By Andrew Discenza

Juan Mata had a hand in all three goals to help Chelsea return to winning ways against Wolves. It was his corner that invited John Terry to nod in after just seven minutes, and again he showed his skill out wide with a low cross that ran all the way for Daniel Sturridge to tuck home at the back post. The Spaniard then grabbed a deserved goal himself, volleying coolly into the roof of the net from Ashley Cole’s cross.

Joe Hart made a vital save to keep Manchester City on level terms with Liverpool. The home side looked the more likely to steal all three points, and on 93 minutes they thought they had done so. Glen Johnson swung a deliberate cross in for Andy Carroll, who headed powerfully back across the goalkeeper toward the corner. But the England number one had other ideas, leaping in a flash to his left to palm the ball wide and preserve a draw for his side.

Tim Krul’s heroics held Manchester United to a 1-1 draw, and ranks right up there with goalkeeping performances this season. He made a string of glorious saves, first diving to keep Ryan Giggs’ backheel out of the bottom corner, then making himself big to block Javier Hernandez from close range. The flying Dutchman then produced arguably the save of the season, using his shoulder to surprising efficacy to parry Nemanja Vidic’s powerful close-range header. He capped it off with a fine acrobatic stretch to keep Patrice Evra’s effort out of the top corner.

John Flynn, linesman for Manchester United v Newcastle, made a dreadful decision to award the visitors a penalty and rob United of two points. The controversial moment came when Hatem Ben Arfa was driving toward goal and Rio Ferdinand came across to make a sliding tackle, taking out the Frenchman only after winning the ball. Referee Mike Jones seemed to see it that way, indicating immediately for a corner kick. But the linesman had other ideas, waving his flag and persuading the head official to overturn the correct decision, much to the dismay of the Old Trafford faithful.

Ruben Rochina’s goal of the weekend was the only bright spot for Blackburn in their 3-1 loss at Stoke. With the minutes counting down the Spaniard cut infield, before taking aim from fully 25 yards and ripping a ferocious shot that cannoned in off the post with the goalkeeper a mere spectator.

Steven Nzonzi’s two nasty elbows to the face went shockingly unpunished in Blackburn’s visit to Stoke. The first seemed intentional, as he swung his body into Ryan Shawcross and caught him full in the face with an extended elbow. Glenn Whelan’s nose was then the worse for wear just three minutes later when Nzonzi leapt recklessly with his arms flying behind him. Time will only tell as to whether the FA sees the need for further action against the Frenchman.

Jermaine Defoe scored in typical fashion to help Tottenham to a 3-1 win at West Brom. Emmanual Adebayor’s flick gave the 29-year-old room to run, and as the defense backed down Defoe set himself and rifled the ball into the very bottom corner.

Thomas Vermaelen scored at both ends of the pitch as Arsenal were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Fulham. The own goal came when Danny Murphy played a long ball into the box, and runs by Bobby Zamora and John Arne Riise caused chaos, forcing Vermaelen into a rash intervention which sent the ball into the corner of his own net. But the Belgian redeemed himself to scrape a draw, latching onto Theo Walcott’s cross to nod the ball powerfully down and into the corner.

Wes Brown’s mistake gifted Wigan a 90th minute winner at Sunderland. Having played a successful one-two with Kieren Westwood, he was then far too casual in allowing James McArthur to win possession, race forward and square for Franco Di Santo to grab all three points for the visitors.

Mario Balotelli cannot keep out of the headlines, and was rightfully sent off for two bookings within 6 minutes. First he was carded for a cynical pullback on Glen Johnson, then he clattered with arms raised into Martin Skrtel to give referee Martin Atkinson absolutely no choice but to show red, while even Robert Mancini seemed to feel the Italian deserved it.

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