JOE takes a look back at the weekend’s Premier League action and picks out its heroes, villains, favourite goal and best manager.
By Conor Hogan
Heroes of the weekend
Matthew Gilks: On the morning of Blackpool’s encounter with Newcastle at St. James Park, Gilks appeared in a feature on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday. In it, the 28-year-old talked about how close he came to quitting football altogether to become a mechanic in 2008, after continually failing to make the subs bench for Blackpool under Simon Grayson. Now he’s playing Premier League football and was recently selected for Scotland after discovering Scotch blood.
Gilks has been very solid this season, but this weekend’s match against Newcastle was one of those once-in-a-lifetime performances, much like Boaz Myhil’s for Hull last season against Tottenham. Newcastle had just as many chances as during their 6-0 demolition of Aston Villa, but Gilks played the part of the proverbial immovable object, making 13 saves – some of them absolutely world class.
Michael Essien: Chelsea won the league last season despite losing Essien, the world’s eight best footballer, to injury. Now the Ghanaian is back, like a new signing and, unfortunately for the rest of the Premier League, Chelsea look more formidable than ever.  Essien was by far the best player on the pitch against West Ham during Chelsea’s 3-1 victory. He scored twice, both with his head surprisingly, yet his all round play was absolutely outstanding.
Moussa Dembélé: What a terrific signing the 23-year-old looks for Fulham already. In his first start for the Cottagers, against Blackpool on 28 August, the Belgian managed two assists. In his second start, this weekend against Wolves, his contribution was even greater. He scored two goals – the second of which was a last minute freekick to rescue three points. With Bobby Zamora ruled out for a minimum of four months with a leg break, Dembélé’s signing could prove very important.
Villains of the weekend
Lee Cattermole: After seeing red against Wigan, Soccer Saturday’s Alan McInally said of Cattermole,”I think he must have papier-mache instead of brains.” He definitely has a point. It was the fifth red card of the 22-year-old’s short career, and his second in only a month. Steve Bruce, who has made a habit of blaming referees in recent times, had no complaint this time.
“He has got to learn,†Bruce said. “If he doesn’t, there comes a point when he is in trouble and he could have half his career frittered away with suspensions.” Despite the sending off, Sunderland nearly snatched a victory thanks to a brilliant volley from £13 million man Asamoah Gyan on his debut, only for Wigan to snatch a draw late on through AntolÃn Alcaraz.
Joe Hart: Does the England number one jersey have a curse on it? Paul Robinson went on a horrendous run of form following his error against Croatia in 2006. Scott Carson ended up at bottom of the table West Brom after a nightmare game for England against Croatia in 2007. Rob Green, meanwhile, made a terrible mistake against the USA in this summer’s World Cup, and has started the season in dreadful form for West Ham.
Joe Hart has been magnificent this season for Manchester City, but a shaky performance for England in their 3-1 away win against Switzerland was followed up by a shocking error against Blackburn, precipitated by a rush of blood to the head, that gifted Nikola Kalinić a goal, and Rovers a point.
If anyone hopes there is a curse, it will be the Republic of Ireland’s Shay Given, who continues to cut a frustrated figure on the bench.
Frédéric Piquionne: West Ham really don’t help themselves, do they? A much improved performance this week against Chelsea, but it still resulted in a 3-1 loss. One of the goals was gifted to Chelsea after a comedy of errors in the Hammers box, when Rob Green dropped an easy ball, and Matthew Upson’s awful clearance ricocheted off Salomon Kalou and into the net.
Things were to get even worse, however, when New Caledonian striker Frédéric Piquionne managed to miss a chance from a yard with a header. It was a miss that wouldn’t look out of place among these.
Goal of the Weekend
Scott Parker: It was a weekend of very good goals. Asamoah Gyan scored a volley for Sunderland on his debut and Arsenal’s Carlos Vela finished off a wonderful team move for Arsenal after no less than 24 passes.
The best of the weekend, however, was probably Scott Parker’s inch perfect chip against his old club Chelsea. Parker continues to put in terrific performances for the underperforming Hammers and could be starting to regret signing that new contract.
Manager of the weekend
Tony Pulis: On the day of his mother’s death, Pulis showed incredible commitment to Stoke by showing up at the Brittania Stadium just before half time. After the first 45 minutes, Stoke were 1-0 down. Pulis’ dressing room speech inspired the Potter’s to a much better second half performance, however and his substitutions (Whelan, Fuller and Pennant) changed the game.
After a terrific cross by Matt Etherington, Kenwyne Jones headed the ball into the net in the 80th minute. Then, deep into injury time, centre-half Robert Huth scrambled the ball home, the comeback was complete and Stoke had their first three points of the season.
