John Guidetti scored his third hat-trick in as many home games as his Feyenoord side moved to within five points of the Dutch Eredivisie summit with a 3-1 win over Vitesse.
The Swedish teenager followed his 12th-minute opener with a penalty just after the half-hour mark then delighted the De Kuip faithful further with his 17th goal in 15 league games.
Emmanuel Adebayor wasn’t in such rampant mood at Tottenham - but it was Manu’s four first-half assists that steered Harry Redknapp’s side to a 5-0 drubbing of Newcastle.
Having struck up an instant understanding with two-goal debutant Louis Saha, the Togo target man then capped his best performance of the season with a goal of his own.
Spurs now sit 10 points above fourth-placed rivals Arsenal and that display has done manager Redknapp’s chances of being named England manager no harm at all.
It was a difficult weekend for other loan stars - Dedryck Boyata and Wayne Bridge both had to watch from the bench as their sides were defeated 2-1 at home.
Bridge’s Sunderland succumbed to only their second defeat in 12 games as Thierry Henry signed off from English football with Arsenal’s 90th-minute winner, while Boyata’s Bolton continued their torrid home form against bottom-of-the-table Wigan.
The Reebok faithful have been treated to only two wins in 13 since the beginning of the campaign and just one point now separates Wanderers from the foot of the table.
Alex Nimely’s Coventry enjoyed no better fortune - they remain rooted to the bottom of the Championship following a 2-0 defeat by promotion-chasing Reading.
Ryan McGivern’s Bristol City suffered a 3-0 defeat at Hull, the Northern Ireland defender coming off the bench after 22 minutes. Greg Cunningham’s Nottingham Forest can cut the gap between them and the drop-zone to just two points if they win their game in hand.
Over in La Liga, Roque Santa Cruz played the final 15 minutes of Betis’ 2-1 win over Athletic as they moved up to 13th, but Vladimir Weiss’ Espanyol loosened their grip on a European qualification place after losing for the first time in eight games to lowly Zaragoza.
