Manchester United emerged victorious from the Manchester derby against City by one goal to nil, despite having Cristiano Ronaldo sent off, whilst a Robin van Persie double saw Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.
At Eastlands, United were in cruise control during the first half as they created chances and dominated possession against a lacklustre City side. 
Indeed the most fight shown by City came from a ballboy who forcefully threw the ball back to Ronaldo. With Carrick and Fletcher running midfield, and young starlet Rafael nullifying the threat of Robinho City lacked any sort of spark.
Therefore, it came as no surprise when a Wayne Rooney tap-in gave United the lead, following a shot from Michael Carrick that Joe Hart could only parry into the England forwards path.
In the second half and Ronaldo, expected to be announced as the European footballer of the year on Monday (the Ballon d’or), was sent off in strange circumstances. Having been booked for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips when it looked like he had played the ball, the Portugese winger handled from a corner, when had he headed the ball he would have surely scored. The United number 7 claimed he had heard a whistle from the crowd, but referee Howard Webb had no choice but to show him a second yellow card and the red.
As it was, United saw out the final twenty minutes fairly comfortably and took three points from the City of Manchester Stadium.
At Stamford Bridge Chelsea took a lead against Arsenal, lead by new captain Cesc Fabregas, thanks to an own goal by Swiss defender Johan Djourou, as he diverted a Bosingwa cross into his own net. Until that point the first half had been quite even and it continued to be so. After half time and Arsenal were dominated by Chelsea and it looked like a matter of time until the blues extended their lead.
However, cometh the hour and cometh the man as Robin van Persie, the injury-prone Dutch forward, turned the game on its head with two goals in three minutes.
Firstly, a crisp right-foot strike slammed the ball into the top right hand corner past Petr Cech, from the edge of the penalty area, despite replays showing he was in an offside position when the ball was played.
Three minutes later and he sent a sweet left foot strike low past Cech’s despairing dive into the bottom right corner of the net, inflicting on Chelsea their second home defeat of the season and giving Arsenal the slightest hope in their chase for the title.
Elsewhere this weekend and Bolton were the big winners as they destroyed Sunderland at the Stadium of Light 4-1. Djibril Cisse had given the Mack’ems the lead, but Matthew Taylor, Gary Cahill and Johan Elmander (2) sealed the win for Gary Megsons in-from side.
Everton were victorious against Harry Redknapps Spurs thanks to a deflected Steven Pienaar effort after 51 minutes. However, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, the prolific Nigerian forward, will miss the rest of the season for David Moyes side with a ruptured achilles, “A huge blow” according to Moyes.
Portsmouth threw away a two goal lead for the second time this week, only to beat Paul Ince’s Blackburn Rovers 3-2. Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe scored early in the second half, only for Matt Derbyshire and Tugay to bring Rovers level. However, ten minutes from time and a Sean Davis goal sealed the victory for Tony Adams’ side.
Bottom of the table West Brom were beaten again 2-1 at Wigan, with Emerson Boyce grabbing the winner, as Albion missed a host of chances. Stoke and Hull contested a hard fought 1-1 draw at the Britannia Stadium, whilst Aston Villa and Fulham, Middlesbrough and Newcastle both ended goalless.
Fantastic FA Cup Weekend
The 2nd round of the FA Cup sponsored by Eon saw some terrific games and my congratulations go out to all those sides who have progressed to round three, but especially to the giant killers of Histon, who turned over Leeds United, and to Eastwood who emerged victorious against Wycombe Wanderers, the only side in the football league still unbeaten in the league.
Great Advert For The Championship
Just thought that I’d add that the West Midlands derby between Wolves and Birmingham was a great advert for the Championship, which is still the most exciting and unpredictable league in England. An excellent match between the top two ended 1-1, goals from Cameron Jerome for Blues and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake for Wolves, and was fiercely competitive, exciting and not lacking in quality. Give me an exciting game like this over one of the numerous bland and boring games the Premier League has dished up this season anyday.
Posted by Alex Richards 
If Ferguson doesn’t want to see Rooney banned in future, then surely he must set about curbing the players temper rather than blaming the press, opposition players, anyone and everyone but the Scouse striker. I’m not saying take the aggression out of Rooneys game, for that isn’t the issue. Rarely does he get in trouble for his aggressive style of play. No Rooney finds trouble when he feels hard done to, or is upset or angry and he goes about looking for retribution/ revenge in the wrong way. Curb the players temper Sir Alex. Look at the way the great Dennis Bergkamp was ice cool (but the Dutchman still knew how to look after himself and be aggressive when the need arose) and the finest forward at Englands and maybe Uniteds disposal, may just become the world class forward he has looked like potentially being for the last 5 years.
