By Andrew Discenza

Paul Scholes & Landon Donovan made returns to their respective clubs this weekend and had an instant impact. The veteran midfielder came out of retirement to join Manchester United's stumbling ranks and found the crucial breakthrough right on half-time, sweeping in Wayne Rooney’s cross at the back stick with the usual aplomb. Meanwhile Donovan provided a much-needed spark in Everton’s attack, and his incisive through ball gave Victor Anichebe the chance to grab a point for the Toffees at Aston Villa.

Arsene Wenger’s headache just got a bit worse after Arsenal followed up their 2-1 loss at Fulham with a 3-2 defeat at Swansea. Robin van Persie’s early goal seemed to bode well for the visitors, but just ten minutes later Aaron Ramsey was adjudged to have brought down a spinning Nathan Dyer, although to Arsene’s chagrin the Swansea man seemed to stamp on Ramsey’s leg. It got worse for the Arsenal midfielder as Joe Allen stopped him from playing the ball out of defense, then found Nathan Dyer in a criminal amount of space at the edge of the area, and his shot beat Wojciech Szczesny for pace. Mr. Wenger would have breathed a sigh of relief when Theo Walcott restored parity, but just moments after the restart Danny Graham fired in the winner with Szczesny left stranded and Arsenal’s defensive frailties exposed.

Blackburn continued their revival with a 3-1 win over Fulham, and have now earned 7 of their 17 Premiership points in the last four matches. The goals came from Morten Gamst Pedersen’s cheekily curled freekick, David Dunn’s crisp strike, and a wonderful combination of Steve Nzonzi’s chip and Mauro Formica’s low finish.

Sunderland were simply unable to take their chances as Chelsea squeaked by with a 1-0 win. James McClean was guilty on two occasions, mis-hitting a first-time volley from close range, then unable to find the target from Sebastian Larsson’s glorious cross. Stephane Sessegnon was faultless throughout the match and created two gilt-edged chances to equalize late on, but Craig Gardener sent his shot wide and Nicklas Bendtner fluffed over the bar.

Leon Best’s goal of the weekend was enough to earn Newcastle a 1-0 win over QPR. After receiving the ball on the left side there seemed little danger, until the tricky striker cut inside to leave Luke Young for dead, and found the far corner with an utterly composed curler.

After much discussion in recent weeks surrounding what constitutes a red card, referee Martin Atkinson has surely missed one of the most blatant sendings off of the season in Manchester City’s narrow 1-0 win at Wigan. Nigel de Jong had sent a clearance toward the halfway line, with Sergio Aguero ready to pounce. Maynor Figueroa was the last man back but completely misjudged the flight of the ball, which looked to bounce over the defender’s head and send Aguero through on goal. The Honduran then decided to extend and arm and quite deliberately and illegally block Aguero off the ball. Mr. Atkinson reached into his pocket in an instant but instead of sending the player from the pitch for denying a scoring opportunity, he showed a most lenient yellow card.

Shay Given put in a splendid performance to help hold Everton to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa. Although only required to make three saves, all showed that the Ireland international is still on top of his game. Early on Louis Saha met Leighton Baines’ freekick with a glancing header but Given leapt to his left to keep it out. The 35-year-old then had to make an unexpected save as Stephen Warnock stumbled while attempting a headed clearance and instead sent the ball toward his own net, but Given reacted in a flash to keep the ball out. Baines caused havoc again from a set-piece, finding Marouane Fellaini who certainly would have scored had Given not made a massive block from close range.

Luka Modric scored a fine goal to help Tottenham scrape a point against feisty Wolves. Gareth Bale laid the ball off just outside the area, and the Croatian showed his game isn’t all cool passing as he lashed a low shot into the back of the net.

Fernando Torres showed promising signs in Chelsea's win over Sunderland. He contributed to the only goal of the match with a stunning acrobatic volley which crashed against the crossbar and ricocheted in off Frank Lampard. He was then denied two penalty claims, going down under John O’Shea’s tough challenge and Phillip Bardsley’s obvious foul, but lady luck continued to snub the Spaniard.

Michael Carrick was another midfielder who showed his eye for goal, as his fine strike sealed an ordinary win for Manchester United over Bolton. Picking the ball up in the center of the pitch he was urged to shoot by the crowd, and he obliged by taking aim and guiding a deliberate shot into the bottom corner.

Emmanuel Adebayor and Tottenham will feel hard done by after a legitimate goal was ruled out just before half time. Gareth Bale’s shot was redirected to the Togolese who tucked into the net, but the flag was raised for offside even though Kevin Foley was clearly playing him on.