– Dan Brown contributed to this report.
With the transfer window closing at 11pm on Friday night, attention turned back to matters on the pitch over the weekend.
West Ham got proceedings underway as they welcomed Fulham in Saturday’s lunchtime kick off. The Hammers, inspired by on-loan Andy Carroll, raced out of the blocks when Kevin Nolan fired home inside a minute.
West Ham doubled their lead inside half an hour when Winston Reid headed home, before Matt Taylor added a third before the break. Martin Jol brought on £4m signing Dimitar Berbatov in an attempt to rouse his side, but West Ham held on comfortably.
Honours even at Swansea and Wigan
Swansea’s 100% record came to an end as they drew 2-2 at home to Sunderland. Debutant, Steven Fletcher gave Sunderland the lead when he capitalised on Ashley William’s poor back-pass, before Wayne Routledge hammered home the equaliser on 45 minutes.
Parity did not last long however, as Fletcher bundled in his second in first half stoppage time, before Michu headed in his fourth of the season to level matters after 66 minutes. Despite seeing Chico sent off for a wild lunge on Louis Saha, Swansea held on for a point.
Wigan and Stoke played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the DW Stadium. The first half was a story of two penalties, with Shaun Maloney firing Wigan ahead from the spot inside five minutes, before Jon Walters converted his effort after 40 minutes.
Wigan regained the lead four minutes after the break through Franco Di Santo, but were again pegged back when Peter Crouch headed Stoke level with 15 minutes remaining.
Tottenham toil while Everton slip to defeat
Andre Villas-Boas’ disappointing life as Tottenham manager continued as Spurs again dropped points at White Hart Lane, this time against Norwich. New-boy Mousa Dembele came off the bench to give the home side the lead midway through the second half with a fine finish from 18 yards.
However, as against West Brom last week, Spurs surrendered their lead late on when Robert Snodgrass fired home after 85 minutes. To make matters worse, substitute Tom Huddlestone was harshly shown a straight red card a minute before time.
Everton’s perfect start to the campaign came to an end as they were beaten 2-0 by West Brom at The Hawthorns. After a goalless first half, Shane Long broke the deadlock on 65 minutes, before Gareth McAuley sealed the points late on with a powerful header.
City avoid scare to beat QPR
Manchester City returned to winning ways as they beat QPR at The Etihad. Yaya Toure gave the dominant City a first half lead, but the home fans were stunned on the hour mark when Bobby Zamora headed in from close range following a Joe Hart save.
However, City regrouped and took just two minutes to regain the lead when Tevez’s lofted ball was nodded home by Dzeko. The win was secured in the final minute when Tevez got himself on the score-sheet, diverting Dzeko’s mishit shot into the net to make it 3-1 to City.
Liverpool lose, RVP inspires United and Newcastle are left frustrated
Having endured a disappointing transfer deadline day, Liverpool’s weekend got even worse as they fell to a 2-0 home defeat to Arsenal on Sunday. Lukas Podolski scored his first goal in an Arsenal shirt to give the Gunners the lead after half an hour with a fine low finish past Pepe Reina, having been played through by Santi Cazorla.
Cazorla himself after 68 minutes when his shot somehow beat Reina at his near post, ensuring the points went to North London.
Former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie was heavily involved in an extraordinary game between Southampton and Manchester United at St. Mary’s. Ricky Lambert, scorer of 27 goals in the Championship last season, headed the Saints into a 16th minute lead, before van Persie equalised seven minutes later.
Morgan Schneiderlin capitalised on a Patrice Evra slip to restore Southampton’s lead 55 minutes in, before van Persie saw his dinked penalty saved by Kelvin Davis.
Nevertheless, the Dutchman made amends with two goals in a dramatic finale. First he converted the rebound from Rio Ferdinand’s header, which came back off the post, before completing his hat-trick deep into injury to earn United all three points.
Aston Villa got their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle. Ciaran Clark was given the freedom of the Newcastle box to head Villa into a half time lead, which they held onto until the 59 minute mark.
Hatem Ben Arfa collected the ball on the left, before cutting inside and unleashing a thunderous strike which flew into the top corner to earn Newcastle a point.