The resurgence of Togo star Emmanuel Adebayor under recently appointed Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood continued at the weekend with an English Premier League winner against Everton.
Shunned by previous boss Andre Villas Boas, the lanky striker has scored regularly since his recall and netted the only goal at White Hart Lane midway through the second half.
A productive weekend for Africans in England saw Moroccan Marouane Chamakh, Nigerian Peter Odemwingie and Ivorian Wilfried Bony also on target.
ENGLAND
EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR (Tottenham Hotspur)
Adebayor scored the only goal of the game as Tottenham stole a march on Everton in the race for a top-four finish with a 1-0 win. The Togolese striker struck in the 65th minute, gathering a pass from Kyle Walker on his chest and holding off Seamus Coleman before drilling a left-foot shot into the bottom-left corner.
SAMUEL ETO'O (Chelsea)
Eden Hazard grabbed the headlines after scoring all three goals as Chelsea beat Newcastle United 3-0, but Eto'o played his part with two assists. The Cameroon superstar set up Hazard's second goal in the 34th minute with a cute back-heel and won the penalty from which the Belgian completed his hat-trick.
MAROUANE CHAMAKH (Crystal Palace)
Chamakh ended a run of seven league games without a goal by scoring the third goal in Palace's 3-1 win at home to West Bromwich Albion. The Moroccan striker killed off West Brom's hopes of a comeback by netting a penalty in the 69th minute after he had been felled by visiting goalkeeper Ben Foster.
PETER ODEMWINGIE (Stoke City)
Odemwingie scored his first goal in Stoke's colours in a 2-2 draw at Southampton. The Nigeria international found the net in the 38th minute to cancel out Rickie Lambert's early opener, coolly beating Saints goalkeeper Artur Boruc from Charlie Adam's incisive through ball.
WILFRIED BONY (Swansea City)
Bony set the seal on a memorable day for Swansea as they beat fierce local rivals Cardiff City 3-0 in their first game since Michael Laudrup was sacked as manager. The Ivory Coast international got on the score-sheet in the 85th minute with a powerful header from a Pablo Hernandez free-kick.
SPAIN
SOFIANE FEGHOULI (Valencia)
Algeria midfielder Feghouli registered his fourth goal of the season with a thumping right-foot finish as Valencia hammered Real Betis 5-0.
JONATHAN ZONGO (Almeria)
Zongo played a key part as Almeria stunned leaders Atletico Madrid with a 2-0 win. The Burkinabe was bundled over by Daniel Aranzubia inside the area six minutes from time, resulting in a red card for the Atletico goalkeeper and Verza seal the three points from the penalty spot.
ALEX SONG (Barcelona)
Song played the full 90 minutes for just the seventh time this season in the league as Barca returned to the top of the table with a 4-1 win at Sevilla. Booked early on, the Cameroon midfielder was lucky not to see a second yellow card for deliberate handball just before half-time.
ITALY
KWADWO ASAMOAH (Juventus)
Asamoah often creates goal-scoring chances for himself and it was from one such opportunity that Juventus broke the deadlock in a 2-2 draw with Verona. The Ghanaian's shot from the left side of the area was blocked by 'keeper Rafael, but the ball fell to Carlos Tevez, who reacted quickly to fire home on four minutes.
MICHAEL ESSIEN (AC Milan)
The Ghanaian's debut for Milan was largely unremarkable on a personal level as the Rossoneri were outclassed during a 3-1 defeat to third-place Napoli. Whether the poise and presence for which Essien became known at Chelsea will resurface is anyone's guess.
ADEL TAARABT (AC Milan)
Taarabt joined Milan on loan from Fulham until the end of the season and immediately pledged he could be the side's 'Moroccan Balotelli'. After just seven minutes against Napoli, the attacking midfielder finished off a fine counter-attacking move with his first goal for the Rossoneri.
GERMANY
SAMI ALLAGUI (Hertha Berlin)
The Tunisia forward scored Hertha's first goal, and his seventh of the season, in their 3-0 thrashing of hosts Hamburg. Allagui chested home on 15 minutes, just seconds after Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler had saved Adrian Ramos' penalty attempt.
KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG (Schalke 04)
The Ghana midfielder took over the Royal Blues' captaincy for the last 10 minutes of their impressive 2-0 win at home to Hanover 96 as the hosts stayed fourth in the league. Boateng took the armband when Holland's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar went off as Royal Blues put on a regal performance.
FRANCE
RICARDO FATY (Ajaccio)
The Senegalese scored Ajaccio's 18th-minute opener which set the foot-of-the-table Corsican side up for a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Rennes -- only their second success of the season. Defensive midfielder Faty joined Ajaccio last year from Greek side Aris.
FLOYD AYITE (Reims)
The France-born Togolese forward bagged the 72nd-minute winner in Reims's come-from-behind 2-1 victory at Guingamp. The telling contribution of the 25-year-old, who made his Togo debut in 2008, moved Reims to 27 points, six above the drop zone.
TONGO DOUMBIA (Valenciennes)
The 24-year-old Mali midfielder took his tally to three goals for the season when opening the scoring in Valenciennes' 2-1 home win over Nice. Born in France, Doumbia joined Valenciennes after a season with English side Wolves.
Source: AFP
