After another agonising gap of international football last week, the bread and butter of Premier League finally returned. Two local derbies from both ends of the country were the pick of the games this week, with local bragging rights up for grabs.
The early kick off on Saturday lunchtime witnessed a cracker of a London derby between Spurs and Chelsea. In a topsy-turvy game, the European Champions continued their almost perfect start to the season after sealing a 4-2 win. This result was
made even more impressive after Tottenham had taken a 2-1 lead just after half time with former Chelsea defender William Gallas and Defoe on the score sheet. But with Juan Mata in such superb form, scoring twice in three minutes afterwards, Chelsea were too classy throughout. Roberto Di Matteo it seems continues to defy the odds leaving former boss Andres Villas Boas with egg on his face yet again.
The next day witnessed the Tyne-Wear derby between Sunderland and Newcastle. As usual, the game was played at full throttle with both teams giving as much as they got. This showed mid-way through the first half after Newcastle’s combative midfield maestro Cheick Tiote was shown a straight red card for a high tackle that had the home fans baying for blood. Looking back the decision by the ref may seem a little rash, but either way, it changed the game. Newcastle were in complete control at that time, and held a 1-0 lead after an early Cabaye strike, but even after a valiant effort and after playing 65 minutes with 10 men, a late own goal by Demba Ba meant Sunderland snatched a late 1-1 draw and local pride was shared for another few months.
In other games, Arsenal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Norwich and Man City pulled of a remarkable 2-1 win at West Brom after having a man sent off and being 1-0 down with 10 minutes to play. Liverpool won their first home game of the season with a 1-0 win over Reading and Man United kept up pace with the leaders after a 4-2 win over Stoke with Wayne Rooney scoring his first league goals of the season with a brace, along with an own-goal!
Below are the rest of the results from the weekend and also from the weekend before.
Matchday 8
Tottenham 2-4 Chelsea
Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 1-0 Reading
Man United 4-2 Stoke
Swansea 2-1 Wigan
West Brom 1-2 Man City
West Ham 4-1 Southampton
Norwich 1-0 Arsenal
Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle
QPR 1-1 Everton
Matchday 7
Man City 3-0 Sunderland
Wigan 2-2 Everton
West Brom 3-2 QPR
Swansea 2-2 Reading
Chelsea 4-1 Norwich
West Ham 1-3 Arsenal
Southampton 2-2 Fulham
Tottenham 2-0 Aston Villa
Liverpool 0-0 Stoke
Newcastle 0-3 Man United
By Duncan Robinson
Have your say @bbmlive
Check out BBM’s funny jokes
Also visit – Britishballs JobsÂ
