Ciaran Clark – Aston Villa

What a fantastic day for the would-be Ireland man.

Deployed in the unfamiliar position of left-back for the trip to Stamford Bridge, Clark showed his versatility throughout.

Never afraid to get forward, he worked very well with Ashley Young down the left flank. His attacking pressing played a big part in winning the first penalty.

In stoppage time, Clark then made the most of a Chelsea defence that seemed to have fallen asleep. Clark nipped in completely unmarked at the back post to nod in the Aston Villa equaliser.

David Meyler – Sunderland

The Corkman played his first 90 minutes of the season in Sunderland’s 3-0 victory over Blackburn since his dreadful cruciate ligament injury.

He played in very much the midfield enforcer position in the absence of Lee Cattermole and he certainly impressed.

Did much of the donkey work in midfield that enabled Henderson to push forward.

Darron Gibson – Manchester United

Only a substitute role for Gibson in Manchester United’s hard-fought 2-1 win over West Brom.

However Gibson showed good promise during his cameo.

He shored up the midfield and showed good passing ability, almost playing the perfect through ball to Hernandez to set-up a simple finish.

There is little to report elsewhere unfortunately. Leon Best came on for Newcastle and made his first Premiership appearance.

The striker was unlucky not to score with a good break at the end of the match.

Seamus Coleman and Rory Delap both played 90 minutes in Stoke’s 2-0 victory over Everton. Both Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters came on in the final 10 minutes.

In some good news, Richard Dunne was restored to the Aston Villa line up after his training ground spat with Aston Villa assistant manager Gary McAllister. Keith Fahey, Aaron Doran and Marc Wilson were all unused substitutes for their respective clubs.