Welcome to the 3 o’clocks

Belter of a comment there from Rio Ferdinand:

“There was contact but not enough to bring down someone of 12-14 stone.”

Today’s key questions

Chelsea v Everton

Everton have been very tight and congested in recent games. Chelsea have started to become a more nuanced, innovative team. Can Chelsea open them up today with Torres’s running?

Man City v Aston Villa

With the chance to go top in their own right, do City have the grit to take the chance?

Or will Villa have the resilience to hold them out?

Norwich v Swansea

In the battle of the promoted sides who can draw blood?

Before the season, you would have thought this would be an open game. But both have suitably altered their style this season and are much more defensively astute. How many goals will we see today?

QPR v Blackburn

Which QPR will show up today? They go from awesome attacking performances to 6-0 defeats.

Stoke v Fulham

Will an occasionally delicate Fulham have the fortitude to see off a robust Stoke?

Wigan v Bolton

Which of these open teams can halt their recent atrocious runs?

Teams:

Man City: Hart, Richards, Lescott, Kompany, Clichy, De Jong, Barry, Milner, Johnson, Toure Yaya, Balotelli
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Dunne, Clark, Warnock, Delph, Petrov, Ireland, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Bent

QPR: Kenny, Young, Ferdinand, Hall, Traore, Derry, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Mackie, Helguson
Blackburn: Robinson, Salgado, Samba, Dann, Givet, Lowe, Petrovic, Nzonzi, Olsson, Hoilett, Roberts

Stoke: Begovic, Wilkinson, Shawcross, Upson, Wilson, Pennant, Delap, Whelan, Etherington, Walters, Crouch
Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Hughes, Hangeland, Riise, Dembele, Murphy, Sidwell, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora

GOAL! Norwich 1-0 Swansea

Anthony Pilkington scores inside the first minute, driving home a first-time shot!

The interesting news at City, of course, is that Aguero is on the bench and Ireland starts!

GOAL! Wigan 0-1 Bolton

Nigel Reo-Coker stoops to head in the opener!

Should have been 1-0 Villa there! First Agbonlahor picked the pocket of Lescott and broke, Hart saved well and the rebound was deflected wide.

GOAL! Norwich 2-0 Swansea

Russell Martin heads home from David Fox’s cross.

GOAL! Norwich 2-1 Swansea

And an immediate response from Swansea! So much for this being a tight game. Danny Graham pulls one back.

This game has opened up! Milner just flicks wide of the post there from Balotelli’s drive across goal!

Action all over the place at the moment!

Stephen Ireland, by the by, has started well. But then do Irish people care about that any more?

GOAL! QPR 1-0 Blackburn Rovers

Helguson with the opener, completing a good spell of pressure for QPR

A cheeky chop there from Helguson.

Stephen Ireland looks very interested today.

Great challenge there from Ciaran Clark on Balotelli.

Helguson’s goal, actually, was really a cross that somehow blew in. He’ll take it though.

The ball is flashed across goal and eventually finds its way to Richards, but he takes a dive and it’s a goal-kick for Villa. Waste.

Johnson tees up Toure, who shoots hard but low and Given easily collects.

GOAL! QPR 1-1 Blackburn

Christopher Samba equalises!

A trademark header from Samba

Given saves well to push Balotelli’s bouncing shot wide.

And the only game where there is nothing happening is at Stoke v Fulham. Which will suit my fantasy football team just fine.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Aston Villa

After a good start from Villa, that was coming. Corner flew over, bobbled in the box before it fell to Balotelli who flicked it up and – with his back to goal – hooked it past Given. Lovely, inventive goal from the Italian.

Villa defending manfully now but City are rampant.

Warnock with a vicious strike but Hart holds well.

Fine tweet from @Paul_Doyle at Loftus Road:

The epitome of optimism: Mackie just plays a high cross to Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was marked by Christopher Samba.

Chance Villa! Heskey just heads over from Warnock’s precise cross.

Damien Duff comes on for the injured Moussa Dembele at Stoke-Fulham.

Now there is a stat courtesy of Setanta: Richard Dunne has scored more international goals than Emile Heskey

GOAL! Wigan 1-1 Bolton

Diame scores a lively curling finish from Watson’s assist

GOAL! Wigan 1-2 Bolton

David Ngog shows great composure in the box after a Kevin Davies pass to finish well

Half-times everywhere now.

And the second halves are under way!

GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Aston Villa

Looks like City are going top after an atrocious error from Warnock. Slipped trying to clear, allowing Johnson to easily finish.

Looking set to be a good win for City considering their two (possibly three if you include Tevez) best players – Silva and Aguero – are sitting out.

After Villa’s good start, this is a procession for City now.

GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa

No doubts now. Vincent Kompany heads in superbly across Given’s body from Johnson’s corner.

Stephen Ireland taken off. He was good for 20 minutes.

No second-half goals anywhere else as yet.

Bad news for Villa: now Silva is coming on.

Long stoppage now at Villa Park after Given and Richards collided. Richards getting attention, awful stud marks on Given’s mid riff

It was actually Balotelli’s foot that went into Given’s mid-riff. A lot going on in that box.

Heskey going off for Bannan.

STILL no goals elsewhere in the second half.

GOAL! Manchester City 3-1 Aston Villa

A cross isn’t dealt with by the Villa defence and falls to Warnock, who lashes home.

Silva on for Yaya Toure.

And Kolo comes on too.

GOAL! Norwich 3-1 Swansea

Good work from Bradley Johnson sets up Pilkington, who turns and finishes.

GOAL! Manchester City 4-1 Aston Villa

Barry passes the ball across goal and Milner superbly curls one into the top corner.

It gets worse for Wigan… penalty to Bolton.

PENALTY MISSED!

Caldwell was adjudged to infringe in the box but Davies has his penalty saved by Al-Habsi. Wigan not done yet. Still 2-1 there.

Hargreaves coming on for Johnson, who has been superb.

And straight away, Hargreaves puts in a super tackle.

City casually knocking it around here to the olés of the crowd. Not fun for Villa.

GOAL! Stoke City 1-0 Fulham

New Trapattoni favourite Jon Walters taps in at the back post after a scuffed shot from Etherington.

Chance for Darren Bent as ball bounces in front of him but Hart collects.

Selfish from Silva there as City broke down the left and he struck from an angle rather than pass.

Fine break from City there as Silva feeds Kompany but he drives wide.

From Infostrada:

More than half of the 23 penalty kicks this season have not been converted (12 not converted, 11 converted), whereas a 75% success rate is standard procedure in penalty taking.”

GOAL! Stoke City 2-0 Fulham

Header from Delap after atrocious marking from Riise. Etherington with the cross from a free-kick.

Stoke will be moving into a very comfortable seventh in the table with this win, overtaking Villa.

Full-time: Manchester City 4-1 Aston Villa

City go top in their own right for the first time this season with a very comfortable win.

Oh and Wigan should have equalised! Dedryck Boyata gets back to clear from Franco Di Santo who had a clear chance.

Full-time: Stoke 2-0 Fulham

Easy win for Stoke who go seventh. That 4-0 defeat at Sunderland increasingly looking like an aberration. What sort of team are Fulham though?

GOAL! Wigan 1-3 Bolton

Bolton break superbly with Chris Eagles slamming home. Not looking good for Wigan at all.

Final scores everywhere now.

Premier League parting shots

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester United

• Given the way United set up, it seems Ferguson will be happy with the result but not with the table. To a degree, Ferguson’s cautious approach was understandable. United haven’t won at Anfield since 2007-08 and their open midfield has coughed up a lot of chances this year – among the most in the Premier League. So, today, we went for a much more closed midfield of Park, Fletcher and Jones – all harriers. And it did work. Liverpool didn’t get near the sort of dynamic display they offered in March with their only real chances coming from an Evans slip in the first half – which Suarez should have scored from – and some pinball when the game finally opened up after Hernandez’s equaliser.
• Just as well for Liverpool, then, that Steven Gerrard was back in the side. For such a fantastic player he does have his flaws – not least the domination of every single set-piece despite the fact that Adam is much more accurate. But, as he so often does, Gerrard justified his attitude with a clever free-kick that opened the scoring. It also followed a series of fine through balls and crosses from the Liverpool captain. After two years of injury trouble and poor form, he gave strong suggestions of a return to form.
• The question for Ferguson, though, is why he didn’t try a touch more dynamism. By including Rooney instead of, say, Giggs, United could have taken advantage of Liverpool’s open two-man midfield a little more. Indeed, that was exactly the case when Rooney he came on, as he dropped back and began to dictate the game. From there, United reclaimed parity. But they’ve lost top spot. In the long run, though, this is likely to look like a good result.

Manchester City 4-1 Aston Villa

• A hugely impressive performance from City that did hint at a stronger mentality than usual. Knowing that top spot was up for grabs after Manchester United had only drawn at Anfield, City emphatically grabbed it with a 4-1 pummeling that turned into a procession. At one stage in the second half, City put together a 40-yard move. Even better for City, this result came without their two best players starting – Silva and Aguero. Indeed, if you want to include Tevez – which Mancini won’t – that’s three.
• Part of the problem with this game, however, was the way McLeish’s team are set up. He has admirably batted away much of the criticism that came his way on taking the job but there’s still no denying his entire game is predicated on strong defence. Once they concede, that’s pretty much it – particularly against a side like City. And the pity for Villa here is that they looked so strong in the opening exchanges and could have grabbed something from the game. Surprisingly, Stephen Ireland seemed to personify their performance. Initially looking hungry and determined, he faded once Mario Balotelli’s superb first goal went in.
• To give Balotelli credit, too, he’s shown a degree of character. It was only a month ago that he looked like an afterthought as City surged while he sulked. But that’s a couple of Premier League games now – most notably against Everton – that he’s drastically changed the course of a game.His goal was also superbly taken.

Norwich 3-1 Swansea

• So much for a tight game here. In their previous Premier League games, both of these teams had suggested that they had necessarily adapted their open styles to close up in the top division. That wasn’t the case here, though, as we saw an avalanche of goals in the opening minutes. Swansea, however, couldn’t change their away form either as they still have to pick up a point on the road.

QPR 1-1 Blackburn

• QPR should be kicking themselves after this. Blackburn put in what must be one of the worst displays of the season at Loftus Road but somehow came away with a point

Stoke 2-0 Fulham

• With an easy win, Stoke are increasingly showing that the 4-0 reverse at Sunderland was an aberration. They’re now up to seventh after another commanding performance.
• What sort of team are Fulham though. They went from magnificent against QPR to woefully meek today.
• Jon Walters, however, continues to give Trapattoni something to think about. After his impressive cameo in midweek, he kept up his influential Premier League form with another goal here.

Wigan 1-3 Bolton

• Things are looking bleak for Roberto Martinez. With both of these teams on atrocious runs of defeats, a home game against similar strugglers should have been the point at which to pick up their season. Instead, it was Bolton who alleviated some pressure with an ultimately impressive – and important – win. Coyle is back on track. Martinez is looking down.