When he is not sticking he knife into Martin Jol, Fanos Kyriacou surveys the weekend Premiership action and gives us the low down on the key events.

LIVERPOOL 1-1 ARSENAL

All too often games between the big clubs never meet the high expectations of the viewers and are usually really drab affairs. This game was different. A thoroughly entertaining game with both sides playing their part. Steven Gerrard, finally finding some form this season, put Liverpool ahead on 7 minutes with a hard struck free kick low to Arsenal keeper Almunia’s right hand side. Arsenal perhaps deserved the victory over Liverpool as they had some fantastic chances, most notably with Fabregas and Bendtner both missing open goals after a shot had cannoned of the post. It was Fabregas who salvaged a point for Arsenal after a deep run from midfield and a toe poke past Pepe Reina in the 80^th minute. Cesc Fabregas is, at the moment, the best central midfielder in the country bar none. Whereas Steven Gerrard is all about blood and thunder and full of passion, Fabregas proved in this match how much more he has to his game than the Liverpool captain and on this form Arsenal will definitely challenge Manchester United and Chelsea for the title.  

CHELSEA 6-0 MANCHESTER CITY

Well it seems that the Chelsea players have completely forgotten their ex boss and are starting to play the way Roman wants them to. Even Frank Lampard showed glimpses of why he is regarded as one of the top midfielders in the country by actually contributing to the game and not just popping up to score a deflected goal.It was an impressive performance by Chelsea who absolutely embarrassed a Man City side who were a shadow of the way they have been playing so far this season.Didier Drogba showed just how important he is to Chelsea popping up with two goals and always being a focal point in the team – it’s a shame he wants to leave eh?Goals from Michael Essien, Joe Cole, Salomon Kalou and even Andriy Shevchenko all wrapped up this comprehensive victory for Grant’s Blue army. 

MANCHESTER UNITED 4-1 MIDDLESBROUGH

If Chelsea are starting to play with a bit more freedom, Manchester United are still showing their rivals how it should be done. Their demolition of Middlesbrough was attacking football at its best with Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Nani etc. all firing at the moment – obviously O’Shea is still there too but no team are perfect I suppose. Nani’s strike to open the scoring on three minutes with a thunderous effort from 30 yards out is already a contender for goal of the season. At that point it looked as though Man Utd were going to romp home but Middlesbrough, to their credit, came back at United well and got their reward with a headed equaliser by Jeremie Aliadiere. And for a few minutes it did look as though they would make a game of it. But in the 33^rd minute Rooney pounced on an error from Stuart Downing and made it 2-1, from then on it was all about how many Man Utd could score. The link up play with Rooney for Tevez’s goal on 55 minutes was absolutely top drawer and with Tevez adding a deflected 2^nd to his tally on 85 minutes the rout was complete.  

BIRMINGHAM CITY 3-2 WIGAN ATHLETIC

Now I have to admit this wasn’t exactly the most eye catching fixture on paper but it turned out to be one of the most entertaining games of the weekend. Two goals form Marcus Bent gave Wigan the lead twice but a brace for Olivier Kapo and a goal from Liam Ridgewell secured all three points for Birmingham. But the player who caught the eye was Daniel de Ridder who started his first game for the Blues since a summer move from Celta Vigo. He was a constant threat to Wigan who didn’t seem to know how to deal with him. 

READING 2-1 NEWCASTLE UNITED

Reading got a much needed win at the Madejski stadium over a Newcastle side that provided some unexpected entertainment with their comical defending – I thought Allardyce was supposed to have solved this? When Cacapa’s back pass to Shay Given went past the keeper, every neutral watching the game would have been willing the ball to go in for one of the funniest own goals ever – alas Given had to ruin it all by getting back in time. Reading did their best to compete with the clowning around, especially when Leroy Lita (the new Michael Ricketts anyone?) managed to fluff an effort right in front of goal after some good work on the right by Kevin Doyle. Clearly after witnessing Cacapa almost scoring an own goal Michael Duberry seemed to get a little bit envious and decided he wanted in on some of the own goal scoring action. He was indeed successful and put through is own net with his stomach cancelling out Dave Kitson’s 53^rd minute opener for Reading. Shane Long’s 84^th minute winner provided The Royals with a thoroughly deserved win. 

PORTSMOUTH 0-0 WEST HAM UNITED

Both teams wasted glorious opportunities to take the points here. Two unbelievable headed chances for Nobby Solano could have won the game for West Ham and a last minute penalty for Portsmouth which was squandered by Benjani could have given Portsmouth the win they needed to go Fourth in the league. As a side note to this game, I may be stating the obvious, but is Craig Bellamy the most repulsive, filthy and hateful footballer in the league? His constant moaning and wanting to start fights is completely unacceptable and if I was Hermann Hreidarsson I would have decked the little filth bag after his sly knee into the thigh of the Portsmouth defender. 

SUNDERLAND1-1 FULHAM

Fulham should have taken all three points at the Stadium of Light and were unlucky not to do so. Simon Davies’ free kick opened the scoring and for a large period it looked as though Fulham were heading for a much needed three points. A perfectly good Diomansy Kamara goal was disallowed and soon after ten-man Sunderland, who had Greg Halford sent off for two yellow card offences, went up the other end and equalised with a header from Kenwyne Jones.  

TOTTENHAM 1-2 BLACKBURN ROVERS

Juande Ramos must have been wondering what exactly he has got himself into after watching Spurs concede an injury time goal for the fifth time this season costing them points once again. It was also the seventh time the Lilywhites have been in front in a game and still ended up not taking three points. In truth Spurs were largely the better side here, missing some decent chances but their inadequacies at the back came to the fore once again. Blackburn continue their excellent away record and centre half Christopher Samba will not hit a sweeter strike than his winner at White Hart Lane. 

BOLTON WANDERERS 1-1 ASTON VILLA

The Bolton fans made their feelings quite clear on what they think of the very curious appointment of Gary Megson as their new manager with only 18,000 turning up at the Reebok stadium. Nicholas Anelka opened the scoring for Bolton with a fantastic free kick on 22 minutes. It will be interesting to see how long it’s going to take the French striker to start sulking at having to play under perhaps the worst manager ever to manage a Premier League side – I give it a couple of weeks tops. Luke Moore equalised for Aston Villa in the 57^th minute after referee Martin Atkinson overruled his assistant and awarded a throw in to Martin O’Neill’s side. With Bolton dithering, perhaps still perplexed as to why Megson was appointed manager, Villa reacted quickly and Agbonlahor’s cross from the right hit Luke Moore and went past Jussi Jaaskeainen for the equaliser.

DERBY COUNTY 0-2 EVERTON

Derby once again proved here that they are indeed the worst team to play in the top flight. If ever there was a team guaranteed to be relegated it is the Rams who, as far as I can tell, do not have a cat in hell’s chance of staying in this division. Everton won this game comfortably without breaking a sweat and goals from Mikel Arteta and Yakubu sealed the three points.

Fanos Kyriacou looks back at all the thrills and spills of a weekend of Premiership action which saw plenty of goals, dubious refereeing decisions and 5 sendings off.

They say its the most exciting league in the world, but judging by some of shoddy refereeing decisions few could argue that it is officiated by the worst refs around, who choose to take the advice of a high profile international instead of his better judgement…Why do officials always listen to Steven Gerrard?

EVERTON 1-2 LIVERPOOL

The Merseyside derby – they don't come much bigger than this apparently – well, seeing Liverpool fans and Everton fans sitting next to each other suggests to me that this derby is well down the pecking order when it comes to local rivalry – but that's another topic.

We'll get to the game in a minute but let us all just take a moment to reflect on the look on Steven Gerrard's face when he was substituted – totally priceless and worth the Sky Sports Subscription alone. "What? You are subbing me off? But I am the great ‘world class' Stevie Gerrard," – brilliant! For me it even overshadowed Sami Hyypia's thunderous volley into the top corner of his own net to give Everton the lead.

This game was absolutely packed with controversy, so let's take each decision one by one. Personally I have no complaints about Liverpool's first penalty, yes it may have been outside the box but I have seen far worse decisions than that given, I will even let slide the fact that Gerrard waited until he was in the box to fall down – err, I mean get tripped! Also, following on from that it must be great to be an England captain because apparently it gives you the power to change the mind of the referee. It was absolutely clear that Mark Clattenburg was only going to give Tony Hibbert a yellow card until Gerrard had a word and then suddenly the yellow goes back into the pocket and out comes a red.

We then had Everton's first penalty appeal. I wonder, if Joleon Lescott had gone down as easily as the Liverpool skipper tends to do, would a penalty have been given? Well, apparently not, because you see, according to Clattenburg it is okay for a Liverpool defender to act out a bit of ‘World Wrestling Entertainment' action in the penalty area without giving away a last minute penalty. Rafa's take on Carragher's foul on Lescott? "I always feel that in England, players should not be rewarded with penalties for diving," he said. No further comment needed on this as I don't want to start swearing about how much of a ridiculous hypocrite and blinkered man he actually is. Back to the WWE action at Goodison where Dirk Kuyt's attempted drop kick on Phil Neville only managed a yellow card from the referee. With this sort of help, Liverpool may well be in with a chance of lifting the premiership title this season. Phil Neville was again in the thick of the action right at the death when he staked his claim for the England Number one jersey – a stunning save on the line which earned him a red card, Liverpool a penalty and gifted the reds of Merseyside a lucky win over their rivals.

ASTON VILLA 1-4 MANCHESTER UNITED

Did Aston Villa really pay £3.5 million for Zat Knight? And they say Martin O'Neill is shrewd in the transfer market. The lanky centre half had an absolute shocker in this game and was perhaps the reason why Man Utd scored four!

Villa's attacking play by no means deserved to be on the end of a thrashing like this, Gabrielle Agbonlahor was a constant threat to United but it was a striker wearing the black kit of the Red Devils that really caught the eye. I know most of the press will be wetting themselves over Wayne Rooney's two goals; however it was Carlos Tevez who should take all the plaudits for this game. The little Argentinean was outstanding and at the heart of every Man Utd attack, it was just a shame for him that he didn't cap this fine performance with a goal of his own. Talking of claiming goals of their own – Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs – how can you try and celebrate goals like that as if you had just rifled a 30 yard screamer in the top corner?

ARSENAL 2-0 BOLTON WANDERERS

Not the most memorable of matches this, unless you count Emmanuel Adebayor's slapstick comedy routine after rounding the keeper and then falling over with nobody near him! Bolton typically made it difficult for the Gunners but Kolo Toure's free kick on 68 minutes ended Bolton's resistance – incidentally if you are rushing out to block a free kick – and I'm looking at you Danny Guthrie – the idea is to block the ball not turn your back and jump over it! With Tomas Rosicky adding a second with ten minutes remaining after some good wing play from Theo Walcott, Le Arse remain top of the Premier League setting themselves up well for the upcoming games against Liverpool and Man Utd.

As for Bolton, who will take over from Sammy Lee as manager? Will the Premier League once again be blessed with the tactical genius of Graham Souness? Or will that expert of man management, Glenn Hoddle take over? Does anyone outside Bolton really care?

BLACKBURN ROVERS 4-2 READING

Now, far be it from me to praise any team with Robbie Savage at the heart of it's midfield, but I have to admit, through gritted teeth, that Blackburn looked very impressive. It has been said by many that Blackburn play an overly aggressive style of football that's not attractive to watch, but some of their football here was the complete opposite. Excellent movement off the ball, good short, sharp one touch passing. (oooh I'm sounding like a proper pundit now).

Reading are struggling big time but it's always nice to hear a manager not making any excuses as to why his team has lost. "It's me, it's my fault. I chose the wrong way of playing, 100%". I think, Mr. Coppell, you need to go one step further and apologise to all the Reading fans for signing Michael Duberry!

MIDDLESBOROUGH 0-2 CHELSEA

So Didier Drogba apparently has made amends for his comments in the French press about wanting to leave Chelsea by scoring and helping the Blues to a win. No he bloody well hasn't! Here is a player who, in his first season at Chelsea, made the blues fans think that they had re-signed Paul Furlong. Now all of a sudden he wants to go to one of the Milan sides, Barcelona or Real Madrid because he is a bit upset that Jose has left. Anyway back to the game, pretty much a routine win for Chelsea with goals from Drogba and a 35 yard rocket from Alex. It wasn't a very spectacular win, but a Mourinho-esque performance if you will.Middlesbrough had their chances in the game the best of which fell to Mido who had a powerful header saved by Petr Cech, when the score was 0-1. 

MANCHESTER CITY 1-0 BIRMINGHAM CITY

Where are all those Sven bashers now? Manchester City just keep on winning at the moment and are looking like a really decent team. Elano in particular is looking like the signing of the season and he, along with Martin Petrov are setting the blue half of Manchester alight. It was Elano's goal that separated the two sides despite quite a spirited fight back by Birmingham. Steve Bruce may feel aggrieved that a foul wasn't given to Muamba in the build up to the goal but there were at least three passes after the incident which Birmingham failed to defend. Did anyone else think that Brucie was about to weep like a baby over the incident? 

WIGAN ATHLETIC 0-2 PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth are looking very impressive at the moment winning their last four consecutive games. But it is in games like this, where their quest to qualify for Europe is tested and they passed with flying colours. They were made to work hard for this win by a Wigan team surely heading for the drop this season but finally broke them down on 81 minutes with a goal for Benjani followed up by an 86th minute strike from Glen Johnson. 

FULHAM 0-0 DERBY COUNTY

On paper, this fixture looked like the most boring game of the weekend and in reality it actually was…the most boring game of the weekend. I have said in the past that this Derby team are the worst in the history of the Premiership, but I have to say that Lawrie Sanchez's Fulham team are just as hopeless. Derby actually should have won this game and, except for the heroics of Antti Niemi, would have secured all three points. It was always going to be a struggle for Fulham after having Paul Konchesky quite correctly sent off on 45 minutes for catching Craig Fagan with a swing of an elbow. I am pretty certain that these two sides will be playing each other in the championship next season. 

WEST HAM UNITED 3-1 SUNDERLAND

This victory for West Ham was actually quite harsh on Sunderland whose performance should have had better reward. Carlton Cole (I'm sure he used to be considered a bright young talent) headed the Londoners ahead on nine minutes but an equaliser for Sunderland seven minutes after half time by Kenwyne Jones seemed to secure at least a point for Roy Keane's men. It was a cruel blow then on 78 minutes when a brilliantly comical own goal by Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon gave the hammers the lead again. With Sunderland pushing forward to try and get an equaliser, West Ham broke away for Craig Bellamy to wrap up the points for the home side.

Fanos Kyriacou gives a Premiership roundup of the weekend fixtures, which saw Arsenal maintain their lead at the top of the table, Man Utd run riot and Derby only hit for one goal this weekend.

Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland

Arsenal moved back to the top of the table after surviving a two-goal comeback by Roy Keane’s Sunderland and proving once again that they are indeed a much better team without a certain winging Frenchman. Robin Van Persie’s seventh minute free kick which nearly took the bar clean off, put Arsenal ahead with Senderos adding a second on 14 minutes. It looked as though another thrashing would be dealt out by Arsenal only for Sunderland to show real spirit and level the game 2-2 with goals from Wallace and Jones. A second goal from Dutchman Van Persie in the 80^th minute after some good work by Theo Walcott (I won’t mention his hilarious miss minutes before) sealed the win for the Gunners.

Aston Villa 1-0 West Ham United

After ridiculously throwing away a 1-4 lead against Spurs last week, Aston Villa got back to normality with a victory over the Irons which was well deserved at Villa Park. It was Craig Gardner’s deflected free kick which settled the game, his second goal in as many games.Inspired by a fantastic performance from Ashley Young, Martin O’Neil’s men never really looked like getting beaten in a game where West Ham were disjointed at best.The Hammers did have the ball in the net on nine minutes after Henri Camara brilliantly punched the ball into the net (just the contact he made with the ball alone deserved it to be counted) luckily for Villa the officials got a big decision right and correctly ruled the goal out with referee Steve Tanner promptly booking the striker. Poor bloke, he probably has his fist in ice now as well to add to his pains!

Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Birmingham City

I am still trying not to laugh at Blackburn being knocked out of the Uefa cup at the first hurdle to a Greek side that not even I have not heard of (I am a mono-browed Greek by the way). I will try however and put on my serious face and tell you all what happened in this match. Blackburn won, they actually played quite well despite the fact that Savage still seems to con Mark Hughes into a place in their starting line-up. A very good goal and performance by David Bentley set Rovers on their way to victory with the ever impressive Benny McCarthy slotting away a penalty before Cameron Jerome pulled one back for Steve Bruce’s side. (You see I can do serious match reporting).

Bolton 0-1 Chelsea

Chelsea’s first goal in over seven and a half hours of Premiership football gave them all three points at the Reebok stadium after a cool finish by Soloman Kalou (think I’m getting good at this football speak now).By the way, does anyone else think that John Terry doesn’t actually need to wear that mask? That he is just doing it for attention? Anyway back to the game – erm…Bolton were unlucky not to get at least a point, a Chelsea player is allowed to touch the ball with his arm in the box and not concede a penalty, and Chelsea win by the odd goal after not playing the fantasy football Roman wants. I thought Jose had left?

Fulham 0-2 Portsmouth

According to some, David James staked his place for a starting berth in the England side next week with this performance. Are people that forgetful? Do they not remember why he is called ‘Calamity’ James? It seems that if he goes through a whole game without making a ridiculous mistake we should forget the 4 games previously in which he has.Portsmouth continued their recent good run with a relatively easy victory against a Fulham side who I have some sympathy for. Actually who am I kidding, they are another nothing side with sub-standard players who don’t deserve to be sharing the same pitch as Sean Davis – oh hang on a minute…Goals from Benjani and Hreidarsson sealed the win for Pompey which moves them into fifth place and has good ole Harry dreaming of Europe.

Liverpool 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Once again Spurs fail to hold on to a lead but do just enough to probably keep Martin Jol in a job for another week. Fernando Torres’s injury time equalizer saved a point for a Liverpool team who, on the evidence of the season so far, do not have a chance of winning the Premiership as they lack the consistency of Man Utd and the quality of Arsenal.Paul ‘Bobbinson’ once again did his level best to hand victory to the opposition, after failing to hold a Gerrard free kick with the rebound duly tucked away by Andriy Voronin.Two goals either side of the break from Robbie Keane put Spurs ahead only for Torres to do his bit right at the death. But that was not before England’s soon to be number two spilled another shot only for Michael Dawson to save his keeper further embarrassment by clearing the rebound.According to Martin Jol Spurs “have to start winning games in the Premiership”, perhaps you should have thought of that nine games ago big man!

Manchester City 3-1 Middlesbrough

Sven Goran Eriksson continues to stick two slender Swedish fingers up at his detractors with Man City’s very impressive start to the season. A couple of brilliant strikes by the Brazilian Elano made sure that Manchester’s other team remain third in the table.It does beg the question, why didn’t England play like this under the Swede? Perhaps there are less distractions of the female persuasion at City – just a thought!Middlesbrough continue to be one of the dullest sides in the league, and they should do everyone a favour and disappear, keep playing like this and the chances are that they will.

Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic

After doing their very best to impersonate Arsenal under George Graham, Man Utd finally freed themselves from their shackles in the second half at Old Trafford sticking four past sorry Wigan. And just when I was about to start a chant of boring, boring United too!It certainly wasn’t the best start to this game for the Red Devils as Louis ‘Mr Glass’ Saha broke again in the warm up with Vidic and the jack of all trades, master of none utility man John O’Shea both coming off injured in the first half hour. In a largely forgettable first half where Wigan posed zero threat to a Man Utd defence disrupted by those injuries, the main talking point was Ronaldo being brought down by a ‘cultured’ Michael Brown tackle in the box (it’s a shame you can’t show sarcasm in text) which should have resulted in a spot kick for the home side. United turned it on in the second half with four goals from the black eyed Ronaldo, Tevez and the apparently ‘world class’ Rooney who in the first half was increasingly resembling a young hoody one step away from receiving an ASBO.As for Wigan, the only thing to say is that thankfully they don’t have that many fans to bore. Time for them to leave the Premiership and stop inflicting their dullness on us methinks.

Newcastle United 3-2 Everton
Once again all the headlines are about England’s ‘saviour’ Michael Owen. Oh look how great he is, nine days after having a hernia operation he is back and scoring for his club and ready to serve his country. Oh please. Yes he is a good player but if football pundits and the press crawl any further up the little striker’s backside the guy is going to spontaneously combust! This game actually should be remembered for an unbelievably cultured strike just before half time by the unbelievably un-cultured Nicky Butt, who new he could be so delicate?But bad news folks Andy Johnson is injured and will now miss the two England qualifiers, oh how the country will miss his talent (is someone going to tell me how to show sarcasm in text)?Fat Sam after the game made sure he took all the credit for Newcastle’s second and third goals which were scored by his substitutes Emre and Owen, nice to see that the big man is learning the art of modesty then. It’s actually not the same if he doesn’t have a whinge, usually about playing too many games. But it’s ok David Moyes could play that card couldn’t he as Everton played in the Uefa cup on Thursday. "There was no tiredness after our Uefa Cup tie in the Ukraine. It was more down to our bad play." David, David, David you let the side down dude!

Reading 1-0 Derby County

According to Billy Davies Derby “are getting better and more confident” if you say so Billy, the rest of us still think that you are the worst team ever to have played in the Premiership.Reading put their nightmare 7-4 defeat to Portsmouth last week behind them with this victory against an unbelievably bad Derby side who clearly do not belong in this league. Another inept performance by a Premiership referee saw Reading denied two penalties after Jay McEvely did his best to try and get Stephen Bywater’s job in goal with two blatant handballs in the box, which might not be a bad thing after witnessing the Derby keepers attempt at a clearance just before half time which sliced its way out of play for a Reading corner.Kevin Doyle settled the game with a header, scoring his first goal of the season. The Reading striker said after the match that he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after last week’s 7-4 defeat – laugh Kevin, definitely laugh!