Arsenal stay top of the Premier League after two late goals from Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott rescued three points against Cardiff City.

Manchester City and Chelsea continued to keep the pace at the summit as Manuel Pellegrini’s men registered a 3-2 victory over Swansea, while Jose Mourinho’s charges ran out 3-0 winners at Southampton.

Manchester United’s hopes of retaining their title took another heavy dent after a 2-1 defeat at home to Tottenham.

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The Reds boss admitted he was proud of his players after they put two consecutive away defeats behind them to rise back into the Champions League places at the expense of Everton

Brendan Rodgers has hailed Liverpool’s win over Hull City as his side’s best of the campaign as they climbed back into the Premier League top four.

A Daniel Agger header and a free kick from Luis Suarez sealed a 2-0 win over the Tigers at Anfield, and manager Rodgers was pleased with the way his side repsonded to defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea over the festive period.

“I said to the players afterwards that I thought that was our best win of the season,” he told reporters.

“I think in a lot of games we’ve been vibrant with a lot of energy and scored a lot of goals, but on the back of the games we’ve had over this period, to play with a lot of the same players against a team that won their last game 6-0, we knew we were going to have to tough it out.

“There were two great goals, we had other opportunities and restricted Hull to no shots on target, so I was very, very pleased with today.”

The former Swansea boss also heaped praise on goalscorer Suarez after he played through the pain of an injury to register his 20th goal of what is proving to be an incredible season for the Uruguay forward.

“I thought today was very much about the team, though Luis will always get the plaudits as he’s a world class player,” he added.

“Nine out of ten players wouldn’t have played today. He had a real bad knock on the top of his foot from the Chelsea game, and I know having managed players that most wouldn’t have played with what he had today.

“He had a big strapping on it and put himself out there for the team once again. That’s why he gets the goals that he does because he’s so determined.”

Meanwhile Hull boss Steve Bruce admitted his side were tired after playing their third match in six days, and felt they didn’t quite have the energy to compete with the hosts.

“You could see towards the end, though we were game enough to keep trying, that there were a lot of tired bodies in our team. The third game in six days was a bit too much for us,” he said.

“The disappointing thing for me was that the game was settled by two set-pieces. It was a big ask for us today and to get a result for a club like ours you have to be right at it.

“You have to be fresh and unfortunately it was bit too much for us.”

Luis Suarez’s superb free-kick helped Liverpool bounce back from consecutive away defeats with a comfortable victory over Hull City at Anfield.

The Merseyside outfit had slipped to fifth in the table with losses at title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea, but returned to winning ways by avenging their 3-1 loss to Steve Bruce’s men in the reverse fixture last month.

Liverpool created the better openings of the first half and moved ahead on 36 minutes when Philippe Coutinho’s corner was met by the head of stand-in captain Daniel Agger.

Suarez doubled the lead on 50 minutes to notch his 20th Premier League goal of the season with an unstoppable bending free-kick, joining Fernando Torres as only the second Liverpool player to score in eight consecutive Premier League home games.

Brendan Rodgers’ side pushed for a third as the game neared its conclusion, but the scoreline remained at 2-0 as the hosts climbed to fourth, while Hull stay 10th.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard returned to the bench after a four match lay-off with a hamstring problem, while Iago Aspas and Aly Cissokho replaced injured duo Joe Allen and Mamadou Sakho.

Hull brought in Alex Bruce and David Meyler for Liam Rosenior and George Boyd.

In a lacklustre opening, the two sides exchanged speculative efforts with Yannick Sagbo’s half-volley and Suarez’s inventive chip.

Suarez thought he had put the hosts ahead on 19 minutes when he headed home Coutinho’s free-kick, but the Uruguayan was denied by the linesman’s offside flag.

Raheem Sterling then had a great chance to break the deadlock for the hosts when he broke clear of the Hull defence on the left only to shoot straight at Allan McGregor.

Liverpool’s pressure told with nine minutes remaining in the half, though, as Agger leapt highest to head home Coutinho’s corner.

Rodgers’ team then spurned two great opportunities to extend their lead before half-time.

First, Jordan Henderson side-footed wide from the edge of the box following a superb passage of play, before Coutinho placed an effort wide of the near post after collecting Henderson’s intelligent pass.

Shortly after the break the home side did add a second. Suarez was fouled by James Chester and picked himself up to curl home a sublime free-kick from 25 yards, becoming the first Liverpool player to reach the 20-goal landmark in consecutive league campaigns since Robbie Fowler in 1994-95 and 1995-96 in the process.

Gerrard entered play shortly after the hour mark to a standing ovation and dragged an effort wide with 15 minutes remaining, while Coutinho twice went close from distance.

In the closing stages Suarez had another goal disallowed when he side-footed home from Kolo Toure’s centre, but the ball had gone out of play before the defender crossed.

Coutinho then almost had the final say in injury time as he forced McGregor into a stop from close range after a brilliant solo run, but Liverpool were made to settle for a two-goal winning margin.