Manager Arsene Wenger was frustrated by Sunderland's stubborn defence after seeing Cesc Fabregas snatch a point at the Stadium of Light. The Spaniard headed home an injury-time equaliser in a dramatic conclusion to the match after substitute Grant Leadbitter looked to have condemned the visitors to back-to-back Barclays Premier League defeats for the first time since March last year. Wenger said: "Sunderland defended with great spirit and were resilient for the whole game. I like to think usually the team that takes the initiative should be rewarded, but it is not always like that in football. We lacked a little bit the sharpness to get them out of position. They gave us the ball and said, 'Listen, we are happy with 0-0, do what you want', and the story of the game was they didn't only almost get the 0-0, they almost won the game. We needed character to come back and at least get a point. Is it a good point or a bad point? I don't know, but it was a frustrating day for us because we didn't create the chances we usually do and I must say, Sunderland defended very well."

 Martin Laursen was disappointed by Aston Villa's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea admitting: "We really felt we could come away with something. We were too far away from them. They had too much room and space to play and you can't give good players that. They played it around us. It was disappointing because we really did feel we could come here and get something from the game. Confidence was high so we thought we could do something. It just didn't happen on the day. They have a brilliant team and some wonderful players but we could have made it harder for them. We needed more of a physical presence - especially in the first half. We now have to accept the defeat and move on. We lost to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - it's not a disaster! We are still up there in the Barclays Premier League, we are still confident and we are in the UEFA Cup group stages. We still have plenty to play for."

 Paul Ince was full of praise for Manchester United after they tore his side apart in a 2-0 win at Ewood Park. A stunning second goal from Wayne Rooney which came at the end of a superb counter-attacking move sealed a comfortable victory for United and the Blackburn Rovers manager said: "Their squad is worth £200m, they brought on Carlos Tevez, who on his own would cost more than all my players put together, so I don't think we under-performed. They are a great side. They are the Premier League champions and the Champions League winners. They can replace people like Rooney with people like Tevez. They have some of the best players in the world. Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say: 'well done'."

 Manager Gary Megson was delighted with the manner of his side's 3-1 win at West Ham United. He said: "It's a great result for us in terms of coming to a team which has won its first three Barclays Premier League matches at home. The manner in which it came is a big boost for us because I didn't think we had to deal with too many clear cut chances. The goal that we gave away is a disappointment because I would back our people to deal with that 99 per cent of the time. We wanted to make ourselves solid and we did set out to get a clean sheet and it is a disappointment that we haven't done, but we knew West Ham would have a lot of possession but most of which they had was going square or backwards. Although in the first half they had more possession than us, we've scored the two goals and had better opportunities to score more than we actually did."

 Luiz Felipe Scolari has highlighted his side's form at Stamford Bridge as one of the keys to the Barclays Premier League title race, insisting they cannot afford to drop points. Although they have not been beaten in their last 86 home league matches, seven draws on their own turf last season helped hand the title to Manchester United. One of those draws came against Aston Villa. But Chelsea never looked like dropping points against them on Sunday, Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka grabbing the goals in a 2-0 win. After sharing the points with Tottenham and United, it was Chelsea's first league win at home since the opening weekend of the season. "We need to win more games at home," said Scolari. "We have played four games and won two of them; we need more, because we remember last season. I wasn't here but I know about this. There were many, many draws... and the final result was being two points behind Manchester United." 

 David Moyes believes Everton's "fragile" players helped Joe Kinnear drag Newcastle United out of their slump in his first match in command. Everton were winning 2-0 thanks to Mikel Arteta's penalty and Marouane Fellaini's first goal for the club, before Steven Taylor headed one goal and created the equaliser for Damien Duff in two dramatic minutes each side of half-time at Goodison Park. It helped boost Newcastle's confidence and Moyes said of Taylor's strike: "There's never a good time to concede a goal. But that was bad. We gave Newcastle a lifeline. We are a bit fragile at the moment, anxiety crept in. Even during the half-time period. Their dressing room clearly got a lift and ours was down because we had controlled and dominated the half, so to go in just 2-1 ahead was annoying. We kept working hard. I know some fans were booing at the end, but they were disappointed we did not win the game."

 Manager Roy Hodgson felt his side deserved some tangible reward from the match with West Bromwich Albion. Most of the Cottagers' opportunities came from outside the box in the 1-0 defeat, but Hodgson said: "I did think had we taken one of the many chances that came our way, we wouldn't have been trying again to come back from one nil down. We tried very hard, had chances again. It wasn't to be and at the moment we are going through one of those spells where I can't really criticise the players for what they are doing on the field - their effort, quality of play even. It is not getting the results and that is a very frustrating situation to find yourselves in. It sounds strange but I can't be unhappy with the performance. I am only unhappy with the result. In this league every point dropped is a very important point dropped."

 Phil Brown admits he is in "dreamland" following the club's stunning start to life in the Barclays Premier League. Hull City made it 14 points from seven matches with a 1-0 victory at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Brazilian Geovanni curling in a superb free-kick. Jonathan Woodgate struck a post and Gareth Bale forced Tigers goalkeeper Boaz Myhill to tip a swinging free-kick on to the crossbar, but Hull could have won more convincingly considering Dean Marney also struck the foot of a post with a thumping drive. Brown, whose side have now beaten Arsenal and Spurs in the capital this season, said: "Tottenham might have had 23 shots but the best chances fell to Hull City. My hardest job after last week was to keep their feet firmly on the ground and make sure that they weren't over-confident. We're about three points ahead of our points tally because we didn't expect to beat Arsenal at the Emirates. We are ahead of schedule. It is dreamland."

 Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is anxiously awaiting the results of Martin Skrtel's scan but he fears the worst. The Slovakia central defender was carried off with a knee injury in Sunday's dramatic 3-2 victory against Manchester City. Skrtel collapsed in agony after a clearance on the edge of his own penalty area. "Martin has twisted his knee and we will have to wait for the scan but we think it could be serious," said Benitez. That's the bad news for us. When a player like Martin is on the ground you know it's serious so we will keep our fingers crossed that it won't be too bad."

 Manager Mark Hughes had no complaints about Pablo Zabaleta's sending off in the 3-2 defeat at home to Liverpool. The Argentinian defender was dismissed by referee Peter Walton following a challenge on Xabi Alonso. City were leading 2-1 at the time and as a result Liverpool gained the momentum and Fernando Torres and Dirk Kuyt completed a dramatic turnaround for the Reds. After watching TV replays, Hughes said: "I have seen it in slow motion and he makes contact with the player's standing leg. Pablo has cleared the ball and the man as well. I can see why the referee has given it. That made it difficult for us as it is hard enough with 11 men against the top four teams, never mind being a man down."

 Sir Alex Ferguson described Manchester United's 2-0 win at Blackburn as his side's "best performance of the season". There was an element of doubt over the champions' first goal - Nemanja Vidic appearing to elbow Jason Brown allowing Wes Brown to score - but there was none over the second. Brown sent Cristiano Ronaldo beyond the Blackburn defence and his cross was perfect for Wayne Rooney, who swept home in superb fashion in front of watching England coach Fabio Capello. That was his (Rooney's) best performance of the season for us," said Ferguson. "Blackburn had to gamble and we capitalised."

 Gareth Southgate paid tribute to striker Jeremie Aliadiere after his goal was enough to earn Middlesbrough a 1-0 win at Wigan. Aliadiere notched his first Premier League goal of the season at the crucial moment and deflected some of the criticism which has been building about his recent performances. Southgate said: "It was important for Jeremie to get off the mark and getting the winner is always special. Jeremie is always a threat but sometimes players don't have enough belief in themselves - but they had that belief."

 Joe Kinnear praised the character of his Newcastle United players after they came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Everton. Kinnear said: "I was very pleased with the comeback, great character. But I'm frustrated, we had two kicked off the line and the players gave me everything. We played two small strikers against two well-developed centre-halves, but we passed the ball round them at times. We had other opportunities. The character was first class - everyone would have felt at 2-0 down that it was all over. But we stuck at it and almost won it."

 Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp celebrated three great results in a week after his £18.5m strikers Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe grabbed the goals that beat Stoke City 2-1 at Fratton Park. A week ago the pair scored in the 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur before Crouch's two goals in extra-time rescued his side in their midweek UEFA Cup tie against Guimaraes in Portugal. The former Liverpool striker added an overhead kick to his tally on Sunday while ex-Tottenham Hotspur star Defoe hit the post before scoring the winner. Redknapp was delighted with the performance after seven matches in 22 days. He said: "This run has taken a lot out of the players but they showed a great response. It was a fantastic finish by Crouchie for our first goal, great technique and he's been doing it all the time in training. Defoe just keeps looking for chances even after he misses. It was a great shot that hit the post but another terrific finish for the second goal."

 Tony Pulis hailed Portsmouth's multi-million pound strikeforce after they condemned his side to a 2-1 defeat at Fratton Park. Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe grabbed the goals and Pulis, who was in charge at Pompey for 10 months in 2000, was full of praise for the duo saying: "That's why Harry has paid the money for Crouch and Defoe. The first goal was a fantastic finish and the second almost as good. But you expect us to push on after equalising just after half-time and instead we shot ourselves in the foot. We made two bad mistakes in our own half and Defoe punished us, hitting the post with his first chance then scoring from an almost identical position. That's what happens at this level."

 Roy Keane defended his team after they came within seconds of snatching a famous victory against Arsenal. Gunners manager Arsene Wenger revealed his frustration at the tactics employed by opposite number Keane during the 1-1 draw. But Keane responded: "I can only focus on my own team. I am pretty sure if I had different players available, we might have been a bit more attack-minded. But I have to look at the squad of players I have available to me and for this game that was a good option for us. Next time we play them, it might be different. We played Arsenal a number of times last year, we played Chelsea, we played United - we played United here and went 4-4-2 and we lost 4-0, and it could have been seven. We have to get the balance right with our own team. The bottom line for any of these top teams, they will tell you, part of the game is breaking down the opposition."

 Coach Juande Ramos admits that Tottenham Hotspur's problems centre on their lack of strikers. Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane were sold this summer while the situation got worse when Roman Pavlyuchenko limped off in the first half of Sunday's 1-0 defeat to Hull City with an ankle injury which will undergo a scan. Ramos said: "The position of the striker is the most weak. It is the decision of the club, all the people are responsible for the good and the bad. The players had a big effort and a good attitude and this is the way to change the situation. The best match for us this season has been against Chelsea - some things are impossible to explain."

 Tony Mowbray insists his side have the self belief they need to compete in the Barclays Premier League after a 1-0 victory over Fulham lifted them to eighth place in the table. Striker Roman Bednar's second-half effort - his third goal of the campaign - ensured back-to-back wins for the Baggies and the manager said: "We know we played against a decent team, particularly in the first half. They moved the ball around well. On the second half performance I think we warranted the victory. We had the better chances and I'm delighted with the effort we put in to get the points. The result was important. It keeps the momentum going and gives the players the confidence and belief they can compete in the league and we shouldn't fear whoever we play." 

 Robert Green continues to command the complete "trust" of everyone at West Ham United despite a goalkeeping error against Bolton Wanderers which cost new manager Gianfranco Zola his 100 per cent Barclays Premier League record. The 27-year-old was included in the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus just hours after a handling mistake had gifted Bolton the opening goal at Upton Park in a match the visitors went on to win 3-1. However, Zola said: "Robert Green is a great goalkeeper. He has all my trust, all of the team's trust. Everyone believes in him. It has been a bad day, but I am sure next game he is going to save two penalties - football is like that. The important thing is that you are always confident in what we are doing, because they are the right things to do for us."  

 Manager Steve Bruce admitted his side's defeat against Middlesbrough was particularly disappointing in the context of their fine recent form. The Latics knew that sixth place was an at least temporary possibility had they claimed three more points against the Teessiders. Bruce said: "We had gone six or seven unbeaten and I think the whole nation had watched us play live and thought what a good team we were. We started well and caused plenty of problems but it's always the same the longer it goes. The way Boro defended in the first half-hour was a credit to them, especially the two centre-backs, who I thought had outstanding games. It's a disappointing result but sometimes these things happen."