EPL Wrap-up: Week 3

With the calendar turning to Sept. 1st this week, the transfer signing period is over until January. For Chelsea it is over until 2011. FIFA laid down an incredible year long signing ban on Chelsea this week for tampering with 18-year-old Lens winger Gael Kakuta. Chelsea illegally convinced him to break his contract with Lens and sign with the London club.

What does this mean for Chelsea?

Well in a sport where the only means of changing your team and improving your club is through signing new talent, signing transfers, and raising money by selling players, they are at an extreme disadvantage. Their team will have to virtually stay the same and hope that they don't lose any players. If we look to tampering cases in other sports, we will remember a couple of years back when David Stern took 5 first round picks from the Minnesota Timberwolves for salary cap tampering with Joe Smith. Needless to say, if you are a professional sports team....stay away from tampering.

Now to games...

It was a slow week, but the game of the week was definitely Arsenal vs. Manchester United. The Gunners vs. The Red Devils provided plenty of excitement and some shenanigans to boot. The game was back and forth until Prince Andrei Arshavin scorched the Man U defense and keeper with an incredible shot to put Arsenal up 1-0. The Gunners kept the lead going into the half, but it wouldn't take long for the wheels to start falling off the wagon. First, Almunia makes a terrible challenge on Wayne Rooney giving Man U a penalty to tie the match. Second, Abou Diaby who had been playing well all game made a little league error to put the ball in the back of his own net. The true high light of the match was when Arsenal appear to level it at 2-2 in th 95th minute. The goal by Van Persie was called back for offsides and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger proceeded to kick a water bottle down the sideline and Ref Mike Dean proceeded to throw him out. But instead of leaving the pitch Wenger just walks up into the stands (keep in mind that they are playing at Man U). I will let you watch the shenanigans with some commentary.

The rest of the league was not nearly as entertaining, but you will get the short wrap anyway.

Liverpool rebounded from the loss to Aston Villa with a 3-2 come from behind win over Bolton. Surprisingly "Captain Comeback" Yossi Benayuon didn't score the game winner. That belonged to "The Second King of England" Steven Gerrard himself.

Man City pulled off a 1-0 win over Portsmouth. Emmanuel Adebayor put in ANOTHER goal to make it one in every game this season. Now Man City is undefeated this season along with Chelsea and Tottenham, and a lot has been said about their challenging the top 4. However, having watched Man City, their wins are not impressive at all. Squeaking out a 1-0 win against sub-par competition doesn't say much about your club overall. They should be beating teams like Portsmouth (which Arsenal beat 4-1) and Wolverhampton.

Aston Villa continued the winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Fulham. Tottenham remained undefeated with a 2-1 win over Birmingham. Sunderland who was starting strong, dropped one against Stoke by the score of 1-0.

Top of the Table:

1) Tottenham
2) Chelsea
3) Manchester United
4) Manchester City
5) Stoke City

Awards:

Best Team: Liverpool. Fighting back to beat Bolton. They should have never been down, but they had heart and fought for the win.

Worst Team: Burnley. Against Chelsea they just never had a chance. This was to be expected however

Biggest Surprise: Stoke City has somehow found their way up to the 5th spot in the EPL. Don't expect that to last, but they deserve a shout out for the accomplishment.

Biggest Disappointment: Arsenal. I'm an Arsenal fan, but it is inexcusable the way the Gunners fell apart with a 1-0 lead at Old Trafford.

Player of the Week: Gabi Abonlahor (Aston Villa) - Really caused 2 goals in this game with his work. The first own goal was caused by his hard run at the ball and pressure to the defense, the second was a pure strike and all the credit was his.

Check in every Friday for a new EPL wrap-up.

--Dirk - International Soccer Correspondent