What a fickle mistress footballing form is. So if Tony Warner, superb in Fulham's opener at Arsenal seven days ago, would kindly shuffle along taking his recent calamitous errors with him, and make way for Steve Harper in TOTW. Harper kept a clean sheet against Aston Villa and proved himself an able deputy once more for the injured Shay Given.
For the second week in a row, Micah Richards makes an appearance in TOTW. The 18-year-old was man of the match in the hard fought Manchester derby and muscled Carlos Tevez out of the game. He made several timely interceptions and his positional sense and awareness were spot on. He is certain to feature for England in midweek against Germany.
Alongside him is his captain and fellow centre-half Richard Dunne. The big Irishman was all over the park, covering his backline and his performance went a long way to ensure that City's unbeaten record stayed just that. Eriksson appears to be building his team around these two defenders. He could do a lot worse.
Andre Bikey had his hands full playing against Andy Johnson at the Madjeski, but the big Cameroonian was strong enough to keep a clean sheet and not concede a penalty either. Johnson has a fine goal-scoring record against Reading but Bikey ensured he would not be adding to that this weekend.
Steed Malbranque rushed to the rescue of his beleaguered manager Martin Jol with two early goals to settle Spurs' nerves against a Derby side who had no response to the home side's fire-power. Malbranque had his best game in a Spurs shirt so far and his brace got Spurs' season back on track.
Alongside him Jermaine Jenas had the sort of game that justified the hefty price Spurs paid Newcastle for his services all those years ago. Jenas helped himself to a goal, breaking from the half-way line, beating several challenges before calmly slotting home a wonderful solo effort.
Local-lad-made-good Mark Noble stepped up to the penalty spot and coolly slotted home West Ham's winner at St. Andrew's against newly promoted Birmingham City. Noble hit the post earlier on with a free-kick and his energy made him the stand out performer on the park.
Steven Gerrard gets in TOTW. Again. Gerrard sprayed passes around with merry abandon, put in some excellent tackles (one in particular on Kalou prevented a certain goal) and gave another midfield master class. It was his slide-rule pass to Torres which set up the Spaniard for Liverpool's goal against Chelsea.
Steven Hunt left the Reading pitch to a standing ovation when he limped out of his side's win against Everton. He deserved it (the applause, not the injury) for another fine display on the left-wing, the highlight of which was the winning goal. He reacted quickest to a throw-in and showed a decent touch to prod the ball home.
Up front, Wigan giant Emile Heskey is welcomed back in to TOTW after a vintage display against Roy Keane's Sunderland. Heskey gave the Black Cats centre-halves a torrid afternoon and blasted the ball past £9million man Craig Gordon for the opening goal. 'Heskey for England', crows Chris Hutchings. Hmmm.
Nwankwo Kanu was Portsmouth's star performer as their good start to the season continued with a win over Bolton. The ex-Arsenal man had a hand in all three Pompey goals, scoring the first, setting up his compatriot John Utaka (who had an excellent game too) for the second and winning the penalty which Matty Taylor converted.
Sven Goran Erikkson is once more the Soccernet MOTW. It would be rude not to really. Three wins out of three this week, top of the table, no goals conceded and victorious in the Manchester derby against the champions. It was one of his new signings who sealed the points, but the City faithful will be far happier with their new manager than any of their players.
