In a weekend that saw no less than 9 red cards handed out by referees, there was some serious embarrassment for Liverpool, Wigan and Tottenham Hotspur, with the latter being given a lesson in goal scoring by North London rivals Arsenal.

Things had looked reasonably tight until the 42nd minute when Robin van Persie netted his first of the afternoon, thereafter Spurs fell apart as Cesc Fabregas added a second goal 2 minutes later to take the Gunners to the break with a 2-0 scoreline.

Spurs have not beaten the Arsenal in the league since 1999 and unfortunately for Harry 3 of his best talents were unavailable through injury. Van Persie sealed things for the home fans with a 3rd goal in the 60th minute. The question now is; can Spurs really mount a serious challenge for the UEFA Champions League?

The big upset of the afternoon came a Craven Cottage as Liverpool, on a high from beating Man United last weekend, came down to earth with a fat bump. Predictably it was Bobby Zamora who opened the scoring for Fulham and the hard working loner for the Reds, Fernando Torres who got the equaliser just before halftime. The Reds without Gerrard and Johnson looked clueless most of the time allowing Fulham to run rings around them adding two more goals. The frustration was too much for Philipp Degen and Jamie Carragher, both received their marching orders for rash tackles, which Rafa says he will appeal against. So it certainly wasn’t a smiling Rafa Benitez who left Craven Cottage, but a very sour one. Final score Fulham 3, Liverpool 1.

Had I wagered a few bob on Wigan Athletic I would have gone home empty handed, because floundering Portsmouth, given a new lease on life by their 4 – 0 victory over Stoke in their midweek Carling Cup match, came alive at Fretton Park and it was Aruna Dindane who destroyed Wigan with a brilliant Hat-trick. The other goal came from his strike partner Frederic Piquionne who left the field on a stretcher adding to Paul Hart’s woes. Wigan looked like 1st Division material and will have to find something quickly otherwise they will be joining Pompey at the bottom of the table. Final score Portsmouth 4, Wigan Athletic 0.

The toughest match of the wekend was undoubtedly at the Stadium of Light, where Steve Bruce watched in anguish as first Franco then Cole found the back of the Sunderland net for the Hammers. Kerwyne Jones was sent off in the last minute of the 1st half for pushing West Hams Herita Ilunga. The Hammers' player fell to the ground as if poleaxed. I would love to see his interpretation of the "Dying Swan" - what a pufftah!

Don't know what Steve Bruce said to his 10 men in the dressing room at halftime but it worked. Andy Reid's spot kick would have made Ronaldo proud as it left Robert Green flatfooted in goal. It was a pearler! Nothing was going right for Darren Bent it was one of THOSE afternoons - he should have scored a brace but lady luck was visiting Fratton Park. Kieran Richardson salvaged a point for Sunderland with a well taken goal on the 76th minute.

The match was marred by no less that 5 Yellow cards and 2 Red Cards but at least the Black Cats managed to salvage a point, when they should have taken all three.

Chelsea cemented their place at the top of the Premiership with a 4 goad drubbing of the Trotters at the Reebok. That victory was slightly diluted by the fact that Bolton were reduced to 10 men for the entire second half after Samuel was sent off in the 45th minute. Frank Lampard slotted home the resulting penalty and the Blues were on the board at half time.

Gary Megson tried to bolster his 10 man squad with half time changes but Chelsea slotted in 2 more plus an own goal from Zat Knight to clinch the 3 points. The Blues will be aiming to end the first half of the season still in top spot.

Burnley's 2-0 win over the TIgers was predictable and when Geovanni was sent off, for what I have no idea - Hull's hopes of a revival went with him.

For Martin O'Neil it proved to be no walk in the park at Goodison, despite the Toffee's poor run of recent form. David Moyes must have been thankful for a point - that's all he seems to get at home these days - but there is a lot of work to do if they want to be back into Europa League contention. Martin O'Neil replaced John Milner with John Carew at the break and that proved to be an excellent move as it was Carew who earned him the point.
There were two red cards in this match as well but both came in the final 3 minutes so it didn't affect play.

Stoke City and Wolves played to a 2-2 draw which in current form was somewhat anticipated. Both teams had found the net 9 times prior to this.

The final match of the weekend was between Birmingham City and Manchester City and I said on Friday; don't be surprised if we get another upset at St Andrews and a goaless draw can only described as an upset for Mark Hughes on his 46th Birthday. A fourth successive draw was not part of the plan and he only got that thanks to the heroics of Shay Given in goal, who pulled off some fine saves including a Penalty from James McFadden in the 2nd half after the referee had given a handball - I think pretty unfairly - against Nigel de Jong. Both de Jong and Sebastian Larsson went up for a ball in the area with arms raised to defend against each other and the ball touched de Jong's arm.

The referee, Mike Dean, pointed to the spot. It was justice when Shay GIven saved the kick. There was a 9th red card of the weekend for Barry Ferguson in the dying minutes for knocking the ball out of Pablo Zabaleta's hands as he attempted to take an injury-time throw.

Manchest City remain in the top 4 but on this form, how long will they stay in contention and just how safe is Mark Hughes' job?