The EPL Weekend-Round 10

Arsenal easily so off the challenge of a Burnley side still struggling to get to grips with playing in the Top league in England. For about 70minutes it seemed like Burnley might hold on for a precious point but with Arsenal throwing everything at them, something had to give in the end. In Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal have a very intelligent player capable of making something out of nothing. He has so far proven his worth and it begins to seem like Arsenal might actually have got him on the cheap. Tougher tests await Arsenal but this was a good routine win, 6 points out of the last 2 games and suddenly Arsenal are looking good in the table. With their injury worries also easing, these are good times for the Gunners. Maintaining this momentum will be key.

Liverpool's problems continue to mount as the season progresses. Much of the recent talk has been aimed at Balotelli but truth be told the entire Liverpool team is under-performing. Newcastle were the latest side to inflict further agony on Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers must be feeling the pressure. And their next two matches are against Real Madrid and Chelsea . Rodgers will no doubt take some of the responsibility but the players need to look at themselves and question their commitment to the course. Even players like Sterling who started the season so well seem to have caught the infection and are now barely recognizable from the team that dominated the league just a few months ago. Going out of the Champion's League might actually do Liverpool some good. They need to start focusing on putting a serious, sustained assault on top four.

The Manchester Derby was the weekend highlight and as much as the predicted goal feast did not materialize, we were treated to an intriguing encounter. United are worse off in terms of points than they were at this stage last season. Yet the fans reaction to the managers is so different. A lot of United fans were already calling for David Moyes' head yet Louis Van Gaal despite statistically trailing Moyes seems to be enjoying majority if not the entire fan support. The reason is most fans believe the team is moving in the right direction. Yes 13 points from the first 10 games is a terrible return especially for a team of United's stature but a lot of fans believe this United side is better than last season's. United's performances against the big boys Chelsea and Man City have brought a lot of hope especially when viewed in relation to the thrashings in the corresponding fixtures last season. However the love relationship between the fans and Van Gaal would be severely  damaged if United fail to collect maximum points against Crystal Palace in their next fixture. United are experiencing an injury crisis with close to 8 first team players out. Di Maria has had two below par performances against Chelsea and Man City and  United will be hoping he quickly returns to his best.
For City, this was a crucial win especially with Chelsea edging out QPR earlier. The gap would have been too big even for City. City were better organised in defence with Demichelis replacing Mangala alongside Kompany. Pellegrini needs to play Demichelis more as Kompany's partner rather than the expensive Mangala.

Chelsea were once again efficient if not impressive. The Blues were actually pushed all the way by Rangers and were lucky in the end to come away with all three points.
But the thing with Chelsea this season is that even if they play badly they still seem to come away with the points. It takes a very brave man to bet against them winning the EPL this season.

Team of the week
Hart, Chambers, Collocini, Kompany, Clichy, Wanyama, Oscar, Toure, Downing, Sanchez, Aguero

Player of the week
Sanchez

Have a sporty week ;)