To look at the top five in Premier League football is to believe that little has changed-after all, these are the teams most were predicting to be in those slots before the season began. Yet surprises remain in the top division of English football.
To the astonishment of many, Chelsea came away from the weekend's matches with just one point. Sure, they had their share of injuries, but so did opponents Aston Villa, and holding the league leaders to a 0-0 draw is impressive, especially for a club still looking to settle down and find its footing in the league. Gerard Houllier's men started the match applying plenty of pressure on the visitors, but both Stephen Ireland and John Carew squandered efforts in front of goal. Still, Villa were able to contain Chelsea in midfield for most of the first half, and even though much of the second was played in the home side's area, tight defending meant that the Blues were unable to find a goal for the second time this season. Chelsea's Nicholas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic both hit woodwork, as did Villa's young substitute Ciaran Clark, and although Villa supporters should be happy with their well-deserved point against the champions, they could have done without Nigel Reo-Coker's wasted chance in the last minute, with the midfielder finding himself one on one with Petr Cech and still managing to shoot wide.
Aston Villa are left in eighth place, hoping for more goals to erase their negative goal difference born by the 6-0 defeat at Newcastle. Speaking of Newcastle, they were nearly undone by visiting Wigan, but the Latics finally allowed goals away from home and the match finished at 2-2. Charles N'Zogbia scored a brace inside two first half minutes, and although Newcastle pulled one back in the second half, it looked as though Wigan would walk away with all three points. Instead, Fabricio Coloccini headed home the equalizer in the fourth minute of injury time. That's five points in three matches for Wigan, not too shabby for the team most predicted would be relegated this season.
Instead it's West Ham and Wolverhampton that are desperately trying to claw their way out of the bottom three, although their 1-1 draw did little to help either team's chances. Once again, goalkeeper Robert Green distinguished himself, although not in a way West Ham supporters appreciate. Stephen Ward's shot was barely pushed out by Green, putting it at the feet of Matt Jarvis, who sent it into the net. Then the physical play of Wolves resulted in the equalizer, with Kevin Foley dragging down Victor Obinna in the box, and Mark Noble stepping to the spot to put away the equalizer.
Wolves and West Ham are separated in the relegation zone by one club: Liverpool. Those hoping that a change in ownership would bring about a miraculous turnaround in form were sadly disappointed Sunday morning, when Everton won this season's first Merseyside Derby 2-0. Goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta had the home fans taunting the new Liverpool owners with chants of, "Going down, going down." Many reds supporters, seeking a new target to blame, pointed at the poor form of Fernando Torres, but anyone pinning the loss on the Spaniard might want to examine just how many balls actually made their way to the striker.
The second Sunday match, Manchester City at Blackpool, saw the hosts applying plenty of pressure in the first half while closing down the second-placed team in the league. It took the introduction of David Silva in the 66th minute to bring about a goal, and that goal came almost instantly, with Silva setting up the first goal of Carlos Tevez-a controversial goal, considering replays showed the Argentinean to be offside. The goal was completely against the run of play, and soon the Tangerines scored a deserved equalizer off a backwards header by Marlon Harewood. Unfortunately for the home side, they forgot how to defend, and immediately allowed another Carlos Tevez goal. Silva added to the tally with his first Premier League goal, and although Charles Taylor-Fletcher added a second in injury time, Blackpool still lost 2-3.
The only other team to lose at home this weekend was Fulham, with Tottenham Hotspur breaking the Cottagers' undefeated start to the season. The home side took the lead in the 30th minute when Clint Dempsey set up Diomansy Kamara for the goal. But Spurs equalized immediately when Rafael Van der Vaart sent a shot into the crossbar, the Dutchman's shot dropping down to the feet of Roman Pavlyuchenko, who stuck the ball in the net. It was the visitors' go-ahead goal that got the tongues a-wagging and Fulham supporters a-shouting. Tom Huddlestone scored the winner, but the linesman had his flag up for William Gallas, who attempted to touch the ball as it headed into the net. The referee overruled his assistant and the goal stood, with Fulham finally falling, 1-2.
While Manchester United didn't lose at home, they sure made a valiant effort. Within five minutes, Javier Hernandez scored off keeper Scott Carson's error, and Nani capitalized on a slip-up by Nickey Shorey to send United into the second half up 2-0. But the tables turned and suddenly the visitors were the ones being gifted, first by an own goal by Patrice Evra, second by a keeping error by Edwin Van der Sar that allowed Somen Tchoyi to tap the ball into the net. United just don't seem to want to win, allowing the match to finish at 2-2.
Arsenal, victims themselves of West Brom earlier this season, took advantage of United's loss to slip into second place for about twelve hours. The Gunners found themselves down once again at the Emirates when Birmingham City striker Nikola Zigic headed home a Kevin Fahey cross, but Samir Nasri equalized through a Scott Dann penalty on Marouane Chamakh. There may have been doubts about the penalty being awarded-although there was obvious contact on Chamakh, he was on his way down anyway-but there was no controversy over Chamakh's second-half goal. A cheeky backheel from Alex Song sent the ball to Jack Wilshere, immediately moving it on to Chamakh, who spun around Carr and danced past keeper Ben Foster to put the ball in the net. Unfortunately, this bit of brilliance was overshadowed by Wilshere's dirty tackle on Zigic in added time, with the youngster being handed a straight red. The red card perfectly complemented Arsene Wenger's program notes calling for clarification on the rules regarding bad tackles.
Finally, Bolton Wanderers are having a go of it this season, claiming three points in a 2-1 victory over Stoke City to find themselves seventh in the table. Lee Chung-Yong opened the scoring for the home side, but the Potters fought back-albeit not in the physical manner they've been accused of-hitting the bar and sending shots at Trotter keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen. Stoke found their equalizer in the second half, via Rory Delap, who found his long-throws closed down by Bolton, and so had to use his feet to score his first goal since January 2009. Oddly enough, a throw-in proved to be the death of Stoke when the visitors failed to clear Gretar Steinsson's effort, and Ivan Klasnic pounced to drive home the winner. Klasnic went from hero to minor villain soon after he scored, however, somehow picking up two yellow cards - and therefore getting himself sent off - during injury time.