool from the penalty spot and then showed great presence of mind to assist the winning goal.
Ander Herrera (Manchester United)
Having struggled to establish himself initially following his summer move from Athletic Bilbao, Herrera is now a key member of Louis van Gaal's team. Both of his goals showed real composure.
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
Over the years, Cattermole has been guilty of losing his head in the more important games. He was calmness personified against Newcastle, though, and also controlled the midfield battle.
Mesut Ozil (Arsenal)
The German has his critics, but on this form, there are few better players in the Premier League. He scored from a set-piece situation to cap a flair-ridden outing.

Bafetimbi Gomis (Swansea City)
A bit like Swansea this season, Gomis seems to be going from strength to strength. He opened the scoring with a powerful volley and then secured the points with a smartly taken chipped finish.
Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace)
He may have been lucky to have not given away a penalty for handball and was also offside for his goal, but it's hard to begrudge Murray his luck for the tireless display that he put in as a lone centre-forward. He won numerous fouls and headers.

Numpty of the week

Lazar Markovic: As far as this particular incident is concerned, the look on Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers's face told you all that you needed to know.

With the score at the Emirates Stadium locked at 0-0, Markovic ran through on the Arsenal goal unopposed. Having committed goalkeeper David Ospina off his line, he then opted to pass to Raheem Sterling, rather than shoot.

There is nothing wrong with that because after all, Sterling would have had a simple finish to break the deadlock. The pass was badly overhit, though, and ended up rolling harmlessly out of play. Soon after, Liverpool fell a goal behind and never recovered.

Goal of the week

Charlie Adam - Chelsea vs. (Stoke City): The Scot beat one of the world's best goalkeepers from 65 yards out and yet it still wasn't an automatic pick for this award, such has been the standard of goals over the last few days.

On any other weekend, the likes of Wayne Rooney, Bobby Zamora and Defoe would have scooped it, but what Adam did cannot be ignored. From inside his own half, the Stoke midfielder spotted Thibaut Courtois off his line and he proceeded to launch a swerving effort towards goal.

The back-tracking keeper got a hand to the ball, but he could not prevent it from dropping into the net.