The EPL Weekend-Round 4

Another high octane football weekend full of goals, debuts, upsets, hat-tricks, records and talking points.

Chelsea once again underlined their title credentials by ending the only other 100% record in the league as they hosted Swansea.

Diego Costa continues to thrive at Stamford Bridge. He poured cold water on doubts about his fitness by once again producing a striking masterclass to score his first (and certainly not his last) hatrick in English football. The Spain international now has 7 goals in his 4 league matches and it remains a mystery why the same success has not been replicated on the international scene with Spain. His understanding with Cesc Fabregas has formed the foundations upon which Chelsea have flourished this season. Fabregas already has 6 assists this season and seems to have reinvented himself  at Chelsea. With Hazard looking like getting back to his pre-World Cup form, Chelsea are looking more dangerous by the day.

Liverpool's indifferent start to the season continued as they lost at home to a battling Aston Villa. A lot was made about Liverpool's signings being a sign that Brendan Rodgers was beefing up the depth of his squad in readiness for Liverpool's participation in the Champions League. In deed that was the thinking behind Rodgers leaving Raheem Sterling on the bench as he kept one eye on the mid-week Champion's league match against Ludogorets. That plan did not work as a combination of Villa determined performance and Liverpool’s lack of creativity going forward ultimately led to a Villa win. Balotelli had another disappointing game as he struggled to create anything. It was one of the days where you thought that a certain Luis Suarez might just have produced one of his famous match-winning performances. Liverpool need Sturridge back and for Coutinho to take some of the creative responsibilities off Sterling's back

Arsenal, like against Everton earlier in the season, produced a performance that left mixed feelings among the fans. Credit to Arsenal, unlike last season they didn't cave in when City took the lead. Wilshere gave a promising display in midfield and you only wonder the type of a player he would be if he did that on a regular basis. Arsenal however relinquished 2 points as they let City equalize in the last 10 minutes. Arsenal need to turn these good positions into maximum points. Against Everton it should have been 3 points and again today against City. More play and incisiveness is needed from Ozil.To rub salt to the wound, Debuchy appears to be out for sometime and the decision to let Jenkinson go might leave Arsenal short in defence. With only Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Monreal fit, they cannot afford any more injuries at the back. Welbeck made his debut and reaffirmed the view that he works hard for the team but lacks a cutting edge in front of goal when he hit the post early on.

For Manchester City, this was another difficult day. Pellegrini was looking for a response to the Stoke defeat and a draw is not good enough for their lofty ambitions. The energy and dominance of Yaya Toure was missed. City probably had one eye on their mid-week match against Bayern Munich but they need to be wary of letting Chelsea get too far ahead of them. City are yet to really get going this season but soon as their key players come to form and the new signings get used to the system, they will be a force.

Manchester United fans must have felt like they finally woke up from a long nightmare this weekend after having waited for so long to taste victory. They surely must be forgiven for going a little overboard with their celebrations after their win albeit against a poor QPR. When you are used to winning every other day, you sometimes take it for granted. The win and the performance were much needed. For LVG to finally be able to use a majority of his new signings was a welcome boost. Tougher tests await but this is progress in the right direction. LVG started with a back four moving away from his favoured back three, although claiming this was necessitated by injuries rather than a shift from his 3-5-2 system by choice. The players were more comfortable with the system and Di Maria was able to play in his favoured position in the midfield diamond. Blind provided good cover in the holding role and appears destined to hold onto that position even when Carrick comes back from injury.Mata did well at the apex of the diamond.

Team of the week 
Speroni, Koscielny, Kompany, Sanchez, Clichy, Blind, Fabregas, Di Maria, Wilshere, Hazard, Costa

Player of the week
Diego Costa

Have a sporty week!
Mark Macheda