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Summary Arsenal moved into the top half of the Premier League table with 2-1 victory over Sunderland.
Robin van Persie fired Arsenal into the top half of the Premier League table with a classy double in a 2-1 victory over Sunderland while Newcastle denied Tottenham a fifth straight win with a late equalizer in a 2-2 draw on Sunday.Van Persie again showed his importance to Arsenal by opening the scoring after just 29 seconds at the Emirates and then curling home a free kick seven minutes from time, sandwiching Sebastian Larssons sublime equalizer for Sunderland in the 31st.Shola Amoebi was fourth-place Newcastles savior, coming off the bench to drill in a low shot in the 86th minute and maintain his teams unbeaten record after eight games.Newcastle needed to rally twice at St. James Park, with Amoebi canceling out Jermain Defoes goal in the 68th after Demba Ba leveled in the 48th following Rafael van der Vaarts opener from the penalty spot before the break.In the days other match, Chris Brunt and Peter Odemwingie scored for West Bromwich Albion in a 2-0 victory over struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers, which has now lost five matches in a row to slip to fifth from bottom.Having lost playmakers Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the offseason, Arsenal is increasingly turning to Van Persie for inspiration this season and the Netherlands striker delivered against Sunderland to take his tally in the league to five goals.Van Persies first goal, which came when he ran onto Gervinhos through-ball and fired a low shot into the corner, was the quickest in the Premier League in nearly four years.Sunderland recovered from its slow start and Larsson equalized when he winger whipped home a free kick into the top corner from 25 yards (metres).Van Persie matched that effort with seven minutes remaining, breathing new life into Arsenals campaign after a number of damaging early results, including an 8-2 hammering at Manchester United.Arsenal is still 12 points behind league leader Manchester City, which beat Aston Villa 4-1 on Saturday, and 10 behind second-place United, held 1-1 by Liverpool on the same day.Newcastle is the seasons surprise package and it checked Tottenhams momentum to remain one of only three teams along with the two Manchester clubs yet to be defeated.Like north London rival Arsenal, Tottenham is also returning to form after a poor start to the season and went ahead Van der Vaart slotted away his penalty after Emmanuel Adebayor was tripped by Taylor.Ba equalized from close range for his fifth goal of the season but Defoe regained the lead for the visitors by spinning his marker to lash a low shot into the corner from just outside the box, five minutes after coming on as a substitute.
