Team of the Week

The American goalkeeping fraternity has been well represented in the Premier League in recent seasons with the pick of their number, Brad Friedel, showing once again just why he has made more consecutive appearances than any other Premier League player. Spurs rolled in to Villa Park flush from their 9-1 win over Wigan and threatened to overrun Villa at times. Friedel earned his corn, and a point, with stops from Nico Kranjcar (who impressed throughout for Spurs), Jermain Defoe and Tom Huddlestone.

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Brad Friedel is a key man for Villa

Carlos Cuellar performed the weekend's outstanding defensive act when, with Friedel grounded following his point-blank stop from Defoe, the Spaniard threw out a leg to deflect Michael Dawson's shot off the line. Nico Kranjcar saw a fully-stretched Cuellar then block his second-half effort. Heroic interventions from the ex-Rangers man - and only a suspicious looking block from Benoit Assou-Ekotto prevented Cuellar heading in for Villa with Gabriel Agbonlahor making sure from the rebound.

Ashley Cole returned to the Chelsea left-back slot to haunt his old side as he played a starring role in the Blues' win over Arsenal. Cole supplied two superb crosses for Chelsea's first-half goals, the first being finished off calmly by Didier Drogba, the second a central defender's nightmare that panicked Thomas Vermaelen into bundling the ball into his own net.

Jamie Carragher's they-shall-not-pass approach is always a valuable asset in the rough and tumble of a Merseyside derby and the clean sheet Liverpool took away from Goodison had plenty to do with the performance of their defensive lynchpin. Alongside Daniel Agger he was the rock upon which Everton's blue wave foundered time and again as Liverpool rediscovered their winning touch.

Another standout derby day defender was Roger Johnson who helped steer Alex McLeish's men to victory at Molineux. Johnson showed the sort of defensive nous that led to McLeish parting with £5 million for his services this summer and alongside fellow Championship recruit Scott Dann he kept Kevin Doyle and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake at bay to earn Birmingham City's first consecutive Premier League wins since 2004.

Perhaps only West Ham could lurch from a seemingly unassailable 5-0 lead to leave their supporters nervously checking their watches with the score 5-3 but Scott Parker is a reassuring presence in these uncertain times for the Hammers. Parker's goal-line positioning kept out Clarke Carlisle's early header and he then showed lightning sharp reactions to chip a free-kick he had just won towards Jack Collison to open the scoring. Parker's commanding run and threaded pass to Luis Jimenez panicked Brian Jensen into downing the substitute who netted from the spot but Parker was the start of the show for West Ham.

Niko Kranjcar's tireless exertions for Spurs at Vila Park earn him the left-hand berth of our midfield ahead of Damien Duff whose right-footed goal deceived the Bolton defence. Kranjcar has hit a rich vein of form recently and only the heroics of Friedel stopped him adding to the goal that crowned Wigan's humiliation last week. His passing, movement and energy caused all sorts of problems for Martin O'Neill's men. It was the sort of showing that leaves Harry Redknapp with a dilemma of a more welcome kind with Kranjcar's fellow Croatian Luka Modric on the brink of a return to action.

"Great comedy is about timing", chirped the Larry David of the Premier League and Phil Brown should know having produced a few laugh-out loud moments of his own over the past year. It's no coincidence that the timing of Jimmy Bullard's reappearance has dovetailed with a four-game unbeaten run for the Tigers. Bullard has suffered some cruel jibes of his own during his spell out injured but was at the heart of all that was best about Hull's performance at Eastlands. The impish playmaker's well-taken penalty earned a thoroughly deserved point and his mimicking of Brown's ill-advised half-time rant is already secured in the annals of classic Premier League celebrations.

As a second-half deluge soaked Fratton Park, Manchester United's attacking prowess eventually washed away Pompey's resistance with Ryan Giggs continuing to roll back the years. Giggs' perfectly struck free-kick secured his century of Premier League goals on the eve of his 36th birthday and capped the champions' 4-1 win. His tenacity earned United's second penalty (and a hat-trick for Wayne Rooney), another sprightly goalwards spurt was vintage Giggs, the pass to Rooney for his second a perfectly weighted gift for the striker. "Two more years," reckons his manager. United fans and neutrals alike will hope this Premier League treasure continues to shine even longer.

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Wayne Rooney keeps hold of the matchball after his treble

The old master flashed the young tyro a smile and a finger of recognition after scoring that free-kick and the supply line from Giggs to Wayne Rooney at Fratton Park was suggestive of the torch being passed on to the next United legend. A Rooney burst through the middle provoked a trip from Michael Brown and United's first penalty and, after burying that, he was in the right place to dispatch Giggs' smart pass for his second before wrapping up his hat-trick from the spot after Giggs had torn Pompey apart again.

When Didier Drogba flexes his muscles Chelsea usually roar and the Ivorian hitman struck twice in each half as the Blues swept Arsenal aside at the Emirates. Drogba's first goal was a predatory piece of forward play as he got on the end of Ashley Cole's cross. The second was a powerhouse of a free-kick from 25 yards which Manuel Almunia had no answer to.

Roberto Martinez was this week faced with the unenviable task of motivating a squad of players who had just been humiliated in the most outrageous fashion after their 9-1 hiding at Spurs. Martinez was brutal in his culling of Erik Edman from his squad following the full back's flailing at the hands of his old club and his team repaid the Wigan supporters for the second time this week with an impressive 1-0 win. If Dave Whelan's skewed logic is to be followed through then presumably he has sent a bottle of champagne Steve Bruce's way after a Bruce signing - Hugo Rodallega - wrapped up the points, but it was Martinez who passed a tricky test of his fledgling stewardship.