Not only was this game the battle of the Belgian brick shithouses, it was also the battle of the balding Yank goalkeepers. Both Tim Howard and Brad Guzan had fine games, but the former was utterly imperious in his command of the box.

He firmly saved Benteke’s early penalty, before going on to stop several one-on-one’s that could have put the game beyond Everton.

BEARD POWER.

Utter domination for the home side, who move into the top three and continue to be the league’s surprise package. They managed 20 shots and enjoyed 67% possession, whilst the visitors only got 2 shots, both off-target.

Awful marking from Dimitar Berbatov. Before the corner comes in, Scott Parker visibly orders the striker twice “MARK LAMBERT”. He doesn’t, wandering off into no-man’s land and allowing Rickie Lambert all the time in the world to guide his header into the net.

It took a late flurry of goals from United, but they got there eventually. Stoke City were the better side for much of the match, playing a fearless counter-attacking game that caught Manchester Utd by surprise.

With the departure of Alex Ferguson, teams no longer come to Old Trafford already envisioning a defeat. This paradigm change in mentality has almost single-handedly changed the way away teams play in what has been such a fortress for the reds for years.

A strange occurrence, this one. Cardiff City kicked the ball into touch so one of their injured players could receive treatment. Usually, the honourable thing for the opposing team to do in this instance is to throw the ball back to the Cardiff goalkeeper. Norwich striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel doesn’t have his honour cap on today, and begins to argue with the Cardiff keeper over whether or not he should give it back.

The goalkeeper becomes enraged and wants a deeper argument, and begins walking across the pitch towards him. Wolfswinkel sees him leaving the goal, throws it to Leroy Fer and the midfielder punts it upfield into an empty net.

We would have won the game which is why I did it – Leroy Fer

Norwich City manager Chris Houghton proved to be a much more honourable soul after the match ended. Cardiff boss Malky Mackay said:

Colin [NCFC asst manager] and Chris said that they would let us walk it in if he gives the goal. I think common sense prevailed.

Patrice Evra is usually a constant source of crosses for United, but on the day he’d been kept quiet by Stoke.

This goal came on one of the first times Stoke’s defence failed to keep track of his runs out wide. He brushes past Jon Walters with embarrassing ease and picks the right ball. Who else would you want to finish the move less than 6 yards out than the Little poacher Pea, Hernandez.

This match is, as FourFourTwo put it, “the battle of the Belgian brick shithouses”.

Romelu Lukaku and Christian Benteke are both young, brilliant and the heart of their respective Everton/Villa sides. The Belgian national team plays with one striker, so this season will decide which one gets the starting berth at next year’s World Cup.

One wonders whether David De Gea’s yellow gloves are literally made of butter, because his fingers are so buttery this time around.

Arnatovic’s free kick is good, curling high into the corner, but it isn’t out of the keeper’s reach. De Gea gets a whole hand to the ball but his wrists are made of marshmallows and he allows the ball to go straight through his palm and in.

That said, De Gea stopped it being 3 or 4-1 to the away team, so he can’t feel too hard done by.

RVP has started the season brilliantly (as you’d expect from one of the world’s best strikers), this being his 14th goal for club and country already in 2013/14.

Like any instinctive forward, he follows the ball in he created, tapping in the second ball too fast for the keeper to block.

The scoreline belies how hard this victory was for league leaders Arsenal. Palace are managerless (with manager Ian Holloway stepping down in midweek by mutual consent after claiming he was too tired to continue) and looked fired up. They grew in confidence as the first half wore on, and again after Arsenal had a man sent off.

They would have taken points on another day, with Joel Ward and Mile Jedinak both denied goals by stunning saves from the Arsenal keeper Szczesny.

Several of Arsenal’s players appear to be tiring, and with six matches to play in the next fortnight this will be a concern for Arsene Wenger with little cover available in defence and up front.