English Premier League Power Rankings: Week 25

This weekend, the headlines from action in the English Premier League were flowing with nothing but bad news for the league in a weekend that was chock full of notable story lines.

Liverpool's Luis Suarez once again caught all the headlines from his actions towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra. This time, Suarez refused to shake the hand of the United captain before the game between the two rivals.

The Suarez controversy continues to dominate the headlines, but there was much more going on this weekend like Tottenham's crushing over Newcastle, Everton's upset over Chelsea and the fierce battle in the relegation race this weekend.

As always last week's ranking is in parenthesis.

20. Bolton (19)

Bolton's February slump continued at home against relegation rivals Wigan on Saturday as they fell 2-1 at the Reebok Stadium.

Mark Davies scored an equalizer in the 67th minute, but the Trotters could not keep the draw in tact as they gave up a goal 10 minutes later to result in their 17th loss of the season.

Owen Coyle and company still have a chance to achieve FA Cup glory as they play in the fifth round on Saturday at Millwall.

19. Wolverhampton (16)

Wolves were dropped back down into the relegation zone on Sunday after receiving a 5-1 thumping from West Brom.

The lone goal for the club came from Steven Fletcher, who netted his ninth goal of the season, in the 45th minute.

Mick McCarthy's club are tied with Blackburn and QPR with 21 points but are stuck behind the two in the table in 18th place due to a worse goal differential.

18. Queens Park Rangers (17)

Queens Park Rangers were on the losing side of their match with Blackburn on Saturday despite a spirited effort in the second half.

Jamie Mackie came on as a substitute in the second half and scored in the 71st and 90th minute, but it was not enough for the R's as they fell 3-2 on the road at Ewood Park.

The two goals did matter for the club as they sit ahead of Blackburn in the table by the difference of two goals at the moment in 16th place with 21 points.

17. Wigan (18)

Wigan scored a huge victory in their quest to survive relegation on Saturday as they beat Bolton on the road by the score of 2-1.

James McArthur was the hero for the Latics in the 77th minute as he scored the winning goal for the club.

Gary Caldwell scored the opener in the 43rd minute for the club as well.

Although the Latics are still sitting in last place in the table, they are only one point behind 19th place Bolton and only two behind 16th place QPR, which means a win could catapult Roberto Martinez's club out of the relegation zone.

16. Blackburn (20)

Blackburn's first-half surge was enough to give them a 3-2 win over QPR on Saturday at home.

Yakubu scored the opening goal for Rovers on his return from his red-card suspension in the 14th minute.

Steven Nzonzi and an own goal from Nedum Onuoha gave Steve Kean's club a three-goal cushion heading into the half, and the lead was big enough for the them to hold on until the end despite a late surge from their opponents.

The win boosted Rovers out of the relegation zone into 17th place ahead of a week off before resuming play on the 25th of February at Manchester City.

15. Stoke City (14)

Stoke fell on their road trip to London on Saturday as the lost to Fulham, 2-1.

Ryan Shawcross started a late comeback for the Potters with a 78th minute goal, but that was all the club could muster at Craven Cottage.

A busy week is now ahead for Stoke as they host La Liga's Valencia in the Europa League on Thursday before visiting giant killers Crawley Town on Sunday in the FA Cup fifth round.

14. Aston Villa (12)

Aston Villa extended their winless streak to three games as they lost to Manchester City at home, 1-0.

The shutout loss was the first for Villa since January 2nd when they fell to Swansea.

The Villains are now down to 15th place in the table, but it looks like Alex McLeish's club will have no problem staying in the league as they are seven points clear of the relegation battle.

13. Fulham (15)

Fulham's 2012 form at home continued as the Cottagers beat Stoke 2-1.

New signing Pavel Pogrebnyak scored the first goal of the game, followed by an own goal by Thomas Sorenson which should have been credited to Clint Dempsey after his spectacular shot on goal.

Since the new year began, Martin Jol's club have won three of their four home matches and earned a draw in the fourth.

The Cottagers will take to the road in two weeks where they will look for their first road points of the new year at Queens Park Rangers.

12. Swansea City (11)

Swansea could not catch up with the scoring of their fellow promoted club, Norwich, on Saturday in their 3-2 loss.

In the loss, Danny Graham scored twice to put his club leading goal total to 10 on the season with goals in the 23rd and 87th minute.

The Swans dropped out of the top half of the table with the loss and moved down to 11th place as they have a total of 30 points so far this season.

11. Sunderland (8)

After beating Middlesbrough 2-1 in the FA Cup fourth-round replay on Wednesday, Sunderland lost by the same score to Arsenal on Saturday.

James McClean opened the scoring in the 70th minute, but then, the Black Cats let in two goals from their opponents, and it resulted in the club's 10th loss of the season.

Martin O'Neill and company now get to host Arsenal yet again, this time in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday at the Stadium of Light.

10. West Brom (13)

West Brom made a statement on Sunday in their 5-1 win over Wolves.

Peter Odemwingie fired a hat trick while Jonas Olsson and Keith Andrews scored a goal each as well for the Baggies.

The Baggies are now up to 14th place in the table with 29 points and are almost certain to stay up in the Premier League for another season with the win.

9. Newcastle (6)

Newcastle were thrashed by Tottenham on the road at White Hart Lane as they lost 5-0.

The loss marks the second time in four matches that the Magpies have given up five goals; they gave up five to Fulham in January.

Alan Pardew's company now face a four-team race for fourth place towards the end of the season with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in the race for the final Champions League spot.

8. Liverpool (7)

Liverpool were mired in the Luis Suarez controversy this weekend against Manchester United, but a game did get played.

The Reds were taken down by their rivals, 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The always controversial Uruguayan scored the club's only goal in the 80th minute.

Kenny Dalglish and company now look to advance past Brighton in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday at Anfield—one week before their Carling Cup final appearance against Cardiff.

7. Everton (9)

Everton extended their unbeaten run to five games with a 2-0 upset win over Chelsea on Saturday.

Steven Pienaar and Denis Stracqualursi scored a goal each for the Toffees in their ninth win of the season.

The Toffees will now host Blackpool on Saturday in the FA Cup fifth round at Goodison Park.

6. Norwich City (10)

Norwich took home their fourth win of the new year when they took down Swansea 3-2 in Wales on Saturday.

Grant Holt scored twice, and Anthony Pilkington scored once as the Canaries jumped up to eighth place in the table with 35 points.

With his two goals, Holt took the club lead in goals once again this season as his total moved up to nine with Steve Morison one goal behind with eight and Pilkington third on the club's list with seven.

5. Chelsea (3)

Chelsea's struggles continued on Saturday as the fell 2-0 to Everton and extended their winless streak to four games.

After the loss, another round of speculation began on whether Andre Villas-Boas will keep his job as manager.

Villas-Boas deserves at least to end the season with the club but who knows what will happen if the Blues continue their recent lack of form.

Birmingham comes to visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday as the Blues look to keep their FA Cup hopes alive in the fifth round.

4. Arsenal (5)

Thierry Henry said a more than fitting goodbye to the Premier League as he scored the winning goal for Arsenal against Sunderland in the 90th minute of the Gunners' 2-1 win on Saturday.

The Frenchman will be around for one more week of games before heading back to the New York Red Bulls, and his spark off the bench Saturday could go a long way for the club.

Trips to the San Siro and the Stadium of Light are ahead this week for Arsene Wenger's club as they visit AC Milan on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League and then head to Sunderland for a FA Cup fifth-round clash.

3. Tottenham (4)

Tottenham unleashed a five-goal furor on Newcastle on Saturday in their shutout victory.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto started the scoring in the fourth minute, Louis Saha followed with two goals in his first Spurs start, Niko Kranjcar and Emmanuel Adebayor provided the final two goals of the 5-0 win.

Spurs are almost guaranteed a top-three finish in the Premier League at this point with the club being 10 points ahead of fourth-place Arsenal this late in the season.

A visit to League One club Stevenage is ahead for the club on Sunday in the FA Cup fifth round.

2. Manchester United (2)

Amidst all the pregame controversy at Old Trafford against Liverpool, Manchester United responded with a 2-1 win over their rivals.

Wayne Rooney scored twice in three minutes to give United the win.

The English forward now has 17 goals in the Premier League this season.

Up next for Sir Alex Ferguson and the Red Devils is the first leg of their UEFA Europa League second-round clash with Ajax in Amsterdam on Thursday.

1. Manchester City (1)

Another week, another win for Manchester City.

This week it was a 1-0 win over Aston Villa thanks to a 63rd minute goal from Joleon Lescott.

With the win, the Citizens eclipsed 60 points on the season and are still two points clear of second-place Manchester United in the title race.

A trip to Portugal and the Estadio do Dragao awaits City on Thursday as they face Porto in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League matchup.