10@10: £37m doesn't buy you much of a defence these days, plus nine other things we learned from watching football this week

Published 10:16 09/11/09

Yes, there was rather a big game going on at Stamford Bridge this weekend , but that's not to say there weren't lessons to be learned elsewhere this weekend, writes Dan Silver.

1) £37million quid really doesn't get you much in the defence department these days. Manchester City would have been equally solid at the back if they'd picked two of those oversized poppies than Lescott and Toure.

2) While we're on the subject, Mark Hughes really does have a shaky grasp of economics. He moaned that his team should have got more credit for coming back from two goals down against Burnley. Sparky: considering the relative values of your squads (£300million, give or take, compared to a tenner and a packet of crisps), you should have been able to give them a TEN goal head start and still won.

3) Tottenham are going to win the league again. They say the mark of Champions is that you can win games when you aren't playing well. And performances don't come much worse than Spurs' against Sunderland on Saturday. Steve Bruce's Black Cats must have run over a few of their namesakes on the way to the ground to lose that game.

4) Darren Bent famously fell out with Harry Redknapp when the Spurs manager suggested his missus could have scored a chance Bent missed for Tottenham against Portsmouth. What a shame Sunderland couldn't have nominated Sandra Redknapp to have taken that penalty on Saturday...

5) Arsenal's forwards are now so prolific that they're boring even themselves. So full marks to Eduardo for playing penalty box billiards at Molineux on Saturday in an attempt to liven things up. The cannon he expertly lined-up off of Jody Craddock's head was sublime.

6) Congrats to Bolton's Johann Elmander, who broke an 11-month goal drought by scoring against Aston Villa on Saturday. It was a shocking barren run, yes, but as his previous goal also came at Villa Park, the Holte End faithful have still seen him score more goals than Emile Heskey in the past year.

7) With his brace of match-winning goals on Saturday, Jason Roberts proved that the supersub role is nothing to be sniffed at. And, given that the striker was a recent victim of the Blackburn swine flu outbreak, that's probably for the best. Apparently opposing Portsmouth boss was feeling pretty pig sick after Roberts' intervention too...

8) After West Ham's midweek win over Aston Villa , there were subsequent reports of strange atmospheric conditions over the Boleyn Ground towards the end of the Hammers' defeat to out-of-sorts Everton yesterday . Apparently the Met Office have told residents of E13 not to worry - it's just another false dawn.

9) Jimmy Bullard should henceforth be known as 'Jesus' for he worked not one, but two miracles at the KC Stadium yesterday. Not only did the finally fit again midfielder set up a Hull victory with his last-minute long-range strike, he also enabled a dead man to walk away with his job. Forget saving suicide cases on the Humber Bridge, Phil Brown should spend all of his spare time from now ensuring Jimmy doesn't twist so much as a sock.

10) You can't beat the magic of the FA Cup, particularly when it provides onetime big names of the beautiful game who have since fallen on hard times the chance to pull of a shock result and get their names back in the papers. So take a bow Norwich - let's hope you pull a big name out of the hat in the second round!

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