MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United slumped to a 2-1 loss at relegation-threatened Stoke in the Premier League on Saturday to puncture the optimism generated by Juan Matas arrival and leave the reigning champions with a huge task to finish in the Champions League positions. Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. It was Stokes maiden win over United in the Premier League, and first since 1984. "I dont know what we have to do to win," said United manager David Moyes. Everton bounced back from its derby thrashing by Liverpool in midweek by coming from behind to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and climb to fifth above Tottenham, which drew 1-1 at Hull. Cardiff climbed off the bottom by scoring two goals in 73 seconds at the start of the second half to defeat Norwich 2-1. That left Fulham, which was overwhelmed 3-0 at home to Southampton, two points adrift in last place. West Ham completes the bottom three even though it beat Swansea 2-0 thanks to a brace by Kevin Nolan. That win was marred by a red card to striker Andy Carroll for elbowing an opponent. The other match saw Sunderland earn a second straight 3-0 win at Newcastle in the northeast derby, sparking anger and frustration by home fans disillusioned by the sale of star player Yohan Cabaye to Paris Saint-Germain this week. Such is the tightness of the bottom half of the table, Sunderland -- like Stoke -- is now nearer mid-table than the relegation zone. With Mata joining from Chelsea for a club-record fee last week and both Wayne Rooney and Van Persie back fit, things looked like turning around for United and its under-pressure manager David Moyes. Most thought the comfortable 2-0 win over Cardiff on Tuesday would be the first in a run of victories to lift the champions up to the top four, but they came unstuck at the hands of a gutsy Stoke side managed by a former United favourite, Mark Hughes. "I thought we were, to a man, fantastic," said Hughes, who played 467 games for United. "We got a great reward for a huge amount of effort." Stoke enjoyed some fortune with the first goal, with Adams long-range free kick in the 38th taking a wicked deflection off Michael Carrick and flying into the far corner past stranded goalkeeper David de Gea. Mata set up Van Persie to make it 1-1 in the 47th but Adam grabbed what proved to be the winner from 25 yards five minutes later. "It is a massive result against a great team," Adam said. Belgium forward Kevin Mirallas popped up with Evertons winning goal from a free kick in the 85th minute, after Steven Naismith had cancelled out Leandro Bacunas opener for Villa. Everton is provisionally a point behind neighbour Liverpool, which beat its Merseyside rival 4-0 on Tuesday. Tottenham moved four points clear of United after Paulinhos 61st-minute goal earned a draw against Hull, which took the lead through Shane Longs first goal for the club since his recent move from West Brom. Cheap Air Max 97 Green China . 9 Baylor Bears just needed some time to get on track in their first game after the Christmas break. Cheap Air Max 97 All Black China . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere. http://www.cheapairmax97fromchina.com/cheap-air-max-97-yellow-china/ . Both the top-seeded Djokovic and sixth-seeded Fish took relatively easy paths, with the Serb winning when opponent Jo-Wilfried Tsonga retired in the second set with a sore arm and Fish dominating Janko Tipsarevic in two quick sets. Nike Air Max 97 For Sale . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Cheap Air Max 97 . The Mercedes duo of three-time Canadian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has won all six races to start the season, finishing one-two in the last five.CALGARY - Researchers with the Canadian Sports Concussion Project will be studying the brain of a former Calgary Stampeders football player who died last week.A friend and former teammate of John Forzani says the two of them discussed the matter four years ago.Basil Bark says Forzani decided at the time that donating his brain to science would be worthwhile.Bark said Forzani, who was also part-owner of the CFL team, suffered several concussions during his playing years.I remember one game John got hit hard and his helmet broke. We didn’t have another one so he continued to play with it. He was glassy-eyed after the game and who knows what the effects were? I knew John for 47 years and everything seemed fine. But his brain should be examined.”The project is led by Dr. Charles Tator at Toronto Western Hospital.Forzani was an offensive lineman with the Stampeders for six seasons in the 1970s.He died on Friday at age 67 after suffering a heart attack in California.Tator said it’s a very generous gift by the family, as Forzani’’s stature both on and off the field will help raise the profile for this kind of research.dddddddddddd.“Somebody like John Forzani, who was a great player and then he was a great business person and community person, it’s even more important to get that whole spectrum,” he said, adding the position Forzani played is also significant.“That makes this donation even more important because there is a suspicion that linemen take even more hits to the head and it is the mechanism of repetitive hits to the head that we are very worried about,” Tator said.Leo Ezerins, executive director of the CFL Alumni Association, said Forzani’s wife, Linda, should be given credit for her courage and strength.“I spoke with Linda and she was very pleased that John could continue to leave a legacy even in passing.”(CFFR, CHQR, The Canadian Press)Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the study was believed to be the first in the world to study the long-term effects of concussions on football players. ' ' '