Swansea moved into the top six of the Barclays Premier League after Ki Sung-Yueng finally unlocked Queens Park Rangers defense to win 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium.
Rangers defended resiliently for 78 minutes before Swansea's top goalscorer Wilfried Bony turned provider and set up the South Korean midfielder for his first Liberty goal, a sweet strike past the previously unbeatable Rob Green.
The goalkeeper had made several excellent stops to keep the scores level but he was beaten again four minutes later when substitute Nathan Dyer set up Rangers old boy Wayne Routledge from just outside the area.
Harry Redknapp showed all his vast experience to set up a Rangers side to frustrate confident Swansea and as the game went into the final quarter it looked as if they might collect the point necessary to escape the bottom three.
But Ki's angled drive off Green's far post and Routledge's third goal of the season added to Rangers' travel sickness which has failed to see them acquire an away point since their promotion.
Burnley climbed out of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone for the first time since September after extending their undefeated run to four matches following its 1-1 draw to Newcastle on Tuesday.
The match itself was unremarkable, an occasionally untidy 1-1 scuffle lit up by George Boyd's 20-yard opener for the hosts and Yoann Gouffran's clever flick that teed up Papiss Cisse's equaliser. But the significance of escaping the bottom three is huge to Sean Dyche's Clarets.
A matter of weeks ago they were the only club in English football's top four tiers not to have won a game, now with eight points from the last 12 on offer they are out of the drop zone. Hull replace them in 18th place, though they have a chance to change that on Wednesday night.
Christian Benteke single-handedly dragged Aston Villa out of their nine-game winless streak with his first goal in nine months securing a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.
Benteke side-footed the winner in a low-quality Premier League encounter at Selhurst Park to toast his return from a three-match ban for his red card against Tottenham. The Belgian hitman was dubbed "one of the best strikers in Europe" by Villa boss Paul Lambert in midweek: the 23-year-old never had to reach that billing to decide this tie.
Palace slipped to their fifth defeat in eight games, and had only themselves to blame, wasting countless half-chances in a fruitless search for a quality final ball. Villa moved three points ahead of Palace in the table, sucking Neil Warnock's side further into what could yet become one of the most widely-fought Premier League relegation scraps in years.
West Ham hit back to win 2-1 at West Brom and heap more pressure on Baggies boss Alan Irvine.
Kevin Nolan and James Tomkins cancelled out Craig Dawson's early opener as the hosts slipped to their fourth straight defeat. The Hammers, though, remain fifth in the Barclays Premier League after another impressive victory.
