After all the drama of the transfer deadline day pantomime, last minute rushing around, and the ludicrous amounts of money being splashed around everywhere. We were able to see the football once again take the headlines from all the talk about money, wages, and loyalty. This weekend bought us pure football, the reason we all love the sport with a passion, whom ever your team will be, whatever result they may have achieved over the weekend, we all know that this weekend’s real winner was “football”.

We saw the record book for the Premier League being scripted with a new chapter to its history, as we clocked up an incredible 43 goals a goal shy of the record for most goals in a premier league weekend, including a fairytale comeback from Newcastle, becoming the first ever premier league team to come back from a 4-0 deficit to share all the spoils at St James Park.

As fans headed for the exits 26 minutes into the game, they could only wish for the full time whistle, as Arsenal were exhilarating, and brushed Newcastle aside with 26 minutes of what seemed to be a training game. However the early departed Newcastle fans and Arsenal will be left kicking themselves, as what came in the second half was nothing short of a miracle. Newcastle were given an early boost by the dismissal of Abou Diaby as he reacted angrily to an aggressive tackle from Joey Barton, raising his hands and pushing Barton to the ground followed by another push to Kevin Nolan, leaving Phil Dowd no choice but to give him his marching orders.

Newcastle most definitely took advantage of their extra man as they bombarded Arsenals goal, and were rewarded when Barton slammed home the first of two penalties, sandwiched in between by a tidy Leon Best finish as he turned and swivelled on receiving the ball 7 yards out from goal to slot home into the bottom left corner. As Newcastle continually piled on the pressure, their hard work finally paid off to Geordies delight, as a Joey Barton free-kick is half cleared to the edge of the box, falling to none other than holding man Chiek Tiote who kept composed and rifled in a marvellous volley from 25 yards flying into the bottom left corner to send St James Park into absolute ecstasy.

Elsewhere, and the main talking point for the whole week let alone the weekend, was Fernando Torres making his long awaited debut in the Chelsea blue strip, hoping to make an impact in front of his new home faithful against none other than Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish’s revived Liverpool. All the focus was on Torres, as he walks out of the tunnel onto the pitch, millions around the world, and the 40,000 spectators at Stamford Bridge all focused on one man and one man only. This may have played a factor with Torres’ performance, as he looked lacklustre at times, and very unconvincing when in possession of the ball. As he took a heavy blow to the head in a collision from Daniel Agger, his image led flat on the surface face down summed up the afternoon that he and both Chelsea endured.

As Liverpool tactically out thought Chelsea, and rose to the occasion to play the better football on the day, they got everything they totally deserved. Maxi Rodriguez missed a glaring opportunity late into the first half, getting onto the end of Steven Gerrard’s fizzing cross across the box, only to hit the bar from a yard and a half out, as the bar still rattled, Liverpool fans must really have thought that was their chance gone. But all credit to the Reds, as they stuck to their tasks and got the ball down again in the second half, to be rewarded in the 69th minute.

The ball is whipped in from the right across the face of the 6 yard line, Peter Cech hesitates whether to come and collect or stay on his line, and causes confusion between the Chelsea defence. As they all stand rooted to the ground allowing the ball to run across to the back post, Raul Meireles stays alert to dash in and smash home the winning goal, and erase memories of Fernando Torres. The Kop now has a new hero on Merseyside, and that hero is Kenny Dalglish as he continues to revive Liverpool who now have 4 wins on the bounce without conceding a goal.

To complete the round up of the weekends games, Man Utd finally saw their unbeaten run come to a halt, as bottom side Wolves dug in and fought out a historical victory, Kevin Doyle with the decisive goal late in the 1st half to add Man Utds scalp to their impressive list of Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man City.

Man City took advantage of Man Utd and Arsenal’s slip ups, with a convincing 3-0 victory over West Brom, Carlos Tevez the hero of the show once again at City of Manchester stadium firing home all 3 goals to complete his second hat-trick of the season, and terminate Roberto Di Matteo’s reign as manager of the Baggies.

Goals galore at Goodison Park and the DW stadium as Everton rose to see off a never say die Blackpool team 5-3 with Saha scoring an incredible 4 goals, and Wigan scrapping out a 4-3 win over Blackburn, James McCarthy scoring the goal of the game with a neat one two with N’Zogbia in enclosed space, to then show incredible technique to shift the ball from his right to his left before coolly volleying home into the bottom corner.

Rest of the weekends results consisted of:

Aston Villa 2-2 Fulham
Stoke 3-2 Sunderland
Tottenham 2-1 Bolton
West Ham 0-1 Birmingham

Adam Storer