Welcome to EPLIndex’s weekly article for players of the week. Each week we will be looking at every match in the Premier League and picking a Man of the Match from each of the games. You can use the quick links below to navigate through the matches of your choice. We’re going to start with Arsenal’s win over QPR.

Arsenal 1 QPR 0

This was a high tempo London derby as QPR came to Emirates looking for their first win of the season and there was no better opportunity for Arsenal to repent their loss at Carrow Road than a visit from the leagues bottom side.

There were a couple of contenders for the MOM award in this game, with Julio Cesar proving his class with a total of nine saves, and the central defensive partnership of Ryan Nelsen and Stephane M’Bia relentlessly shutting Arsenal out, until the latter’s moment of madness earnt him an early bath, and consequently, his side another loss.

It was the return of Jack Wilshere that had the home crowd buzzing, and his performance will have Gooners salivating at the prospect of his returning to the form that saw him outshine the pass-masters of the Nou Camp 18 months ago.

Wilshere was Arsenal’s most successful passer over his 67 minutes, achieving a pass completion rate of 94%, and an impressive 95% pass success in the final third of the pitch.

He also managed to force a good save from Julio Cesar, and bought a balance to the Arsenal midfield alongside Mikel Arteta, who has somewhat had his work cut out so far this season without the presence of a player of Wilshere’s ability.

Man Of The Match: Jack Wilshere

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Aston Villa 1 Norwich City 1

All in all this was a poor game which lived up to its pre-match expectation as a low key game. It was a 90 minutes riddled by nerves and a lack of composure, as both teams failed to stamp their authority and take the game to the other.

I’m going to give the man of the match award to Wes Hoolahan, who played in the hole behind Grant Holt and helped to link midfield and attack, something that has proved troublesome for Norwich so far this term.

Hoolahan attempted a total of 61 passes, of which 53 were accurate, equating to a pass completion of 87% for the game.

His 82 touches on the ball were only topped by Alexander Tettey, who himself turned in an good performance at the heart of the midfield.

Unsurprisingly 81% of his passes were in the attacking half of the pitch and was by far The Canaries most creative player, making five chances including the assist for Micheal Turner’s headed equaliser.

He was also the games outstanding dribbler, attempting a total of seven over the 90 minutes, five more than anyone else on the pitch.

Hoolahan is arguably the outstanding player at Chris Hughton’s disposal in terms of technical ability, and he should be given a run of games to make that position his own whilst forming a chemistry with Grant Holt.

Man Of The Match: Wes Hoolahan

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Reading 3 Fulham 3

Nobody would have had a six goal thriller down for this fixture, but that’s exactly what is was as the game flared into life in the final third of the game.

The change in the game coincided with the introduction from the bench of Fulham’s Bryan Ruiz, who made an immediate impact with an equalizer two minutes after his introduction.

Despite only being on the pitch for 32 minutes the Costa Rican star had a 100% shot conversion as his only shot hit the back of the net and he also created a total of three chances, including one goal assist.

Martin Jol spoke of the luxurious problem at his hands in having to select two of four from Dimitar Berbatov, Hugo Rodellega, Mladen Petric and Bryan Ruiz, and the latter will have put himself firmly at the forefront of his bosses thoughts with an inspired performance at the Madejski.

Man Of The Match: Bryan Ruiz

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Wigan 2 West Ham 1

This was a game that would usually be touted as a relegation battle, but nine games into the season and both sides have exceeded expectations and managed to rack up an impressive points tally, and with it some good results.

James McCarthy was the pick of the bunch, impressing in the midfield area by engineering most of the good things that Wigan created in the final third.

The stats back that up as he laid on a total of four chances for his team-mates and achieved an 89% pass success over the 90 minutes, with an 85% pass accuracy in the final third.

McCarthy also created four open-play chances in the game which was the highest in the Wigan side and in fact more than any player in the game from either side.

Man Of The Match: James McCarthy

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Southampton 1 Tottenham 2

Spurs piled the pressure on Southampton boss Nigel Adkins as they left St Marys with a tenacious performance earning them a hard fought win.

The return of Gareth Bale to his former stomping ground was the talking point of the game and he duly put the visitors ahead with a superb header which curled into the far corner of Artur Boruc’s net after 15 minutes.

Spurs set up to play on the counter, using their pace and width to exploit the Saints, which worked to great effect, especially in the first half. My MOM however, goes to Sandro, who worked tirelessly in the anchor role, contributing six clearances and a brave face-block from Schneiderlin’s ferocious strike right at the end to seal the points.

He racked up a passing accuracy of 90% and his accuracy in the attacking half was only beaten by his teammate Aaron Lennon. The Brazilian was also the most successful player on the pitch when it came to winning the ball back in the defensive 3rd.

Sandro has been Spurs’ midfield enforcer this term, contributing 32 tackles with a success rate of 71.88% and winning 60% of his ground duels in the process.

He will play a key role if Spurs are to reach the dizzy heights of the ‘top 4’ and is the man his teammates will rely on when they are having an off day.

Man Of The Match: Sandro

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Man City 1 Swansea 0

City’s were given a bit of breathing space on their Champions League hangover but this was by no means a champions performance, as Swansea took the game to the home side and dominated large spells.

Mancini’s men looked tiresome in the first half despite reverting back to their preferred 4-4-2 formation and Swansea came out the blocks fastest.

The home side came out after the break looking sharper and credit has to be given to Carlos Tevez for taking the onus and changing the game with a thumping strike from long range.

The Argentine always looked like the man who would break Swansea’s resolve and attempted the most shots of any player on the pitch, with a total of 4.

He has only managed four goals from 29 shots so far this term but has an impressive 100% clear-cut chance conversion to his name.

Man Of The Match: Carlos Tevez

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Stoke 0 Sunderland 0

Both sides cancelled each other out at the Britannia and failed to show any spark of creativity in a game where both sides looked satisfied with a draw.

Because of the nature of the game, my MOM award has to go to a defensive player, and it was Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet who caught the eye with another sterling performance between the sticks. Mignolet made four saves in the game whilst taking five high crosses and three punches as he kept Stoke at bay at The Britannia Stadium.

He has established himself as Martin O’Neill’s preferred No.1, and managed four saves and three clearances in a game where his team depended on him to put in a good performance.

Man Of The Match: Simon Mignolet

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Newcastle 2 West Brom 1

Lady Luck struck on the Tyne after Sammy Ameobi’s speculative stoppage time strike deflected off the back of Papiss Cisse into the net to settle a game that either side could have won.

Romelu Lukaku was a threat throughout and eventually got the goal he deserved and Tim Krul put in a fine performance to keep the giant Belgian out on a couple of occasions.

But my MOM for this game is Toon centre half, Mike Williamson, who defended staunchly alongside the recently coveted Fabio Colloccini.

Williamson stats tell the tale as he won five of his seven aerial duels as well as making a total of nine clearances. He didn’t lose possession once in the game and wasn’t dribbled past either whilst making two interceptions. An excellent performance from the centre-half.

He also won his only tackle and made one penalty area entrance in a performance that his skipper would have been proud of.

Man Of The Match: Mike Williamson

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Everton 2 Liverpool 2

The 219th Merseyside derby proved to be a classic as both sides set out to attack and take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Everton’s Kevin Mirallas impressed down the left flank causing Andre Wisdom all sorts of problems, and Leon Osman was industrious in the middle of the park with an all action display.

But again the spotlight was destined for Luis Suarez, and he took centre stage with a performance that optimised everything that a Merseyside derby is about.

The Liverpool man struck the ball which deflected off Leighton Baines to beat Tim Howard, added a second with a glancing header and scored a dramatic winner in stoppage time only for it to be wrongly disallowed by the onlooking linesman.

He also attempted a total of six dribbles and five shots, but will again be frustrated to see the stats which show only one of those shots hit the target and only 33% of his dribbles were successful.

Man Of The Match: Luis Suarez

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 3

Another case of Red vs Blue and another game that lived up to the expectation of drama and controversy. Chelsea and Man Utd put on a brilliant spectacle and in the end it was a shame that referee Mark Clattenburg stole the headlines.

Of all the talent on the pitch it was United’s humble wide-man Antonio Valencia who made the difference, and was at the heart of most of the visitors best attacks.

Valencia played a brilliant ball for van Persie’s second goal and made easy work of Ashley Cole, who was not allowed to venture forward and support Juan Mata and Oscar.

The Ecuadorian whipped in five crosses, attempted five dribbles and laid on three chances, included an assist.

His tireless work ethic and ability to work the right flank makes Ferguson’s job of leaving Nani out an easy one, and Valencia is developing into the type of player Sir Alex can depend on in the big games.

Man Of The Match: Antonio Valencia

Man Of The Match: Quick Links

| Arsenal Vs QPR | Aston Villa Vs Norwich | Reading Vs Fulham | Wigan Vs West Ham |

| Southampton Vs Tottenham | Man City Vs Swansea | Stoke Vs Sunderland |

| Newcastle Vs West Brom | Everton Vs Liverpool | Chelsea Vs Manchester United |