Premier League gameweek 4:

The Premier League is back after the international break and after a completely crazy transfer window where a record £620 million pounds was spent by the league's clubs on players. Tottenham bought everyone, it looked like until the final few minutes that Manchester United weren't going to buy anyone and Arsenal shocked everyone by signing Mezut Ozil and completely shattering their own transfer record in the process. With question marks hanging over just about all the teams in the league, it was a relief to get the action back on to see how everything would shake down:

Manchester United v Crystal Palace:

Rooney had a good game for Manchester United
despite the head wound.

Manchester United continued their start to the season, looking solid and hard to beat under new manager David Moyes, but uncomfortable in possession and unable to provide enough quality service to main man Robin Van Persie. The return of Wayne Rooney, equipped with some Robocop head gear to protect his injured bonce after Phil Jones tried to kick it off during training made a difference though. Some of his link play with the big dutchman showed flashes of the partnership they should already be, but aside from one breathtaking move between the two Palace were not serious troubled by United until they lost Kagisho Dikgacoi to a red card after giving away a dubious penalty. Ashley Young, already booked for diving earlier in the game wen't down again in questionable circumstances. The referee too far from the action and with his near side assistant unsighted during the build up gave a penalty he couldn't possibly have been sure about and sent the Palace man down the tunnel for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Van Persie tucked the penalty away and Rooney added a second with a sweet free kick towards the end of the game. Palace can take heart from the fact that they were matching United before the sending off, Moyes and the Red Devils that new signing Fellani came on and added some much needed power to their midfield.

Aston Villa v Newcastle United:

The French contingent helped Newcastle to a second win in a row.

Benteke was at it again, scoring for Villa (that's something of a given though these days) but it was Newcastle who took all three points to claim their second win on the bounce. Midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa again caught the eye, scoring for the second week in a row in a performance that will no doubt please the Geordie faithful and keep them off the manager's back for the time being. Loan signing Loic Remy was again in thick of the action, sending Ben Arfa on his way this week as he did last. Villa for their part look to be struggling to recapture the form that saw them beat Arsenal 3-1 on the opening day of the season and you have to wonder just how much trouble they would be in without Benteke. An early second half surge aside they looked uncertain on the ball throughout. The positives for Villa will be that they will play better than this in future games and new signing Libor Kozak looked a good addition when he came on as substitute.

Fulham v West Brom:

This result was worth a lot more to West Brom than Fulham.

West Brom finally got a Premier League goal this season in this 1-1 draw, but with only two points to their name so far that still leaves them second bottom of the table. Their run last year was powered in the main by the goals of Romelu Lukaku which they have not replaced so far this campaign. Nicholas Anelka has left due to personal reasons and may not be back, whilst £6 million signing Victor Anichebe who made his debut for the club has not yet had sufficient time to bed in and show what he can do. Fulham on other hand have a solid four points so far, but need to get Dimitar Berbatov scoring again and for his partnership with new signing Darren Bent to gel. With those two plus Bryan Ruiz and Hugo Rodallega Fulham should have plenty of goals in them this season, but sometimes their pedestrian style of football turns what should be wins into draws.

Hull City v Cardiff:

Honours even for the new boys at the KC Stadium.

The battle of the new boys saw Hull set to convert home advantage into three points until Cardiff's Peter Whittingham rescued a draw for the Welsh side. Both sides missed chances to win it with Danny Graham going close for Hull and Aron Gunnarsson for Cardiff, who were content to sit and soak up pressure in the first half. Once a Tom Huddlestone cross had been nodded in by Curtis Davies however, Cardiff wen't on the offensive leading to Whittingham's equaliser. In a sometimes cagey affair a 1-1 draw at this early stage of the season for two newly promoted sides will be seen as a good result with both outfits having already made a solid start to their Premier League campaigns.

 Stoke City v Mancester City:

Never a classic, Stoke City outplayed Manchester City as their hold and
cold form continued in the league.

Despite the Stoke fans not liking him very much, there is no denying that new manager Mark Hughes has got Stoke playing the best they have for a while. They have managed to recover some of their old resilience whilst retaining some of the attractive football that Tony Pulis attempted to introduce unsuccessfully last season. Manchester City have been somewhat patchy so far this campaign and with the fixture between these two teams at the Britannia traditionally not being a great game the alarm bells were ringing before hand that this would finish 0-0. Stoke applied a fair amount of pressure on the team from the blue half of Manchester, but did not have sufficient a cutting edge to convert any of that pressure into goals. City looked to be missing the injured David Silva's creativity in midfield and if they perform like they did against Stoke when playing the top teams they will be in trouble. They have spent a lot of money this summer again on attacking players, but have not shored up what at times can be a sleep walking defence when skipper and stand out defender Vincent Kompany is not playing.

Sunderland v Arsenal:

Expect 25 goals this season for Giroud if he keeps linking up with Ozil
like he did in this match.

Giroud continued his storming start to the season by scoring again, perhaps predictably assisted by new boy Mezut Ozil, the European king of the assist. Sunderland already look in deep, deep trouble. They have brought in a lot of players, none of which seem to be delivering for manager Paolo Di Canio just yet. That said they were not helped by referee Martin Atkinson on this occasion who denied Jozy Altidore an equaliser after failing to play an advantage. He did award an early second half penalty to the men from the north east though that was tucked away by the ever reliable Craig Gardner after the unpredictable Lauren Koscielny brought down Adam Johnson. Parity was not to last though as Aaron Ramsey, a man who is often criticised for his goal scoring record smashed one in on the volley then followed it up with a second in the 76th minute. Despite shipping two goals in the second half, Sunderland were on balance the better side, but that will be of little comfort to Di Canio who was sent to the stands for his vocal criticism of referee Atkinson and has yet to see his side win so far this season.

Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City:

Eriksen had a stormer on his debut and Tottenham look like title contenders.

Gylfi Sigurdsson may have scored both goals for Spurs, however it was new signing Christian Eriksen who really caught the eye with some breathtaking midfield play and had a hand in both goals. His £11.5 million transfer fee looks like an absolute bargain and I was shocked to see Spurs go in for him seemingly unopposed and pick him up for so little money. There is no denying that this year Spurs look to have not just a better side, but also a better squad than they did last year despite losing Gareth Bale. You have to wonder if Luka Modric has another unconvincing season with Real Madrid whether he will return to the Lane at some point in the next twelve months, which will make the north London men a frightening prospect indeed. Norwich put in their usual solid performance under Chris Houghton but a 2-0 defeat to opposition of this calibre and assembled at such a high cost is no blight on his him a manager or Norwich as a team.

Everton v Chelsea:

The confidence appears to be coming back to Goodison Park after the
uncertainty created by David Moyes' departure.

Question marks around how new manager Roberto Martinez would get on taking over from David Moyes at Everton were swept to one side as The Toffees matched and at times bested the Special One and his west London title contenders in an entertaining but slow burning game. During Martinez's time at Wigan their biggest weakness was always their defensive frailties, but to his credit the Spaniard got a grip on this by often choosing to field three centre halves during matches, a decision that kept them up in 2011-12 and nearly did again the following season. With better players at his disposal on Merseyside he seems to have struck a balance between maintaining the old never say die attitude of  the Moyes era but with a much more attractive brand of passing football. Jelavic did brilliantly to reach the ball and arch it back with a header for birthday boy Steven Naismith to nod in from close range. The king of fullbacks Leighton Baines was also unlucky with a free kick that hit that bar near the end of the game. For the second Mourinho era at Stamford Bridge, he has clearly inherited a group of players inferior to those he had last time. However, whilst under his stewardship they perhaps not suprisingly look rock sold at the back, their midfield maestros of Eden Hazard and Juan Mata have not yet really got going this season. Up front things look even worse. Andre Schurrle looks a good team player, putting in the mileage for his side, but not really a goalscorer. Demba Ba has failed to recapture the form that made him so dangerous at Newcastle and the sad decline of the once unstoppable Fernando Torres shows no sign of ending. Arguably their best striker this season is Romelu Lukaku and Mourinho allowed him to go out on loan to Everton. The big Belgian wasn't allowed to play against his parent club in this fixture, but if he starts banging them in again this year as he did last year for West Brom the wisdom of allowing him to go out on loan will no doubt be questioned.