The leaders went into the weekend level on points, both facing Mancunian opposition. Liverpool met fire with fire at Anfield, defeating Manchester United 2 - 1 to briefly claim top spot. Dimitar Berbatov’s debut turned out to be a damp squib despite setting up Carlos Tevez for the opener with barely three minutes on the clock. United’s slow start to the season was re-instated as the result of a self-inflicted wound, Wes Brown turning into his own net with the half-hour mark approaching. With a draw looming on the horizon, Ryan Babel settled the match with thirteen minutes remaining. The action was not over as Nemanja Vidic received his marching orders for leading with an elbow in the final minute. Local Cow News: None are worried at all when Robbie Keane appears with a banjo because they know he will not be able to hit their rear-ends. Defences feel the same when he approaches goal as he still cannot score. Maybe he will have to try to buy a goal instead.

Chelsea meanwhile faced former player, Mark Hughes, at Eastlands, where his new owners watched Manchester City, Robinho and all, slump to a 1 - 3 defeat. The £32m man gave City the lead in the thirteenth minute with a trademark freekick, one that the watching Frank Lampard could have only admired such was the deflection the ball took into the net. Chelsea hit back swiftly, Ricardo Carvalho equalising three minutes later. Their dominance was confirmed in the fifty-third minute when Lampard scored and a quarter of an hour later, former City striker Nicolas Anelka bit the hand that used to feed with the visitors third. John Terry was rightly dismissed for a professional foul with thirteen minutes remaining but the weak, lily-livered nature of the Football Association came to the fore when they rescinded the red card on the basis that Terry was not the last man, despite the fact that he was. It does not matter that two other Chelsea players may have been in close proximity, the bare fact is that Terry had nobody behind him and should have missed three games as a consequence of his cheating actions.

Talking of which, Arsenal moved into third spot as they crushed Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, the 4 - 0 scoreline doing scant justice to the visitors command of the match. Robin van Persie struck in the eighth minute for the second week running to give Arsenal the lead, an advantage that was doubled in first half injury time by Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togolese international then converted an eighty-first minute penalty and completed his hat-trick two minutes into injury time to give The Gunners their just rewards.

Hull City proved to be the yo-yo team of the season, crushed by Wigan in the second week but capitalising on the disarray at St James Park by winning 2 - 1 over Newcastle United. Marlon King scored twice for the visitors, one in each half, before Xisco scored his first goal for The Magpies with eight minutes remaining. The match is best (or worst) remembered for the reckless, pointless and thuggish challenge by Chris Guthrie which broke Craig Fagan’s leg in injury time. Newcastle have enough on their plate with Joey Barton and have little need for anyone who takes him as a role model.

West Bromwich Albion gained their first win of the season, defeating West Ham United 3 - 2 at The Hawthorns. The afternoon started with a bang as Clinton Morrison opened the scoring after three minutes, Mark Noble equalising on the half-hour. Five minutes later, the visitors resumed what seemed to be normal service as captain Lucas Neill gave them the lead but the Baggies fought back almost immediately as Roman Bednar converted a thirty-seventh minute penalty to allow Albion into the interval on level terms. Both sides shored up defensively but a killer blow was struck by the hosts with seven minutes to go as James Brunt scored the winner. Onlooking new Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola looked bemused by what was happening, surely he could not have forgotten the topsy-turvy world that West Ham inhabit during his absence from the English game?

Did you get to the bookies in time? You did! Well done for putting down the correct score of 2 - 1 to the home side for Middlesbrough were in town, visiting Portsmouth. The hosts were looking to build upon their comprehensive victory at Goodison Park a week earlier and did so thanks to a Jermaine Defoe brace. It was three points though that were gained the hard way as they had to overturn Mido’s twenty-fourth minute opener that left ‘Boro still looking for their first away points of the season.

Wigan Athletic and Sunderland are expected to be in the relegation shake-up come the season’s end so it was hardly surprising that a 1 - 1 draw ensued when the teams met at the JJB Stadium. Titus Bramble put through his own net on fifteen minutes as The Black Cats dominated but the hosts earned their point as their goalscoring machine, Emile Heskey, equalised. Just kidding, Heskey has reached his quota for the season already and it was Zaki was scored with twelve minutes remaining. Fulham could not buy a win until the last few weeks of the season yet recorded their second in as many home games, beating Bolton Wanderers 2 - 1 at Craven Cottage. Zoltan Gera opened his account for The Cottagers on fifteen minutes, Bobby Zamora doing likewise on forty-one to give the hosts an unassailable two-goal advantage at half-time. Bolton huffed and puffed but could not blow the Fulham cottage down until the eighty-second minute when chief porker, Kevin Davies, scored.

Stoke City were, along with Hull City expected to be whipping boys in the top flight this season. Whilst the team from the Humber are doing their best to scrape out points early on, The Potters are beginning to live up to expectations and were comfortably beaten by Everton, despite the 2 - 3 scoreline suggesting otherwise. The visitors dominated and the surprise was that it took Yakubu forty-one minutes to give them the lead. Anichebe doubled that on fifty-one as Everton hit cruise control. They stumbled though as two goals in eight minutes brought the home side level. Olofinjana began the fightback on fifty-five before Phil Jagielka put through his own net on sixty-three. Despite this, it seemed only a matter of time until Everton added to their tally, Tim Cahill duly doing so with seventy-seven minutes played.

Doctors and research frequently mention that a smile or laugh works wonders for your health. In which case, all Arsenal fans must be really happy and in tip-top condition when they look at Tottenham’s results. This time a 1 - 2 home defeat to Aston Villa. It had been suggested that they missed Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane but they would not have made any difference as neither has scored yet. Nigel Reo-Coker gave the visitors the lead on five minutes, doubled when Ashley Young scored nine minutes after the interval. Some consolation was gained when Darren Bent scored with five minutes remaining but Spurs are bottom and half of North London is giggling away quite happily.

Tags: Football, premier league, Soccer

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