With many of the stars having a good trip with their international teams the week before, this past week brought about some great matches that have caused some big changes in the standings. This includes Chelsea regaining a top three position, Stoke City taking the fourth place position, and Liverpool slipping down two spots to fifth place.

However, Manchester United and Manchester City are still going head to head for the leading position in the league, making the space between the leaders and the followers in the standings quite large.

Arsenal 1:0 Swansea City

Arsenal came out in better form than they had in their 8-2 loss to Manchester United two weeks ago, allowing them to move up in the standings and maybe motivate the team to reach their usual top four position once again.

The win was not a pretty win, with the only goal coming in the 40^th minute from Andrei Arshavin after a terrible mistake between Swansea goalkeeper Michael Vorm and one of his defenders. This left the net wind open for Arshavin to help Arsenal win a big three points that they desperately needed.

Everton 2:2 Aston Villa

After an entertaining match that saw several goals and drama with penalties, neither Everton nor Aston Villa was able to come away from the match with a win.

The first goal of the match came off the boot of Everton forward Leon Osman in the 19^th minute. This gave Everton the lead going into the second half. However, Aston Villa was able to equalize in the 63^rd minute when midfielder Stilian Petrov was able to get past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Drama came five minutes later with a penalty kick awarded to Everton’s Leighton Baines who was able to hit the back of the net. After a strong battle in the closing minutes of the match, Aston Villa was able to equalize yet again from a shot off the boot of Gabriel Agbonlahor in the 83^rd minute, giving both teams a point in the standings.

Manchester City 3:0 Wigan Athletic

Sergio Aguero, Manchester City’s most popular newcomer from this past transfer window, showed he was more than worth the money paid for him by contributing all three of the goals in their win against Wigan Athletic.

Aguero scored early in the first half, putting the ball in the back of the net in the 13^th minute. It wasn’t until the second half when Aguero would put in two more goals to finish his hat trick and stop any chance of Wigan making a comeback in the latter half of the game. With this win, Manchester City sits in second place due to goal difference between Manchester United.

Sunderland 1:2 Chelsea

Chelsea moved back into the top four of the Premier League with their win against Sunderland, who they outplayed the entire match. The first goal of the game was scored by Chelsea defender John Terry in the 18^th minute, and was the only goal scored in the first half. Daniel Sturridge, in covering for the injured Didier Drogba, put the second goal in for Chelsea in the 50^th minute.

Although there was a glimmer of hope shown in Sunderland when substitute Ji Dong-Wong scored in the last minute of the match, Chelsea was able to defend well through injury time and secure the win.

Wolverhampton 0:2 Tottenham

Although the game was uneventful in the first half, Tottenham’s Emmanuel Adebayor was able to secure a goal and the lead in the 67^th minute. Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham’s second forward paired up with Adebayor, scored the second goal in the 80^th minute.

Tottenham was able to rally in the last half hour of the match in order to secure the win against Wolverhampton, and also move farther away from regulation.

Stoke City 1:0 Liverpool

The one and only goal was scored from a penalty kick off the boot of Stoke forward Jonathan Walters in the 21^st minute. The rest of the match was evenly battled between the two sides; however, Liverpool was unable to capitalize on chances while Stoke’s defense showed to be the stronger of the two teams.

Liverpool slipped down the standings with their first loss of the season to Stoke City, although both teams were evenly matched throughout the entire game.

Bolton 0:5 Manchester United

Javier Hernandez came out in form for his first start this season scoring in the first five minutes of the match. Wayne Rooney also continued his form with a goal in the 20^th minute, then another goal five minutes later. Hernandez scored his second goal of the match in the 58^th minute with no sign of Bolton having a chance to get one in the net.

Finally, Rooney finished his hat trick in the 68^th minute, making it back to back hat tricks for the player. Another high scoring match leaves Manchester United at the top of the standings, along with making more room in between them and other teams in the middle of the standings.

Norwich City 0:1 West Bromwich Albion

Thanks to a very early first half goal, West Brom was able to get their first win of the season while visiting Norwich City on Saturday. Peter Odemwingie was able to capitalize on a mistake in the third minute of the game between one Norwich defender and backup goalkeeper Declan Rudd, filling in the first spot due to John Ruddy’s suspension.

This one goal was all West Brom needed in order to get their first win, allowing them to forget about their three game losing streak and hopefully keep away from the relegation zone.

Fulham 1:1 Blackburn

With the two teams sitting in the relegation zone, and in desperate need of a couple points, the battle between Fulham and Blackburn concluded in a draw that keeps both teams without a win so far this season.

Although putting up a great fight at the beginning of the match, Blackburn was the first to score with a blistering shot off the boot of Ruben Rochina in the 32^nd minute. Thankfully, Fulham were able to come back six minutes later from the help of Bobby Zamora, making it all even going into the uneventful second half.

Queens Park Rangers 0:0 Newcastle United

With five newly transferred players in the starting squad for Queens Park Rangers, Newcastle United had the mindset of coming out of the match with a win since the players would not be in sync with each other. However, QPR were the team to watch this match due to having the most scoring chances in the match even though they could not capitalize on any of them.

Newcastle move up to sixth place, leaving them secure until next weekend.

Marius Wigen / Shutterstock.com

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With the threat of Hurricane Irene heading towards the east coast, only six out of the scheduled nine matches were played this week due to the possibility of putting the players and fans at risk.

However, out of the matches that were played, the Seattle Sounders got an easy win against the east coast leaders Columbus Crew, proving that the eastern conference has some catching up to do if they want to compete well in the playoffs this year.

Seattle Sounders 6:2 Columbus Crew

Lamar Neagle helped secure a shocking victory for the Seattle Sounders by getting his first career hat trick. Neagle scored twice in the first half, and scored his third goal in the 70^th minute. Mauro Rosales scored in the 16^th minute after being awarded a penalty kick and Michael Fucito put a goal in the back of the net just before halftime.

Columbus Crew’s Josh Gardner contributed a goal for both teams, scoring a goal in the 73^rd minute then putting in an own-goal shortly after.

Toronto FC 1:1 San Jose Earthquake

Toronto scored halfway through the first half in a hard-fought battle to try and secure a well-earned three points. However, a strong attacking San Jose was finally able to equalize before the final whistle sounded. Eric Avila scored in the 33^rd minute, looking like the goal that would carry Toronto to victory.

However, Chris Wondolowski was able to equalize in the 87^th minute, leaving both teams frantically fighting for their second goal that never came in the final three minutes.

Vancouver Whitecaps 1:0 Houston Dynamo

After a long-fought battle, Vancouver was able to pull off the victory with a goal in the 86^th minute. Vancouver’s Shea Salinas came into the match as a substitute in the 33^rd minute for John Thorrington.

After several attempts by both Vancouver and Houston, Salinas was able to score in the 86^th minute, not leaving enough time for Houston to recover.

Chicago Fire 2:0 Colorado

Two goals from the Chicago Fire in the first half left the last half of the match uneventful. Chicago’s Dominic Oduro scored in the 17^th minute, while Cory Gibbs scored 20 minutes later just before the end of the half.

Over 20 fouls were committed during the match, not allowing the game to flow and keep the fans entertained throughout the second half.

Sporting Kansas City 2:3 FC Dallas

Sporting Kansas City gave up in the second half of the match, allowing FC Dallas to comeback from a 2-0 deficit to lose by one goal. Bobby Warshaw scored his first career goal with FC Dallas in the second minute of stoppage time, giving FC Dallas the victory.

Kansas City scored in the 22^nd minute from Kei Kamara, and Omar Bravo doubled Kansas City’s score in the 68^th minute. But FC Dallas rallied in the final minutes with two goals from Daniel Hernandez and Maicon Santos, and won the match with the final goal by Warshaw.

Chivas USA 0:1 Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake scored in the 10^th minute off the boot of Alvaro Saborio, and held the lead for the remaining 80 minutes to secure the win visiting Chivas USA.

Real Salt Lake played a man down for 67 minutes after Nat Saborio was given a red card and sent off in the 24^th minute. All in all, it was a defensive battle throughout the match, leaving not many attacking chances.

Due to the unsafe weather conditions caused by Hurricane Irene; the matches involving DC United, Portland Timbers, New York Red Bulls, Los Angeles Galaxy, Philadelphia Union and New England Revolution were postponed.

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