With Liverpool and Stoke sharing the points earlier in the day, Everton/Man City due to play in the afternoon, Portsmouth/Birmingham postponed and four teams set to play on Sunday, only four games were ready when 15:00 came around.
The three big teams of Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham were all playing at home to lowly sides and all were expected to win their games.
Chelsea obliged by hammering Sunderland 7-2 in an epic match which saw Anelka and Lampard both bag braces. Ashley Cole, Malouda and Ballack added to the slaughter for The Blues with Zenden and the prolific Darren Bent scoring the consolation goals for Sunderland. Chelsea remains at the top of the Premier League table after this fantastic victory.
Manchester United retained their second spot and kept the gap between them and Chelsea to one point after Berbatov, Rooney and summer signing Diouf gave them a 3-0 victory over Burnley. It was Brian Laws first game in charge for Burnley and his team looked impressive and difficult to break down for most of the match but Man Utd began to tighten the screws when the first goal went in after the hour mark.
Tottenham were not as impressive as the table toppers as they were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Hull City. Spurs missed plenty of chances to win the game with a couple of late sitters falling to the leggy Peter Crouch. The draw moves them to fifth within one point of Manchester City.
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic fought a brutal battle which saw Stearman sent off for Wolves twenty minutes before Thomas also saw red for Wigan. Benni Mccarthy put Wigan in front when they had the man advantage and N’Zogbia doubled their lead six minutes after the second sending off; moving Wigan up to thirteenth in the table.
Third placed Arsenal will be looking to close in on Man Utd when they play Bolton tomorrow whilst Aston Villa and Manchester City will be hoping to move closer to that illusive fourth spot with their weekend games.
