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Robinho
There's too much money sloshing around the league but thankfully there was enough injected into Manchester City on the first day of September to bring Robinho to England. Even for a fee of £32.5m, the Brazilian was a bargain.
It is, of course, early days in Robinho's Premier League career but it is partly because it is early days that he deserves considerable acclaim. This, after all, is supposedly a league that demands lengthy acclimatisation. Robinho has ridiculed that theory by scoring eight goals in his first 11 games. He offers far more than just goals but his finish past Manuel Almunia was the work of a special talent. Within three months of his arrival, Robinho is already demanding to be bracketed alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres.
Aston Villa
A draw was a marginally better result for Villa than it was for Manchester United. A missed opportunity for both teams, at least the hosts could take the satisfaction of denying United a 15th successive victory against them.
Stoke City
It's not pretty - it's actually very ugly - but Stoke's last five matches at the Britannia have brought five wins.
Ashley Young
The Aston Villa winger has two attributes that Theo Walcott - the player with whom he is probably destined to contest a place in the England team for many years - does not. The first is his crossing. The second is the capacity and intelligence to track back. Compare and contrast the tackle he produced to deny Ji-Sung Park with the dumb lunge Walcott made to fell Young and concede a penalty seven days previously.
Tottenham Hotspur
Now just eight points behind their north London rivals.
Roman Pavlyuchenko
After scoring a total of three goals in ten games under the management of Juande Ramos, Spurs' trio of strikers - including the supposedly-incompatible Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent - have netted 15 since the regime change eight matches ago.
Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand & Frank Lampard
All able to play the full 90 minutes despite being ruled out of England's midweek friendly in Germany because of under-appreciated injuries. Of the fast-recuperating quartet, Hart's recovery was especially miraculous. "He's likely to be out for a minimum of three to four weeks," Mark Hughes assured reporters just six days before Hart lined up against Arsenal.
Bolton Wanderers
Three wins in four after starting the month at the bottom of the table.
Matthew Taylor
A defender/midfielder with 45 career league goals to his credit.
Glen Johnson
One of the best weeks of his career.
Hull City
14 of their 22 points have been collected on their travels, while 30% of their goals have been scored from corners.
Fulham & Newcastle
Although the Toon, despite Joe Kinnear proclaiming "our best team performance this season", didn't even manager a single shot on Chelsea's goal.
Losers
The Big Four
To recall the last time when each of the Big Four failed to win, we only have to return to Sunday August 19 last year when Blackburn held Arsenal, United lost the Manchester derby and Rob Styles awarded Chelsea a draw at Anfield. What was unique this weekend - at least in terms of the Premier League's history - was their failure to score. For United alone, this was an ultra-rare event with 37 matches played since their last blank sheet.
Arsene Wenger And William Gallas
Contrary to media impression and armchair historians, the wisdom of Arsene Wenger's decision to appoint William Gallas as Arsenal's captain last summer was still in the balance before this week. But in the wake of an outburst that was as ill-becoming of Gallas' status as it was suspiciously-timed, even Wenger has had to acknowledge his error. The Frenchman is not prone to admitting a mistake but his decision to strip Gallas of the captaincy was just that.
The defender's rant inadvertently revealed just how ill-suited he was to the role of captain. Distant and uncomprehending of his younger team-mates, Gallas is not the arm-round-the-shoulder, follow-my-example, uplifting mentor they require. He is also, judging by the transcripts he provided to reveal dressing-room rifts, an appalling communicator.
Only Wenger will know if Gallas has been sacked because he violated the sanctuary of the dressing room or because he contradicted his manager's propaganda. Gallas may have revealed his own faults but the inadequacies he lamented in his own team-mates, particularly the absence of "bravery in battle", are difficult to deny. A team is supposed to be a mirror of their manager's character but the 11 players that meekly surrendered at the City of Manchester Stadium couldn't even match the fight Wenger valiantly produced in his post-match press conference.
The absence of nine first-team regulars - Johan Djourou and Mikael Silvestre was, at an unofficial count, Arsenal's seventh different central-defence partnership in three months - would normally inspire a degree of sympathy but Arsenal's injury list remains an accusation against Wenger rather than an avenue for excuse. As this column remarked as long ago as March 2006, 'Arsenal's never-improving injury list increasingly attracts curiosity rather than sympathy.' More so than a commanding centre-half or a defensive midfielder, Arsenal require an investigation of their medical department.
Matters are hardly helped by the type of player Wenger buys. This summer's purchases included Silvestre from Manchester United when he was a month away from fitness, Amaury Bischoff despite the midfielder scarcely playing a game in over a year and Samir Nasri even though he missed most of last season. It is not merely that Arsenal, especially in defence, are too small and lack the physically-intimidating presence of the Invincibles, but they are also too weak. And mentally weak too, if their former captain is a reliable guide.
Arsenal
The new Tottenham?
Liverpool
It's the obvious point to make after a 0-0 stalemate but Liverpool are not scoring sufficiently. While Chelsea's setback highlighted a different type of problem, Liverpool's failure to breach Fulham's backline was particularly unsettling because the statistics had warned a blip of this nature was coming.
For teams chasing championships, a shortage of goals tends to be fatal. Since 2000, only twice has the team winning the Premier League not been the team that scored the most goals during that particular season (second-placed Arsenal being top scorers in 2003 and 2005). With just 21 goals in their first 14 matches, Liverpool have scored fewer than any of their Big Four rivals and are on course to finish the campaign with a Goals For tally of just 57. Compare that to the title-winning Manchester United teams of 2006/07 and 2007/08 which scored 83 and 80 goals respectively and the size of Liverpool's shortage becomes a serious matter of concern.
As this website has remarked before, the 4-2-3-1 formation Rafa Benitez introduced at the start of this campaign has been pivotal in their success so far. But is it too conservative to be the formation of choice for a title-winning team? Rafa's numbers add up higher than Arsene Wenger's but, even after Liverpool's best-ever start to a Premier League campaign, they are not adding up high enough.
Rafa Benitez
Hindsight makes for a wonderful manager but selecting Lucas Leiva alongside Javier Mascherano in a midfield without either Steven Gerrard or Xabi Alonso was a mistake or at the very least a gamble that backfired.
Chelsea
It is becoming a trait: win away, fail to win at home. After registering a record-breaking tenth successive victory on their league travels a week ago, the draw with Newcastle was the sixth time they have dropped points in their last ten games at Stamford Bridge.
In the days of Jose Mourinho, stubborn opponents and packed defences were frequently dismantled by weight of pressure through set-pieces. But after scoring just two goals from corners in the whole of last season, Chelsea can no longer be considered set-piece specialists and are suffering accordingly. John Terry's header against Roma was a reminder but also a rarity.
Not that all their difficulties can be attributed to their set-piece prowess, of course. Swapping Florent Malouda for Salomon Kalou, as Luiz Felipe Scolari did with 20 minutes remaining, is the substitutional equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb. No wonder that Scolari is reportedly still keen on recruiting Robinho. With him, they would be unstoppable. Without him, they are an attacker short and can struggle to break down packed defences.
"When you are away, the home fans pressure their team to attack us, but you are at home, they don't want to attack us," remarked a frustrated Scolari in explanation of two dropped points. The Brazilian ought to hope that the logical solution isn't spotted; if they want to avoid a home defeat, Chelsea's opponents should set up as if they are playing at Stamford Bridge.
West Brom
Tony Mowbray's contempt for the "dross" that Stoke City play may be valid but with his side bottom of the table, and without a goal in their last three matches, Mowbray is not in a position to voice such snobbery. The Baggies were the outstanding side in the Championship last season, pipping Stoke to the title by a couple of points, but what worked in the second tier is proving unsuitable for the top flight. Good football is bad football when it doesn't produce points.
Pete Gill
More will follow
Robinho
There's too much money sloshing around the league but thankfully there was enough injected into Manchester City on the first day of September to bring Robinho to England. Even for a fee of £32.5m, the Brazilian was a bargain.
It is, of course, early days in Robinho's Premier League career but it is partly because it is early days that he deserves considerable acclaim. This, after all, is supposedly a league that demands lengthy acclimatisation. Robinho has ridiculed that theory by scoring eight goals in his first 11 games. He offers far more than just goals but his finish past Manuel Almunia was the work of a special talent. Within three months of his arrival, Robinho is already demanding to be bracketed alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres.
Aston Villa
A draw was a marginally better result for Villa than it was for Manchester United. A missed opportunity for both teams, at least the hosts could take the satisfaction of denying United a 15th successive victory against them.
Stoke City
It's not pretty - it's actually very ugly - but Stoke's last five matches at the Britannia have brought five wins.
Ashley Young
The Aston Villa winger has two attributes that Theo Walcott - the player with whom he is probably destined to contest a place in the England team for many years - does not. The first is his crossing. The second is the capacity and intelligence to track back. Compare and contrast the tackle he produced to deny Ji-Sung Park with the dumb lunge Walcott made to fell Young and concede a penalty seven days previously.
Tottenham Hotspur
Now just eight points behind their north London rivals.
Roman Pavlyuchenko
After scoring a total of three goals in ten games under the management of Juande Ramos, Spurs' trio of strikers - including the supposedly-incompatible Pavlyuchenko and Darren Bent - have netted 15 since the regime change eight matches ago.
Joe Hart, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand & Frank Lampard
All able to play the full 90 minutes despite being ruled out of England's midweek friendly in Germany because of under-appreciated injuries. Of the fast-recuperating quartet, Hart's recovery was especially miraculous. "He's likely to be out for a minimum of three to four weeks," Mark Hughes assured reporters just six days before Hart lined up against Arsenal.
Bolton Wanderers
Three wins in four after starting the month at the bottom of the table.
Matthew Taylor
A defender/midfielder with 45 career league goals to his credit.
Glen Johnson
One of the best weeks of his career.
Hull City
14 of their 22 points have been collected on their travels, while 30% of their goals have been scored from corners.
Fulham & Newcastle
Although the Toon, despite Joe Kinnear proclaiming "our best team performance this season", didn't even manager a single shot on Chelsea's goal.
Losers
The Big Four
To recall the last time when each of the Big Four failed to win, we only have to return to Sunday August 19 last year when Blackburn held Arsenal, United lost the Manchester derby and Rob Styles awarded Chelsea a draw at Anfield. What was unique this weekend - at least in terms of the Premier League's history - was their failure to score. For United alone, this was an ultra-rare event with 37 matches played since their last blank sheet.
Arsene Wenger And William Gallas
Contrary to media impression and armchair historians, the wisdom of Arsene Wenger's decision to appoint William Gallas as Arsenal's captain last summer was still in the balance before this week. But in the wake of an outburst that was as ill-becoming of Gallas' status as it was suspiciously-timed, even Wenger has had to acknowledge his error. The Frenchman is not prone to admitting a mistake but his decision to strip Gallas of the captaincy was just that.
The defender's rant inadvertently revealed just how ill-suited he was to the role of captain. Distant and uncomprehending of his younger team-mates, Gallas is not the arm-round-the-shoulder, follow-my-example, uplifting mentor they require. He is also, judging by the transcripts he provided to reveal dressing-room rifts, an appalling communicator.
Only Wenger will know if Gallas has been sacked because he violated the sanctuary of the dressing room or because he contradicted his manager's propaganda. Gallas may have revealed his own faults but the inadequacies he lamented in his own team-mates, particularly the absence of "bravery in battle", are difficult to deny. A team is supposed to be a mirror of their manager's character but the 11 players that meekly surrendered at the City of Manchester Stadium couldn't even match the fight Wenger valiantly produced in his post-match press conference.
The absence of nine first-team regulars - Johan Djourou and Mikael Silvestre was, at an unofficial count, Arsenal's seventh different central-defence partnership in three months - would normally inspire a degree of sympathy but Arsenal's injury list remains an accusation against Wenger rather than an avenue for excuse. As this column remarked as long ago as March 2006, 'Arsenal's never-improving injury list increasingly attracts curiosity rather than sympathy.' More so than a commanding centre-half or a defensive midfielder, Arsenal require an investigation of their medical department.
Matters are hardly helped by the type of player Wenger buys. This summer's purchases included Silvestre from Manchester United when he was a month away from fitness, Amaury Bischoff despite the midfielder scarcely playing a game in over a year and Samir Nasri even though he missed most of last season. It is not merely that Arsenal, especially in defence, are too small and lack the physically-intimidating presence of the Invincibles, but they are also too weak. And mentally weak too, if their former captain is a reliable guide.
Arsenal
The new Tottenham?
Liverpool
It's the obvious point to make after a 0-0 stalemate but Liverpool are not scoring sufficiently. While Chelsea's setback highlighted a different type of problem, Liverpool's failure to breach Fulham's backline was particularly unsettling because the statistics had warned a blip of this nature was coming.
For teams chasing championships, a shortage of goals tends to be fatal. Since 2000, only twice has the team winning the Premier League not been the team that scored the most goals during that particular season (second-placed Arsenal being top scorers in 2003 and 2005). With just 21 goals in their first 14 matches, Liverpool have scored fewer than any of their Big Four rivals and are on course to finish the campaign with a Goals For tally of just 57. Compare that to the title-winning Manchester United teams of 2006/07 and 2007/08 which scored 83 and 80 goals respectively and the size of Liverpool's shortage becomes a serious matter of concern.
As this website has remarked before, the 4-2-3-1 formation Rafa Benitez introduced at the start of this campaign has been pivotal in their success so far. But is it too conservative to be the formation of choice for a title-winning team? Rafa's numbers add up higher than Arsene Wenger's but, even after Liverpool's best-ever start to a Premier League campaign, they are not adding up high enough.
Rafa Benitez
Hindsight makes for a wonderful manager but selecting Lucas Leiva alongside Javier Mascherano in a midfield without either Steven Gerrard or Xabi Alonso was a mistake or at the very least a gamble that backfired.
Chelsea
It is becoming a trait: win away, fail to win at home. After registering a record-breaking tenth successive victory on their league travels a week ago, the draw with Newcastle was the sixth time they have dropped points in their last ten games at Stamford Bridge.
In the days of Jose Mourinho, stubborn opponents and packed defences were frequently dismantled by weight of pressure through set-pieces. But after scoring just two goals from corners in the whole of last season, Chelsea can no longer be considered set-piece specialists and are suffering accordingly. John Terry's header against Roma was a reminder but also a rarity.
Not that all their difficulties can be attributed to their set-piece prowess, of course. Swapping Florent Malouda for Salomon Kalou, as Luiz Felipe Scolari did with 20 minutes remaining, is the substitutional equivalent of two bald men fighting over a comb. No wonder that Scolari is reportedly still keen on recruiting Robinho. With him, they would be unstoppable. Without him, they are an attacker short and can struggle to break down packed defences.
"When you are away, the home fans pressure their team to attack us, but you are at home, they don't want to attack us," remarked a frustrated Scolari in explanation of two dropped points. The Brazilian ought to hope that the logical solution isn't spotted; if they want to avoid a home defeat, Chelsea's opponents should set up as if they are playing at Stamford Bridge.
West Brom
Tony Mowbray's contempt for the "dross" that Stoke City play may be valid but with his side bottom of the table, and without a goal in their last three matches, Mowbray is not in a position to voice such snobbery. The Baggies were the outstanding side in the Championship last season, pipping Stoke to the title by a couple of points, but what worked in the second tier is proving unsuitable for the top flight. Good football is bad football when it doesn't produce points.
Pete Gill
More will follow
Will people stop wetting themselves about us playing anti-football!! Chelsea played $h!t football for years without their fans complaining, and suddenly they're the kings of samba and hate dull football. Hypocrite twats. That means you Mikel. 
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