Back in the bottom three after week five

That's brought widespread panic for some. On the message board it is all too much for poster theclaret57 who has suggested that defeats at West Brom and Leicester in the next two games will see us all but relegated.

Meanwhile big_ears_longside fears we are destined for a season where we never leave the bottom three, bringing with it an immediate relegation, and this morning I spoke to a supporter in his 60s who was damning of the board for not spending £60 million in the transfer market.

I can't argue with the stats. We have played five games and we are still to win. We have only scored once, that coming from Scott Arfield against Chelsea, and we are 19th in the table above only Newcastle and then on goal difference.

I won't be joining in the rush for negativity though. Whilst I would have loved to have been sat on top of the table with fifteen points, I'm realistic enough to know it is going to be difficult and, right now, I'm happy that this time round we are doing things the right way and being far better organised defensively than we were last time we were in this league.

Ultimately we will need to start scoring goals to get some wins but at least we have the framework (to use someone's favourite word) to stay in games and give ourselves a chance of winning them.

I saw a stat last week that we are the only team not to have conceded a second half goal this season in the league. I'm not sure how many though, other than ourselves, haven't scored a second half goal.

I watched the two matches on television yesterday and sat in amazement at the quality of defending shown by Manchester United at Leicester. Louis van Gaal has spent a lot of money on this team but it looked capable of conceding a goal every time the opposition came over the half way line yesterday.

Granted the penalty that turned things round when they led 3-1 was a shocker from Mark Clattenburg, but Leicester have a real habit of getting away with pushing defenders (Chris Wood on Michael Duff) and also going down to win soft penalties (Jamie Vardy at the King Power last season).

Are referees now becoming brave enough not to give everything there way after 20 odd years of being bullied by Ferguson?

The later game showed the clash between the two likely to be right at the top at the end of the season and we saw Frank Lampard scoring against Chelsea and their fans still giving him an ovation at the end.

Apparently he's now scored goals against 39 of the 46 teams to have played in the Premier League. Chelsea might have scored five against us in 2009/10 but we can claim to be one of the seven he hasn't scored against.

The other two Sunday games provided the shocks. Wins for Spurs and Everton, as expected, would have kept us in 17th place. Spurs were poor against the Baggies whilst at Goodison there was a turn round for Palace who came from 1-0 down to lead  3-1, eventually running out 3-2 winners.

Chelsea still lead the league. They are now three points clear of both Southampton and Villa with Arsenal and Swansea a further point behind. Liverpool and Manchester United, for now, are in the bottom half of the table.

All the results and stats from the weekend are below along with the goalscorers, disciplinary records and next fixtures.