Premier League – Who’s Hot and Who’s Not?

Hot team
Three teams won 6-0 this weekend so the award has to go to one of them. Chelsea put six past hapless Wigan and although that was a fine performance I think I could put together a team from the local old people’s home and put at least three past Wigan at the moment!

Arsenal were brilliant and ruthless in their defeat of Blackpool but against ten men and a side who are likely to take a few hammerings this season, they can’t qualify for the award.

That leaves Newcastle who beat Aston Villa 6-0. I can’t believe I have just written that! What a fantastic performance. However poor Villa were, Newcastle were superb. Nineteen attempts on goal to Villa’s two, shows that the result was not a freak.

Not Hot team
Blackpool were unfortunate to concede a penalty and have a man sent off at Arsenal and were doing reasonably well until that incident. So despite being on the wrong end of a 6-0 drubbing, they are definitely not this week’s ‘Not Hot team’.

It has to be Villa who were terrible or Wigan who were, well, terrible. Villa lost their manager and have lost a star player. They are still a decent team and they will bounce back from this disappointment. Wigan are just not very good. It has to be them.

Hot keeper
A while ago most people thought that Ben Foster was England’s best goalkeeper. A serious injury and a few below par performances for Manchester United and he became the forgotten man.

He has been given a new lease of life with his move to Birmingham and his penalty save and another save in his side’s win over Blackburn, were world class. It could be that Joe Hart does have a serious challenger for that England number one shirt.

Not Hot keeper
I’m not sure that Wigan’s Chris Kirkland could have done much to alter his side’s 6-0 defeat to Chelsea but the mere fact that he has conceded ten goals in two home games means that it would be unfair to give this award to anyone else.

Hot defender
When big Brede Hangeland saw the ball bounce off his knee and into his own goal to give Manchester United a 2-1 lead he must have felt very hard done by. United had played some wonderful stuff but he had stood firm and repelled attack after attack. Now it appeared it had all been for nothing and he had cost his side a point.

Not a bit of it. He went up the other end and powered home a header to give him and his team the point they deserved.

Not Hot defender
I’ve got a lot of time for Villa’s Irish defender Richard Dunne. He has been a fine servant in the Premier League and still has a lot to offer. Unfortunately for Villa he had a poor day at St James’ Park and got totally bullied by Andy Carroll.

Hot midfielder
A few contenders for this one but for me, one moment of absolute world class magic means that the award has to go to Tottenham’s Gareth Bale. Why oh why isn’t he English!?

If his first goal in Tottenham’s win at Stoke was farcical and lucky, his second was one of the best volleys I have ever seen.

Not Hot midfielder
OK, he might not want to be at Wigan any more but you would have thought that simple professional pride would make Charles N’Zogbia produce more for his team than he did on Saturday. He walked around the pitch like a sulky little boy. Just when Wigan need players to roll up their sleeves and stand up to be counted, he is doing quite the opposite.

Hot striker
There were some fine performances by strikers but this award can only go to Newcastle’s Andy Carroll. It is a big responsibility for the twenty-one year old to wear the famous old Newcastle number nine shirt and lead the attack in a side that may expect to struggle.

Carroll’s hat-trick yesterday has set him well on the path to being as much of a Toon hero as some of his famous predecessors.

Not Hot striker
I am sorry to pick on him again but isn’t new Wigan striker Mauro Boselli just a bad footballer?