Weekend starts and ends with 2-2 draws

I was on my way to Palace when the first of those games was being played so didn't see anything other than the highlights, but last night's game gave us an outstanding end to the week four fixtures with a stunning strike from West Ham's Enner Valencia providing the main talking point.

For some reason I'd decided it wasn't going to be the best of games and was in two minds whether to actually watch it. I'm pleased I did make it my third Premier League game of the weekend following on from our draw at Palace and then the televised Man United v QPR game on Sunday.

Everyone seems to be going over the top about United and such as Angel Di Maria and Daley Blind and the likes. They played well, no doubt, you have to play well to get four goals, but QPR, on the day, were woeful.

I watched our Michael Duff and Jason Shackell partnership on Saturday and then watched Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker for QPR. I'm sure, at some stage, we'll get a big score against us but I don't expect us to defend quite so badly as 'Arry's disjointed lot did on Sunday.

Our draw took us up to 18th place in the table. I know it isn't something to shout from the rooftops, it is, after all, still a relegation position although now we are only behind Palace on goals scored.

It is the highest we've been and it is nice to be able to look down on West Brom and Newcastle who were both beaten on Saturday.

West Brom were beaten 2-0 at home by Everton with their former loan striker Romelu Lukaku getting Everton's first. Down on the south coast, Newcastle were taking a 4-0 thumping at Southampton.

Now, if QPR's defending looked bad then Newcastle's looked even worse. The fans of the big club that never wins anything are not happy. Pardew out banners were evident with even suggestions that coach John Carver chose to have a word with some of them carrying such banners.

It's a time bomb up there and Mike Ashley has done what he always does and antagonised those fans by backing Pardew who probably still has about 93 years remaining on that ridiculous contract he was given.

Up at the other end of the table, Chelsea have now gone two points clear after they beat Swansea in the game between the two with the 100 per cent records. The game also provided us with the first hat trick of the season from Diego Costa who has now scored seven league goals. He's scored in all four games.

The surprise up there is Aston Villa who are now second. I think most people expected them to be one of the strugglers, and they may yet be, but ten points from the first four games is a terrific start if you are looking to avoid the drop.

We're back home this week. Sunderland and Gus Poyet are in town. The last time he turned up his team, then Brighton, were a disgrace and the Longside let him know. They currently sit in 15th place, a point ahead of us.

The big game will see the two title favourites Man City and Chelsea meet for the first time this season at the Etihad.

Week four's result and stats are below with the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the coming week's fixtures.