MAN OF THE DAY
José Mourinho: the José that keeps on giving. Took a lead role again, a day after he pledged to starve the press of “good and funny headlines”.
EMBLEM OF THE DAY
Nemanja Matic, still embodying Chelsea’s “weak and naive” start. A subbed sub against Southampton, he bounced back with two game-changing yellow cards.
TOP PERFORMERS
Jamie Vardy – the new Alan Shearer, say the stats; and Mesut Özil – who has the best games/assist rate since the Premier League began – one every 2.71 matches.
PERK OF THE DAY
Claudio Ranieri tried to coax a clean sheet out of his Leicester squad by offering to buy them pizza – and it worked. “Maybe Vardy gets a bigger piece. One and a half.”
CHAIRMAN OF THE DAY
Swindon’s Lee Power: put himself in charge and earned a point against Joe Cole’s Coventry. Stayed modest, too. “This is the day our season really started.”
SADDEST HOMECOMING
Darren Ferguson played down the hype before heading back to old club Peterborough with new club Doncaster. “It’s not about me. It’s just a case of going there, getting a result, wishing them all the best and moving on.” They lost 4-0.
REVIVAL OF THE DAY
2-0 down at home to Reading, it looked like mutual consent time for under-pressure manager Kit Symons. They ended up winning 4-2, via three goals in six minutes.
AND FRESH FACE OF THE DAY
Shola Ameobi, 34, joined Bolton’s stable of former greats last week, and scored against Leeds. It was his first goal for 17 months.
