LONDON: Arsenal’s slip showed again as they threw away a 2-0 lead for the second time in five days and missed a last-kick penalty to condede a 3-3 draw against Fulham in North London.

The Gunners, held by Schalke in Gelsenkirchen in the Champions League on Tuesday after opening up a similar advantage, led through Olivier Giroud’s header from a Theo Walcott corner and a Lukas Podolski conversion of a Mikel Arteta centre.

But Fulham pulled one back after 29 minutes as an unmarked Dimitar Berbatov nodded in Bryan Ruiz’s corner from inside the six-yard box and they equalised when Berbatov’s cross from the right was headed in by substitute Alex Kacaniklic.

Fulham even took the lead when Arteta dragged down Ruiz in the area and Berbatov hit home a 67th-minute spot-kick. But within minutes Giroud, having placed his first effort against the post, reacted well to head in Walcott’s subsequent cross.

Arsenal could have won it in the 94th-minute when referee Phil Dowd adjudged Sascha Riether had handled Andrey Arshavin’s cross but Mark Schwarzer dived left to deny Arteta’s low spot-kick.

Everton stay fourth after coming from behind to beat struggling Sunderland 2-1 at Goodison Park. The visitors threatened early through Stephane Sessegnon and Steven Fletcher and finally made the breakthrough when summer signing Adam Johnson netted shortly before the break.

But, following plenty of Everton pressure, Marouane Fellaini drove past Simon Mignolet after 76 minutes and, two minutes later, the Belgian cleverly flicked on for Nikica Jelavic to fire home.

West Brom won 2-1 at Wigan thanks to a James Morrison header and a Gary Caldwell own goal. Scotland midfielder Morrison has been an impressive performer in the Baggies’ strong start and he was on hand to head home Chris Brunt’s wicked left-footed cross after 31 minutes.

Caldwell put through his own goal it looked good for Steve Clarke’s men. Arouna Kone pulled one back on the stroke of half-time but Wigan could not find a leveller.

Another individual defensive mistake prevented Southampton from beating Swansea. The hosts went ahead through Morgan Schneiderlin’s 64th-minute header but were pegged back nine minutes later as Maya Yoshida was dispossessed by Nathan Dyer and the winger ran through to score.

Stoke moved up to 12th after a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to winless QPR. Charlie Adam scored the only goal – his first for the club – at the start of the second half, firing in left-footed after the visitors had failed to clear Robert Huth’s long free-kick into the box.

This defeat, a seventh of the season, meant QPR stayed bottom.

Reading, who have scored eight times in their last two home games without winning either, could not find a way past Norwich as their search for a first Premier League victory went on.

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