Yes, it was scratchy at times but so involved in Stoke's hard-fought victory over Liverpool was Asmir Begovic he's probably still recovering in an ice bath even now. The 24-year-old faced 24 shots on his goal and coped admirably with the extreme pressure he was put under. Of the many saves he made, most impressive was a spurt of three inside 10 seconds - two from Jordan Henderson and one from Charlie Adam.
In front of Begovic, Ryan Shawcross epitomised the spirit required to grind out a result when you are under intense pressure. During the course of the game Shawcross had to deal with aerial threat of Andy Carroll, the trickery of Luis Suarez, the pace of Craig Bellamy and the tireless running of Dirk Kuyt. He won countless headers and threw himself in front of the ball time after time.
Phil Jones already looks like a snip at £16 million. The 19-year-old looks at home in his new surroundings and demonstrated his versatility at the Reebok by excelling in the right back berth vacated by Chris Smalling. Jones was tested by the guile of Martin Petrov but it was going forward that he really made his mark, crossing for Wayne Rooney's first and then teeing up his second after a barnstorming run into the penalty area.
Swansea may be yet to get off the mark in terms of goals scored but they are holding up just fine at the back. If it hadn't been for a moment of madness from keeper Michael Vorm, Ashley Williams and the rest of the Swans' back line would be celebrating a hard earned point at Arsenal. Instead, Williams will just have to be satisfied with his near faultless display at the back.
No surprise that Tottenham looked a far more secure defensive unit with Ledley King back in the side. After shipping eight goals in two games King plugged the leaks and helped Harry Redknapp's men to their first clean sheet of the season after forming a solid partnership with Younes Kaboul.
In front of King, new signing Scott Parker also helped to limit the gap between midfield in defence that had taken on chasm-like properties in Tottenham's two crushing defeats to the Manchester clubs. Not only did Parker excel as the shield in front of the back four, he also laid on the opening goal for another new boy Emmanuel Adebayor with a neat, defence-splitting pass.
Many considered Raul Meireles to be a consolation prize for Chelsea after their pursuit of Luka Modric fell apart, but the new Blue turned in an assured display on his debut at Sunderland. Slotting into a sturdy midfield three alongside Frank Lampard and Ramires, Meireles linked play intelligently and picked out the pass of the match when releasing Daniel Sturridge from deep, whose back-heel proved to be the winner.
One had a feeling David Silva might prosper against Wigan and sure enough, the Spain international was at the forefront of another impressive Manchester City attacking performance. His pass set up the first for Sergio Aguero and soon after he won a penalty that Carlos Tevez squandered. Not to be deterred Silva then back-heeled into the path of Samir Nasri, who released Aguero for number two before creating the third with a classy breakaway from two players and another pinpoint through pass.
If he continues this form and stays injury free for the rest of the campaign, Wayne Rooney may well set a new record for the amount of TOTW appearances this season. His second successive hat-trick was plundered against Bolton and takes him to eight goals for the season - three off his entire haul in 2010-11. His first two were predatory, close range efforts, while the third was a powerful strike into the bottom corner after a lay-off from Nani. Ominous.
Rooney's heroics overshadowed a brilliant performance from his strike partner Javier Hernandez, who notched twice on his first start of the season. He got the rout off and running with Manchester United's opener inside four minutes - a textbook piece of penalty box movement that saw him peel away from Gary Cahill to prod home Nani's cross - and grabbed his second from close range in the second half.
A flying start to his Premier League career finds Sergio Aguero just two goals behind Rooney in the race for the Golden Boot. His strike at Spurs has now been sandwiched by a home double against Swansea and a treble against Wigan. The 23-year-old seems custom built for the English top flight and offered a master class in exploiting space and finishing, finding the corner of the net for each of his three goals.
Yes Sir Alex Ferguson's outfit racked up another impressive goal haul away at Bolton but never one to plump for the obvious choice, this week's manager of the week is Harry Redknapp. After two humiliating beatings by the Manchester's of City and United, Spurs pitched up at Wolves pointless and propping up the rest of the Premier League. Good job then that the top flight's biggest wheeler dealer (just don't say it to his face) dipped into the transfer market to reinforce his squad, picking up Scott Parker, who just happened to lay on the first goal for fellow new boy Emmanuel Adebayor.
By Chris Murphy
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