Top game: Without a doubt, the Manchester derby grabbed most of the attention and headlines. End to end stuff, seven goals, not all quality and glory but enough action and reactions to create a flood of laud and curses. The referee shared the main part of the spotlight at the end, questioned about his maths and the minutes he added on. Alex Ferguson's, the press' and United fans' delight, more disgust and distraught for Mark Hughes and the City fans; great entertainment for the neutrals.
Top team: Chelsea rode the show against Tottenham. Expecting a feisty and competitive match, many fans will have been disappointed. After a evenly matched beginning, the Blues broke loose and never looked back, coming through with flying colours. With 19 attempts against a dire 6, 10 to 2 on target, Tottenham never looked a threat. Wolves were brilliant, gave their 100 per cent againt Fulham and fully deserved the win with 12 attempts against 4.
Top player: All bandaged up after a clash of heads, Birmingham's Christian Benitez continued very lively and created chance after chance. Hull City's goalkeeper Boaz Myhill had plenty to do and made wonderful saves to frustrate Benitez and Birmingham. West Ham's Zavon Hines was just as much of a bug for Liverpool, creating pressure and getting decisions his way, of no avail in the end though, his side losing out to the Reds in contrast to Birmingham, who netted all three points.
Top goal: Burnley's David Nugent showed great confidence. The turn-finish to his shot, past two-three defenders, gave the goalkeeper no chance, consolidated the win for his side and his position in the side. Thomas Vermaelen's left-footer for Arsenal was sweet aswell, curled past Wigan's Chris Kirkland after a exchanging play with Emmanuel Eboue. Dave Kitson's diagonal diamond-finish from the left into the right corner was an excellent finish for Stoke, too.
Flop game: I think the Manchester derby had as much good points as bad and cringe-worthy. It is only thanks to defensive errors City got back into the match on all three occasions, the first goal gifted to them by Ben Foster, the second given away by Patrice Evra and the third by Rio Ferdinand. Meanwhile United had chance after chance, could have made it 5, 6, 7 or 8 if it would not have been for great stops and saves by Shay Given, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov with most of the chances. For City then to be in such uproar about the time added on and the points lost due to the last-breath goals, seems very odd, as they would have been very lucky to get away with a point. For Hughes not to recognise that and moan on about the referee instead, ist sad.
Flop team: Tottenham were very disappointing to me as I thought they would make more of a competition and fight of the derby. Blackburn were just as weak, especially in set-pieces, leaving Everton with the easy job of just tap-ins. Both games ended 3-0 against them, something they will have to look into.
Flop player: Stoke's Ricardo Fuller got booked for diving but then won a soft free kick which was saved well by Bolton's Jussi Jaaskelainen. He was very annoying to watch, I felt he let out the drama queen a couple of times too often.
Flop goal: As mentioned above, all three Man City goals were lucky, capitalising off United mistakes and give-aways. It shows too though, that the top teams have their leaks and weaknesses. But then again, City obviously showed more of that, as it could have been a much more condemning result against them, if it were not for their goalkeeper.
My Predictions - Actual Results:
Arsenal 4:1 Wigan - 4:0
Aston Villa 2:0 Portsmouth - 2:0
Bolton 1:1 Stoke - 1:1
Burnley 1:0 Sunderland - 3:1
Hull City 1:1 Birmingham - 0:1
West Ham 1:3 Liverpool - 2:3
Chelsea 3:2 Tottenham - 3:0
Everton 1:2 Blackburn - 3:0
Man Utd 2:2 Man City - 4:3
Wolves 0:2 Fulham - 2:1
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