Di Matteo's men take their chances

The Premier League was at it's unpredictable best on Saturday.

Arsenal lost at home to West Brom, West Ham upset Tottenham and Liverpool were held at home by Sunderland.

Elsewhere, Manchester City won the battle of the big spenders by inflicting Chelsea's first defeat of the season and Everton once again showed a lack of gule upfront.

Here's what I made of it all:

Before the season had even began, my colleague Steve Luckings spoke of his admiration for West Brom boss Roberto Di Matteo.

No doubt such affection increased no-end after the Italian guided the Baggies to their first win at Arsenal since 1983.

At one stage the visitors led 3-0, before the home side pulled two back.

And they did what all lower teams aspire to, but few actually achieve - they took their chances when they arrived, with three of their five efforts on goal ending up in the net.

The win capped a great week for West Brom. They beat Birmingham last weekend and knocked Manchester City our of the Carling Cup in midweek.

At Arsenal, Peter Odemwingie scored the for the third time this season and the Russian-born Nigerian is already looking like one of the best buys of the year following his summer move for an undisclosed fee from Lokomotiv Moscow

Next up for West Brom are Bolton. Now it's time for Di Matteo's men to start taking points of the teams they are supposed to.

Manuel Almunia's mistake in allowing Gonzalo Jara's shot slip by him on Saturday once again highlighted Arsenal's need for a solid keeper.

They were unable to prise Mark Schwarzer away from Fulham before the transfer window closed and it seems crazy that a club who announced record pre-tax profits of £56m (Dh325m) on Saturday will not invest in a top-class keeper.

Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool all have them, although United will need to replace Edwin van der Sar as early as next summer

 

Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City boss, may have gone with some unorthodox tactics against Chelsea but with the 1-0 win he proved his worth.

The right-footed James Milner was on the left, the left-footed David Silva was nominally on the right and the hulking Yaya Toure played much further forward than usual.

Somehow the trio, along with goalscorer Carlos Tevez, managed to keep Chelsea's defence occupied in a game which was low on chances.

The champions refused to let any of their players talk to the newspaper media after the loss to City.

Have they ever done that after a victory?

The Toffees tumbled to the bottom of the Premier league after a goalless draw at Fulham.

I've already spoken this season of their inability to convert enterprising approach play into goals, and once again this was the case as Yakubu had a frustrating day up front.

Three of their four goals in the league came in the 3-3 draw with Manchester United, and with just three points from six games they really need to find their shooting boots when they visit Birmingham next week.

Michael Turner won't ever do that again. The Sunderland defender said he didn't take a free-kick against Liverpool, merely that he was kicking it back for goalie Simon Mignolet to take.

Fernando Torres even had time to ask referee Stuart Attwell if the ball was in play before setting up Dirk Kuyt for Liverpool's resulting goal.

But Sunderland, and Turner, are made of stern stuff this season.

He made a goal-saving clearance in the six yard box in injury-time as the Black Cats fought back to draw 2-2.

Taking a point from Arsenal and Liverpool, plus a win over Manchester City, show that Steve Bruce's men are a tougher proposition this year.

Tottenham are already being tested by having to balance league and European commitments.

They were out of sorts in the 1-0 loss at West Ham and next face Twente in the Champions League - the Dutch side who held holders Inter Milan to a draw two weeks ago.

Then come games with Aston Villa, Fulham, Inter Milan, Everton, Manchester United and Inter Milan again.

Harry Redknapp needs to rotate his squad but also get them to show much more resolve if they are still to be heavily involved in the Champions League and the fight for a top four league finish by the start of November.