Premier League, Week 12: Manchester United, Chelsea upset

That said, it was Stoke who offered the next big threat of the half when Steven N’Zonzi rattled the woodwork 37 minutes in. It was a strike from nothing, the 23-year-old shooting on the half-volley from 25 yards out and nearly snapping the crossbar with a spectacular effort.

The second half was a markedly different story from the first, as West Ham finally got a toehold in a match that they would have expected to win. Nolan should have scored almost immediately, but the captain completely mishit his attempt from point blank range and ended up shinning the ball gently into Asmir Begovic’s arms.

It was a controversial call. Although it was a two-footed, studs up tackle, it wasn’t particularly dangerous, a fact that many seized on as justification to defend the centre back (and castigate the referee). But, by the book, that’s a red card offence, and Probert has to call matches by the book.

Petric made less of a mess with his chance when he nutmegged Cuellar and advanced on goal, forcing Mignolet to block an effort aimed at his far post, but the minutes were slipping away and Fulham never looked like pulling two goals back. That didn’t stop them from attacking, but as time wound down it looked increasingly futile, and by the end of the match only Berbatov was still anything approaching a threat.

Four minutes of injury time were signalled for, and suddenly Norwich broke out once more. Both Grant Holt and Wes Hoolahan had been pulled off for fresh legs in Steve Morison and Jonathan Howson, and it was that duo who raced at Lindegaard’s goal, the latter eventually finding himself beyond the defence with only the goalkeeper to beat.

He screwed his shot well wide, of course. They weren’t going to get away with a win that easily.

Enrique added the exclamation point in the 66th minute, set up predictably by Suarez and Sterling. Ali Al-Habsi made a great save on Sterling after Suarez played him into the box, but the Wigan defense couldn’t clear away, and Enrique found himself in a perfect position to poke in his side’s third goal.

The final whistle was met by raucous cheers from the home team and reflected not only a great victory but a hugely accomplished performance from a team that currently looks every bit the fourth-best team in England. Chelsea will hope that today was just an off-day due to the lack of fitness of their attacking midfielders, or they will be firmly the third-best.

After sitting back far too much and giving Everton too much space, Brian McDermott made some adjustments at halftime that worked out well because the second half was all Reading.

Fellaini nearly pulled Everton back minutes later, sending a header crashing off the crossbar. That was really Everton best and only chance of the second half as their failed to challenge Reading’s defense in the final minutes and fell with a whimper.

It would be easy for Tottenham to blame the defeat solely on Adebayor’s red card, particularly after their excellent start, but they allowed it to affect them to a great extent - they did not play well even for ten men, and Arsenal could have scored a lot more. They will feel terrible at having potentially kick-started Arsenal’s season for the second year in a row, but André Villas-Boas and Spurs fans will have to write this one off to bad fortune with the red card and their absent midfielders. There is still plenty of scope for them to improve - just less and less time.

It’s made the scoreline a bit more presentable for Spurs, who could have conceded a lot more goals in this second half. The man advantage has really told in this game, and it’s pretty much been all Arsenal since Adebayor’s sending off. A bad day at the office all round, and there’s still 15 minutes to play, but if there’s another goal, it’d be a major surprise if it didn’t go to the hosts.

Arsenal have begun to turn the screw on Tottenham and always looked the most likely next goalscorer. Tottenham may have had hopes of hitting their foes on the counter-attack, but it hasn’t worked out.

The goal is his first for Arsenal, and indeed in English football, and the Gunners’ numerical advantage is beginning to tell immediately. It’s looking like a rough time ahead for Spurs, and unless it goes to ten against ten at some point, they don’t look too likely to hold out. Nonetheless, it’s still end-to-end stuff. This is classic derby material.

Despite throwing away a 2-goal lead at home to lose 3-2 against United in their last encounter, Lambert spoke after the game of how well his team played, and will be buoyed by their first half performance, though his side’s defending will need to improve if they are to hope to pick anything up from this encounter.

Manchester City injuries and suspensions

Emirates Stadium; Saturday, 12:45 GMT/7:45 AM ET

Ah, it’s the North London Derby. One of those games that we’re all supposed too care about for some reason, but most folks haven’t the foggiest why. Okay, we get it, they’re close to one another. My sister and I shared a bedroom for six years and we hated each other and no one ever paid to see us fight. I’d guess the Great-Skid-Row-Poster-Destruction that was met by the Stretch-Armstrong-Offensive would be equally compelling.

It would take a heart of stone to deny that the North London derby has produced some brilliant spectacles in the past few years. The mythical and clichéd ‘purists’ who are alleged to dislike goals, attacking play, and fun are the only ones who could deny that it’s a classic, and yet the problem remains that even in recent years, it’s an encounter that’s rarely taken place on even terms. Both clubs being notoriously crisis-prone, it’s usually been an encounter where one side has been in a state of total disarray, fighting for their lives or reputation.

What does all this mean? Well, one of the two teams is almost certainly going to be booed off at half-time, there’ll be more than the usual amount of technical area collar-adjusting, and we’ll get a game in which tactics and discipline likely go out of the window within the first five minutes and the match descends into either unmissable anarchic brilliance or unwatchable anarchic rubbish. Defeat for either side will spell total disaster, a draw would be mutually destructive and unsatisfying, and a win would be a relief and little else to shout about. In other words, it’s going to be exactly like every local derby that’s ever taken place since football began. It could be the making or breaking of Villas-Boas, but likely it’ll be the same thing it is every time: largely insignificant but supremely compelling viewing. Let the competition for tallest dwarf in North London commence.