Garth Crooks' team of the week: Moses, Sanchez, Valencia, Aguero, Milner
- Published
Chelsea recorded their seventh successive league win by inflicting Tottenham's first top-flight defeat of the season.
Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal stayed on their coat-tails by winning their respective matches.
However, Manchester United lost further ground on the front-runners after dropping more points at home.
Do you agree with my team of the week? Or would you go for a different line-up? Why not pick your very own from the shortlist selected by BBC Sport journalists and share it with your friends?
Goalkeeper - Paul Robinson (Burnley)
It's very seldom I pick a goalkeeper who hasn't kept a clean sheet and even more uncommon if he's let in two goals. The reality was that Paul Robinson, who was deputising for Tom Heaton, didn't let anything past him. He was beaten by two superbly taken strikes.
I must say I was surprised to see the former Spurs and England goalkeeper involved at all instead of the previously ever-present Heaton, but delighted nevertheless. My immediate thought was: I hope he is going to give a good account of himself.
I don't know why I was so concerned about Robinson, who found himself back in top-flight football after an absence of 1,664 days, because he was brilliant. Burnley might have lost 2-1 at home to Manchester City but it would have been considerably more had it not been for Robinson. Yes, I might be suffering from a little nostalgia but what's wrong with that? Good to have you back, Paul.
Full-back - Antonio Valencia (Manchester United)
Antonio Valencia was unlucky not to get into my team last week after a starring role against Arsenal. However, in another sparkling performance, this time against West Ham, the Ecuador international was once again at his threatening best down the right.
Whenever the full-back plays, he does so with passion and purpose, but never loses his cool. What a pity his manager can't assume the same self-control. Jose Mourinho's protests are becoming tiresome. If it's all a bit too much for the overzealous manager on the touchline, then he should watch the game from the stands. He can't enjoy continually being told to leave the classroom by the referee like a naughty schoolboy.
Centre-back - Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham)
What a block it was by Angelo Ogbonna to deny Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The game was at a critical stage with the Red Devils in the ascendency when the ball was seized upon up by the Swede with the goal at his mercy. From nowhere, the Italy international made a challenge that saved the day for West Ham.
Could Ibrahimovic have hit the ball first time? Of course he could, but no one thought for a moment that Ogbonna could make up the ground - never mind make the tackle. It was a wonderful piece of defending by the Hammer and one of the many turning points in a terrific match.
Centre-back - Virgil van Dijk (Southampton)
For the second consecutive week, Virgil van Dijk makes my team of the week and stars in a match dominated by the Saints. This tenacious, polished defender was signed by former boss Ronald Koeman and remains in touch with the Dutch past master.
Perhaps the defender could ask Koeman what has happened to the manager's Everton team. Last week, I said the Toffees were on the verge of a mini-crisis, yet with the class of players they have, that's the last thing he should be facing. Something is just not right at Everton.
Full-back - James Milner (Liverpool)
How long can this go on? James Milner is not only playing in a position that normally requires a specialist, but doing it brilliantly. There can only be a handful of top-class wingers whose game has allowed them to become a vital cog in what I would describe as a rather uncertain defensive unit.
Nevertheless, James "I will play anywhere for the team, boss" Milner is giving Liverpool assurance at key moments in games. So much so, it's putting the Reds in a position where we are having to take them seriously as title contenders.
His penalty conversion against an ultra-defensive Sunderland settled Liverpool down at the right time in what might have otherwise been a very tricky fixture.
Midfielder - Victor Moses (Chelsea)
It was a monumental victory for Chelsea on Saturday. Believe me, as a former Spurs player, I take no comfort in saying this, but Chelsea are starting to play like champions.
It's as though the same players who downed tools under ex-manager Jose Mourinho's leadership are the same ones who appear to be sticking two fingers up to him now.
One of those players is Victor Moses, who the Portuguese totally disregarded during his second spell at the club and who is playing out of his skin at the moment.
Spurs meanwhile, and quite infuriatingly, continue to struggle to win the games that really matter. A lot was made of this fixture as being the revenge match for the humiliating draw at Stamford Bridge last season that ended any thought of Spurs winning the title. The truth is that Tottenham still have a lot of growing up to do.
It's all very well boss Mauricio Pochettino insisting Spurs were the better side, but it's Chelsea who took all the points and were laughing all the way back to SW6.
Midfielder - Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea)
Boy! Did newly appointed manager Bob Bradley need this result. Swansea's 5-4 win over Crystal Palace came in the most extraordinary of circumstances, but who cares? It also needed his best player to produce it.
Gylfi Sigurdsson is keeping the Swans' heads above water at the moment and proving to be a critical component to the club's survival in the Premier League. Saturday's match was a gripping encounter for all the wrong reasons. Goals were flying in from everywhere and no-one seemed to be in a position to do anything about it.
Let's not kid ourselves, both Swansea and Crystal Palace are in desperate need of some serious surgery.
Last week, Palace boss Alan Pardew told us he and his players had words after their defeat against Manchester City, and they were going to put their run of poor results behind them and get down to business. What did they talk about? The weather?
Well, if they keep defending like that, they will find themselves conducting their business in the Championship.
Midfielder - Fernandinho (Manchester City)
Last week, I was singing the praises of midfielder Yaya Toure. This week, it's another Manchester City player, but one who seldom gets the plaudits he deserves.
Fernandinho was superb against a Burnley side who at one stage thought they might do to City what they did to Liverpool. However, the Brazilian had other ideas. His selflessness and desire to promote the team's purpose couldn't have been more evident than when he created City's winner out of nothing.
City manager Pep Guardiola is still coming to terms with the rigour of the Premier League and what is required to win it. This is not Spain, where two teams dominate the scene and results are predictable - or Germany, where if Bayern Munich don't win the title, there's a national inquest. This is the Premier League. The most competitive league in the world.
Midfielder - Leroy Fer (Swansea)
These were two massive goals for Swansea for Leroy Fer, a player who I believe still has to fulfil his potential in the Premier League.
I saw a lot of him at QPR, but he seems more assured and accomplished playing for Swansea. He covers the ground and when required can put his foot in, but his ability to score goals from midfield is without doubt his biggest asset.
However, in all honesty, I cannot see how Swansea can retain their status in the Premier League when they continually move on players such as forwards Wilfried Bony, Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew - and, of course, defender Ashley Williams - without replacing them and expect to survive.
Striker - Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
If ever there was a man born to score goals, it was Sergio Aguero. He has scored 33 goals in the last 34 league matches, which tells its own story.
Against Burnley, he was his usual predatory self. And yet I detected a moment last week - when City boss Pep Guardiola tactically substituted the Argentine for a defender in order to close the game against Crystal Palace - when there was a distinct air of disapproval from Aguero.
For Guardiola, the move might have been justified but, if you don't mind me saying so, it was a dangerous one nevertheless.
When managers go about using world-class strikers as fodder, it runs the risk of hacking them off. They are not there to adorn your every circumstance, but to be treated with the utmost care and attention - a point former City striker Carlos Tevez was keen to make to former City manager Roberto Mancini.
Lose them and it could cost you a title, a cup, a tournament, your job. Your choice.
Striker - Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
There has been some debate recently about how many world-class players we have in the Premier League at the moment. Well, I for one believe that Alexis Sanchez is one of them.
It was Sanchez who punished Bournemouth's Steve Cook for what appeared to be a moment of stage fright - one which ended in the most appalling backpass. The Chilean then finished off the Cherries with a simple tap-in, but that was after he had run Bournemouth ragged.
With midfielder Mesut Ozil, another world-class player, available to produce the service in the absence of Santi Cazorla, the result was inevitable. What Arsenal have done is collect three very valuable points in a week where Champions League often takes priority. That is a very dangerous sign for Manchester City and Chelsea.
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