One of the most enjoyable Premier League weekends of the season…

An exciting and quite shocking set of results offered many what could be viewed as one of the premiership‘s more entertaining weekends this season. The first offering, whilst not a particularly entertaining game marked what could be a significant step forward in the evolution of Manchester City. Liverpool was their first high profile and utterly convincing win of the season, but Chelsea was a completely different scalp for City. Courtesy of Carlos Tevez they recorded a win against title favorites and Chelsea tasted defeat for the first time this season. A significant result for City, however will not set alarm bells ringing for Chelsea fans – the Blues still sit comfortably at the top of the table, meaning a loss against one of the league’s strongest squads away from home is not disastrous.

The 3pm fixtures were a mixed bag and provided neutrals with something to get excited about, with a few high scoring games and one – if not two – notable upsets. Wigan – Birmingham was the lowest scoring event of the day and finished 0 – 0 with a point for either side appearing to be a fair return for both. The only real major talking point of the game was Johnson being sent off for clashing with Hugo Rodallega, and possibly the abuse dished out to Charles N’Zogbia whose transfer to Birmingham collapsed on deadline day. Branded greedy by the Birmingham fans N’Zogbia, in his own typical style, responded by saying he enjoyed the abuse and just wanted to carry on playing his own game.

Over on the West Coast, Blackpool suffered defeat in their second home game of the season to a Blackburn side expertly organised by future Real boss Sam Allardyce. The Riversiders took the lead through a Charlie Adam own goal and having battled hard to get the equaliser, it was so unfortunate for Blackpool to be defeated by such a late winner from Brett Emerton in stoppage time. Ian Holloway contested this goal with referee Mike Dean in the tunnel, claiming it was offside and the result of a foul; he has since been charged by the FA for improper conduct. Despite the result, credit should be given to Blackpool. It was tenacious and positive to chase for the win, and if the Tangerines carry on playing their admiral brand of football, then with a little bit of luck they could well survive a campaign in this league – as well as win a whole host of admirers.

Moving South from Blackpool to Anfield there was increasing pressure on Liverpool to record what would be only their second win this season. Things looked decent for Roy Hodgson’s side in the first five minutes when Dirk Kuyt managed to score what has since been confirmed as a perfectly legitimate goal. Steve Bruce questioned the decision to allow it to stand, although having scored a goal thanks to a stray beach ball last season it is fair to say that Liverpool possibly deserved this one. Sunderland battled extremely well to get involved in the game and were it not for Steven Gerrard coming to the rescue then Liverpool would almost certainly have suffered defeat. On a plus side for Liverpool, they at least scored a couple of goals and a Torres assist may play some role in him rediscovering his form. Sunderland can be happy with gaining an away point in a ground most still regard intimidating, and it is this kind of result that should hopefully help the Black Cats establish themselves as a top 10 side. As for Liverpool, like in many fixtures this season, they looked pedestrian and toothless and a large number of their shots came from outside of the box. It is of course still early days for Hodgson’s side but a poor points return from the first few games are certainly a cause for concern. Panic is still a long way off but Liverpool need to start performing considerably better or else an improvement on last season’s position could be further away than expected.

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