A very ineffective day at the office for Norwich City going forward meant that they couldn’t score in a game in which they dominated possession for large spells.

Wingers Nathan Redmond and Robert Snodgrass are great talents on their day, but both had a bad game, with City completing just 12 of their 45 attempted crosses. With poachers Van Wolfswinkel and Gary Hooper rarely creating their own chances, the midfield has to do better in the final third.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, kept their first league clean sheet since 2012. Brad Guzan a true American hero saving an early Snodgrass penalty.

After Villa’s Ciaran Clark handballed in the box, Snodgrass was justly given the opportunity to put Norwich in the lead.

Unfortunately his penalty was poor. He didn’t place it in the corner of the goal and it was at the most comfortable height for the goalkeeper possible.

It was the setpiece of an awful first half for Snodgrass in which he was ineffective, demotivated and sloppy on the ball.

Just two minutes after Villa fans were rocked by an uncomfortable-looking injury to star striker Christian Benteke, the man who replaced him as a substitute scores his first goal for Aston Villa.

Gabriel Agbonlahor was the creator, and Norwich can’t say they didn’t see it coming – Agbonlahor created four chances in the opening half hour, his dribbling and pace creating the cross for Kozak to tap in.

A dull 0-0 draw played out on a not-so-Super Sunday. West Ham have won just one of their last 15 away games, and with their strikers all injured or out of form they came with a clear intent to defend.

For all Southampton’s possession, they couldn’t find a way to score. Part of this was due to a man of the match performance from Hammers keeper Jussi Jasskalainen, who produced four brilliant saves over the course of 90 minutes.

But Southampton fans should be wary of their team’s play so far this season. Lining up in a new 4-2-2-2 formation, they have plenty of attacking options. But today Mauricio Pochettino didn’t start with a creative midfielder that could actually find them with a pass, and so Southampton had four strikers and nobody to provide them with service.

The role of teenager James Ward-Prowse will be a large burden on his young shoulders this year.

The fourth games of Roberto Martinez’s Everton and Jose Mourinho’s (second) Chelsea career. Martinez got his first win, and Jose suffered his first loss.

After the game, Mourinho couldn’t quite explain why he had lost the match:

We were the best team because we played the best football, because we dominated the whole game, because we had 21 shots. But by the other way, a team who has 21 shots – some easy, in easy situations – and made a mistake at the end of the first half, maybe I should say we deserved to lose.

The best of which was an incredible block from new Everton loanee Gareth Barry that stopped a certain goal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfNGA7SLdcc
Nobody quite knows how Barry managed to recover and stick his foot in the right place. All we can do is preserve the memory in the hope that the scientists of the future will be able to find a logical answer.

The Scottish forward turned 27 today. Scoring the winner: not a bad present for the birthday boy!

It was only in the final third where Everton’s passing let them down. Nikita Jelavic has been looking out of form for a while, and although he did well to keep the ball in play for their only goal, that’s about all he did do. With Everton’s crossing poor, Jelavic was left a little stranded and useless.

Newly signed loanee Romelu Lukaku couldn’t play against his parent club, but expect him to come straight into a side that has the solid foundations in every position except up front. Lukaku leads the forward line with real power, pace and technique. Lukaku also is more comfortable dropping deeper to help out the midfield than Everton’s other striking options.

Not the flashiest statistic, but an illustration of Everton’s rigid, unspectacular defence. All 32 of the team’s attempted clearances were successful, ensuring Chelsea’s roaming attacking midfielders were never able to latch onto any loose balls around the penalty area.