English Premier League Weekend Review: Chelsea Remain On Top, Manchester United Can’t Win And Blackpool Stun Liverpool

Saturday's action kicked off (literally, it seems) with a featured match of bottom-dwellers. Wolves traveled to the DW hoping to lift themselves out of the relegation zone by taking three points from Wigan. Instead, they unleashed Karl Henry, who, just ten minutes into the match, committed a late tackle on Jordi Gomez. Henry, who broke Bobby Zamora's leg just a few weeks ago under similar circumstances, was shown a straight red. Despite playing with a one-man advantage, Wigan could barely create chances in the first half, but Gomez found his revenge in the second. A foul on Charles N'Zogbia gave the Latics a free kick on the edge of the area, which Gomez chipped over the wall and into the net. Wigan made the victory decisive when N'Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega combined for the second goal in the 85^th minute.

Sunday's game day began in a similar fashion, with Newcastle at Eastlands for the early match. Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong got the match off on the right foot, sliding through Hatem Ben Arfa in the third minute and causing him to have to leave the game. Reports suggest the Newcastle man likely broke his leg. While de Jong received no booking for the tackle, it certainly adds to his reputation of being a despicably dirty player. Meanwhile Newcastle, not exactly known for delicate play themselves, gave away a penalty with a challenge on Carlos Tevez, which Tevez converted to give the home side the lead. Jonas Gutierrez answered with an equalizer less than ten minutes later. While substitute Adam Johnson grabbed the winner for City, his team barely looked like a side capable of challenging for the top spot, often wasting chances and finding themselves foiled by the visitors.

Bolton went to the Hawthorns to take on West Brom in a match destined to be ugly...wait, that's an outdated way of thinking, with both of these sides now playing some pretty football. Yeah, this should be in another section, but nothing about this was really good, and nothing really bad. The Baggies are unbeaten in five games and sit sixth in the table, while Bolton are keeping themselves in eleventh on the back of three consecutive draws. Considering the Baggies were in the Championship last year, their draw should probably put them in the good category, but drawing with Bolton is just not as cool as beating Arsenal and Manchester City.

Manchester United cannot find a win on the road this season, but worse than that, their play on Saturday was, quite simply, bad. Sunderland, meanwhile, are trying to compete with Fulham in a new contest, "Which side can see out the most draws in one season?" The Black Cats had the majority of the chances, particularly in the first half, but not even Darren Bent could put the home side on the score sheet. The most exciting part of this match was the fact that a pipe burst in United's dressing room before the match-perhaps the desire was simply washed away from the visitors?

Fulham, meanwhile, found their sixth draw as they once again could not hold on to a lead. Clint Dempsey once again scored on Robert Green, likely giving the West Ham keeper yet more nightmares, although at least this time there was nothing Green could've done to prevent Dempsey's clip over his head. The Cottagers were the ones with a game-defining mistake in this match. Center back Brede Hangeland sent a pass straight to Hammers' winger Luis Boa Morte, who then passed on to Victor Obinna. Obinna crossed to Frederic Piquionne, who headed past Mark Schwarzer for the equalizer. Yet a point was not enough to lift West Ham out of the relegation zone, where they currently sit bottom of the table.

Aston Villa broke new manager Gérard Houllier's unbeaten run with their 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur, whose supporters likely think this should be in the good category, considering the play of their last-minute signing Rafael van der Vaart. While the Dutchman certainly bossed around the Villa side, the match goes into the bad based upon the visitors' inability to find a healthy striker. Emile Heskey performed beautifully, bossing a Spurs defender to win the ball, then crossing it to Marc Albrighton to give the young winger his first Premier League goal. But after the injured Heskey was replaced by John Carew-the only option, with Gabriel Agbonlahor scheduled for surgery-Villa failed to make any sort of impact on the match. While very little could have stopped the brace by van der Vaart, an effective striker could have at least helped Villa find a draw.

I could put Stoke City into the good section, but their 1-0 win at home over Blackburn just isn't that special. There's nothing very exciting about the Potters' winning at the Britannia, nor is there anything surprising about Blackburn not managing to score. But somehow Stoke still seem worth a watch, if only to see both Matthew Etherington and Kenywne Jones, both who contributed to Jon Walters' first Premier League goal.

Everton finally found their first win of the Premier League system, while simultaneously stopping Birmingham City's 13-month unbeaten streak at home. The Blues treat St. Andrews as a fortress and were playing to that accord, showing little in the way of attack and seeming content to just close Everton down. Yet their defensive maneuvers backfired when captain Roger Johnson got on the wrong end of a Leon Osman cross and could only head the ball into his own net. Lest anyone dare think the Toffees did not deserve their win, Tim Cahill headed in the second goal just before the whistle blew-and the St. Andrews crowd sent their side off to a chorus of boos. Stay classy, Birmingham fans.

Chelsea reminded everyone why they are the holder of the title, and that they intend to remain so, with a 2-0 win over Arsenal. While Arsenal showed themselves at least capable of holding their own at the Stamford Bridge, the visitors just couldn't put away their chances-of which there were plenty. Instead, it was Didier Drogba who scored, flicking an Ashley Cole cross just barely past the near post. The subtle slide of the first goal was as different from the Blues' second as one could imagine. With just five minutes left, Laurent Koscielny gave away a free kick for a foul on Nicholas Anelka. Alex stepped up to take the shot and sent a rocket into the wall, right through the space where Florent Malouda had stood just seconds before. Had Andrei Arshavin stepped over to cover the hole, the Russian would likely still be lying flat on his back.

No disrespect to the Blues, but Blackpool are the buzz of the weekend. The Tangerines are rapidly becoming the team that Premier League watchers are falling for-well, except for Liverpool fans, of course. The players came out to the pitch to take photos of Anfield before the match. Their traveling support is tremendous, noisy, and clever. And their constant attacking style is just fun to watch, particularly when they're making England's most successful club a punchline once again. Charlie Adam converted a penalty to give the visitors the lead, with Luke Varney launching in the second just before the break. Liverpool responded after the half with a Sotirios Kyrgiakos header, but he couldn't repeat the feat for an equalizer before the whistle blew. Liverpool, so used to the jokes after their seventh place finish last season, are finding nothing humorous about being in the relegation zone.