Arsenal cruised to a 4-0 victory over Wigan after a sticky start.
Thomas Vermaelen scored the first two goals and both strikes were exceptional.
The first was a perfectly-timed header from Van Persie’s inswinging corner from the right. Six yards out, Vermaelen met the ball superbly and keeper Chris Kirkland had no chance.
Remarkably, Vermaelen’s second goal was a left-foot strike from the edge of the box which flew into the top corner, near post.
Amazing stuff by the Belgian.Since 1996, no new player has settled in as quickly at Arsenal, apart from Bacary Sagna, whose first season was phenomenal.
Arsenal didn’t have it all their own way in the 25 minutes before the first goal.Their midfield looked dysfunctional, Van Persie stuttered, Fabregas got a bang on the head, Gallas got a bang on the knee, and Eboue was their liveliest forward. That tells you how sharp their attack was !
The limping Fabregas didn’t even manage a grin after scoring a near-post goal in the 90th minute to make it 4-0.
Liverpool won 3-2 at West Ham .
The level of expertise displayed in those two goals by Fernando Torres was electrifying. To score the first goal of the game in 20 minutes, he waltzed past past the right back to the near post with two touches and applied a killer shot past the kneeling Rob Green. Don’t you just love a centre forward who can score do-it-yourself goals? When Babel crossed in 75, a textbook header by Torres, down inside the post, was almost as good- and it won the game.
If Torres stays fit, Livepool can beat any English team, despite their defensive lapses. Carragher is struggling right now. They will miss Xabi Alonso in the Champions League, especially.
On Sunday morning I bought The Observer and talked to John, my greengrocer, who had a bad week with his bets but won £250 on Saturday.
“I’ve got a feeling in my water that Celtic will draw,” he said.
“Hearts often do well against Celtic but I’d leave that one alone,” I advised.
John never listens to a word I say.
Celtic were 1-0 down at half-time but won 2-1.
He said Man City had Tevez, Robinho and Adebayor out in the derby and would lose.
I said, “I don’t know who will win that one. I’m leaving it alone. I’m really up for it but I’m not betting on it. But Chelsea will beat Spurs, definitely.”
Two-goal Craig Bellamy was the star at Old Trafford but United shaded Man City by 4-3, controversially. Tevez started. So did Rio Ferdinand, who was at fault for two goals. The defending by City was appalling, especially by Micah Richards,who is living on borrowed time.
My biggest bet of the season was on Chelsea to beat Spurs and I thanked my lucky stars when Carvalho clipped Robbie Keane at 1-0 and Howard Webb didn’t give a penalty. Replays showed that Keane, a striker with fantastic balance, tried to stay on his feet and score. He wanted to sidefoot the ball past Cech but the foul prevented him from doing that and he fell and Webb waved play on and Chelsea won 3-0.
For many years my favourite football writer was David Lacey.
When I became a reporter I got to know David over a 20-year period. Occasionally he wrote pieces in The Guardian that were similar to what I had written in The Scotsman on the same day. When that happened, I’d think I’d done quite well.
Here is David Lacey on Arsenal