English Premier League, Week 7: Huge Derby Win For Tottenham Hotspur As Arsenal’s Slump Resumes

The match was characterised by sloppy defending on both parts, and the only reason that more goals weren’t scored is because the midfield play was also pretty poor. Arsenal should have dominated possession, but the extra man counts for naught when said extra man appears to delight in gifting the opposition with the football, a hobby Ramsey appears to have picked up and mastered in the past few months.

Arsenal’s response is to have Aaron Ramsey hit a daisycutter at Brad Friedel from range. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work. Oh, and lost in all of that - van der Vaart’s celebration saw the midfielder running into the crowd, which is usually a bookable offence. He’s already on one yellow and should be off. Mike Dean ignores it.

Arsenal are looking mildly threatening on the attack, but if they keep making defensive mistakes like that, it isn’t going to matter one bit. Still 0-0 so far though.

Well done to Andres Villas-Boas for handing David Luiz his first Premier League start of the season.

So now that it’s clear the Blues will be running away with this match, can we get a couple of focused cameras to provide some extra entertainment? A David Luiz-cam, so we never miss a sexy stepover? And, of course, an Andres Villas-Boas cam. I bet that one could be pay-per-view.

You’d think Bolton would be a bit more aware of Sturridge’s abilities, having seen the forward scoring for their side last season. But the defense simply let Sturridge go unmarked -- perhaps a present for the help he gave them last year? To his credit, Sturridge’s goal celebration was nearly non-existent, a mark of respect for the club that helped him develop.

Bolton continue to linger at the bottom of the table, their only points coming from a 4-0 thrashing over QPR in the first match of the season. This start certainly doesn’t bode well for Owen Coyle’s men.

While being denied that last goal will have stung Wolves fans deeply, the truth is that they could have won by three and nobody would have noticed. Krul put in a great performance, yes, but if the hosts had been a little sharper with their finishing, life would have been far easier for them. Newcastle go into 3rd with the win, and Wolves find themselves stumbling, with just one point from their last 15.

The North London derby has a merited reputation for providing an exciting game of football. Last season’s editions saw a 3-3 draw in this fixture and a come-from-behind 3-2 win for Spurs at the Emirates. Last season’s aggregate victory for Tottenham Hotspur, saw them cement a recent trend of reversing Arsenal’s historic primacy in this fixture (Younes Kaboul’s late winner at the Emirates sealed Tottenham’s first away win over Arsenal for seventeen years).

This season’s round of fixtures have added significance, both tangible and intangible. It looks like the very tangible prize of fourth place and Champions League qualification will be fought between these two sides (and Liverpool). The intangible question of local supremacy also feels, for the first time in years, as though it is genuinely at stake on Sunday.

It was an unexpected comeback, but the Black Cats couldn’t do much having hauled their way back into the game. There was some interesting back-and-forth football, but a tthe end of the day both teams seemed pretty happy to settle for the 2-2 draw.

City’s afternoon was rather marred by an injury to Sergio Aguero, however - the striker was forced off after half an hour thanks to what looks like a groin problem. That’s a situtation that could prove fairly distressing for Citizens manager Roberto Mancini: If Aguero is out for any significant length of time City will only have two real strikers at their disposal for the next couple of weeks. Then again, that might mean they only score two goals rather than four every match.

Wigan had possession but no ability to convert that into chances (or even pressure), which doesn’t exactly bode well for this season, Villa, meanwhile have some very good attacking talent - if they use that rather than relying on a shaky midfield to hold one-goal leads, they might actually win some games this season. Imagine that.

They say it’s the mark of champions to win without playing particularly well, and if that’s true United are now absolute locks for a 20th league title.