What a weekend of PremierLeague Football. It all started off at Lunchtime on Saturday as one of the most entertaining Merseyside Derbies in years produced 6 goals and great excitement, while it ended with Cardiff's late goal against Manchester United to deny the Red Devils all three points.
A cracking start to the Merseyside derby saw three goals in the opening twenty minutes. A defensive lapse by both sides led to the opening goals before Liverpool's Luis Suarez scored a wonderfully placed Free-Kick past Tim Howard in the Everton goal. Then Man-Mountain Romela Lukaku took over, with two goals in ten second half minutes. The second of those a towering header past Simon Mignolet. On any other day Mignolet would have been man of the match, with a string of wonderful saves to deny Everton the victory. Daniel Sturridge, ruled out of a starting spot due to flu, came off the bench to score an equaliser late on. Lukaku won the Man of the Match award with a superb all-round performance. A draw was probably a fair result in the end, but who would have thought we would have got it the way we did.
Olivier Giroud sent Arsenal four points clear at the top of the Premier League table with two goals, one a penalty and a most bizarre goal after Southampton goalkeeper Artur Boruc was caught in possession trying to dribble the ball around the penalty area. An unforgivable error from the Ex-Celtic keeper. Arsenal probably weren't at their best on the day, but Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino would probably agree that the Saints gifted them the win.
Sunderland's recent revival was halted by Mark Hughes' Stoke City, which wasn't helped by Wes Brown's sending off. Goals from Charlie Adam and Steven N'Zonzi gave the Potters a 2-0 victory and three valuable points to move away from the relegation zone.
Newcastle United continued their winning streak, three straight victories, with a 2-1 home victory over Norwich City. 2-0 up at the break, with goals from Loic Remy and Yoan Gouffran, Norwich pulled one back with a late Leroy Fer goal but couldn't get the equaliser.
Crystal Palace, with new manager Tony Pulis watching from the stands, produced a great performance to win away at Hull City. Down to 10-men after Yannick Bolaise was sent off, Palace scored only three minuted later with Barry Bannan scoring his first goal for the club. A1-0 victory gives Pulis plenty to work with when he starts work on Monday.
Swansea City heaped more pressure on Fulham Boss Martin Yol with a 2-1 win at Craven Cottage. Yol's team were boo'd off at the end of the game and chants of 'Yol out' we're heard all over the ground. An own goal by Fulham's Aaron Hughes gave Swansea an early lead, but Scott Parker pulled Fulham level after the hour mark, however a late John Jo Shelvey goal secured victory for the Swans.
Chelsea won a London Derby quite easily, beating West Ham by three goals to nil. Two goals from veteran Frank Lampard and one from Brazilian Oscar secured all three points for Mourinho's Chelsea.
Manchester City annihilated Tottenham on Sunday 6-0 in what was one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. An early Jesus Navas goal, a wonderful chip over Hugo Lloris gave City the confidence to attack Spurs all afternoon. Two goals apiece from Navas and Sergio Aguero, plus one from Alvaro Negredo and an own goal from Sandro gave City an impressive victory. The combination of Aguero and Negredo up front for City are extremely dangerous and will terrify defences all season long.
Last years title runners-up Manchester United travelled to Cardiff City to take on Malky Mackay's battlers. After taking the lead twice through Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra United were pegged back by goals from Fraizer Campbell and a 90th minute strike by South Korea's Bo-Kyung
Kim. Usually it's United that come up with late goals so it was a surprise that this time it was United who fell victims to it. Wayne Rooney was at the center of it all again as his tackle on Jordan Mutch was the subject of much debate as to whether he should have been sent-off. He received a yellow card for the challenge.
There is one game still to play on Monday night as West Brom play host to Aston Villa at the Hawthorns in a mid-table clash.
All in all it was a great weekend's action, and it means Arsenal take a four point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
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