Newcastle: Newcastle United and Swansea battled to a rugged 0-0 draw at St. James' Park in the Premier League on Saturday.
Newcastle striker Demba Ba came closest to breaking the deadlock late in the first half but the Senegal international's acrobatic effort hit the post.
The home side's dominance repeatedly tested Swansea goalkeeper Michel Vorm as Newcastle's Fabricio Coloccini and Shola Ameobi also came close but failed to find the breakthrough, leaving the Magpies winless in five games.
Before the game, Newcastle fans paid tribute to former player Gary Speed, who died last month.
Two weeks after becoming the most prolific American scorer in England's top division, Clint Dempsey scored his 38th Premier League goal to help Fulham beat visiting Bolton 2-0.
Dempsey surpassed the record of 36 he shared with former Fulham striker Brian McBride when he scored in a 1-0 win over Liverpool on December 5. He scored again on Wednesday in a 2-2 Europa League draw with Odense and beat Dedryck Boyata to Ruiz's right-wing cross to put Fulham ahead on Saturday.
"He scores so many goals," Fulham manager Martin Jol said. "I'm very happy with him."
Dempsey scored his fifth league goal this season and eighth overall with a 32nd-minute header from Bryan Ruiz's cross. The roles were reversed when Dempsey passed to Costa Rica forward Ruiz, who showed composure and vision to lift the ball over the goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen to make it 2-0 two minutes later.
Bolton played well in the second half but failed to find a way past the home side's resolute defence and stayed bottom of the Premier League after a 13th league defeat as Fulham held out for a seventh clean sheet of the campaign.
Last-placed Bolton have only nine points from 16 games. That's one fewer than Blackburn, who lost 2-1 to visiting West Bromwich Albion. Peter Odemwingie scored West Brom's winning goal with a minute left to further increase the pressure on under-fire Rovers manager Steve Kean.
The hosts fell behind in the 52nd minute when they failed to properly deal with a corner and James Morrison smashed the ball past Paul Robinson.
Scott Dann scrambled in an equalizer with 18 minutes to go, but Blackburn were left empty-handed by Odemwingie's 89th-minute effort, as he went around several defenders before sending a strike into the corner of the net.
Wolverhampton Wanderers are one place above the relegation zone after conceding two second-half goals to lose 2-1 against Stoke City. Stoke are three points behind Newcastle, who spent three months in the top four but are now without a win in five matches.
Peter Crouch scored the winner as Stoke won their fourth straight league game after rallying in the second half at Molineux.
Wolves enjoyed the brighter start and their endeavor paid off when they were awarded a penalty after Jonathan Woodgate brought down Matt Jarvis in the area in the 17th minute. Stephen Hunt converted the spot-kick to give the home side the lead, but Wolves could not hang on to ease their relegation fears.
Kevin Doyle deflected Robert Huth's free kick into his own goal in the 58th to level the scores and Crouch completed the comeback 12 minutes later when he converted Matthew Etherington's cross from close range.
Everton narrowly avoided a third straight Premier League loss after Leon Osman equalized in the 81st minute to earn a 1-1 draw against visiting Norwich.
Striker Grant Holt had given Norwich the lead in the 28th minute, and even though Everton dominated much of the game, the Toffees once again seemed unable to capitalize. But the introduction of on-loan Real Madrid midfielder Royston Drenthe for the last 20 minutes proved pivotal as it was his shot that was deflected in by Osman.
Norwich took the lead with their first shot, as Holt did well to hold off John Heitinga on the edge of the six-yard box before expertly turning the Dutchman to score off the inside of the far post.
But Drenthe cut in from the right in the 81st minute to unleash a shot that Osman diverted inside the near post.
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