EPL Results Week 5: Premier League Scores, Top Scorers and 2014 Table Tracker
The fifth week of the English Premier League schedule is structured like a great boxing card. Saturday is the warm-up day with solid battles and intriguing storylines, not least of which is what in the world is going on with Arsenal.
Then when the calendar flips to Sunday, even though there are four matches scheduled, all eyes will be locked on the epic showdown between last year's champion Manchester City and the best team so far this season, Chelsea.
Drama is always present in the EPL, as we have seen through the first four weeks. The good news for clubs that have struggled or underachieved so far is they have time to turn things around. It has to happen soon, or the weight of failing early will continue to grow.
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Here's our weekly updated look at the EPL standings, scores, top scorers from the weekend and analysis of all the action.
| 1 | Chelsea | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 13 |
| 2 | Southampton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 10 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 9 |
| 5 | Swansea City | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 9 |
| 6 | Manchester City | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Leicester City | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| 8 | West Ham United | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 10 | Hull City | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 | Liverpool | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 6 |
| 12 | Manchester United | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 5 |
| 14 | Everton | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 5 |
| 15 | Crystal Palace | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 5 |
| 16 | West Bromwich Albion | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 5 |
| 17 | Sunderland | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 4 |
| 18 | Queens Park Rangers | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 4 |
| 19 | Burnley | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 3 |
| 20 | Newcastle United | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 3 |
| September 20 | Queens Park Rangers | 2-2 | Stoke City |
| September 20 | Burnley | 0-0 | Sunderland |
| September 20 | Swansea | 0-1 | Southampton |
| September 20 | Newcastle | 2-2 | Hull |
| September 20 | Aston Villa | 0-3 | Arsenal |
| September 20 | West Ham | 3-1 | Liverpool |
| September 21 | Leicester City | 5-3 | Manchester United |
| September 21 | Tottenham | 0-1 | West Bromwich Albion |
| September 21 | Manchester City | 1-1 | Chelsea |
| September 21 | Everton | 2-3 | Crystal Palace |
| Papiss Demba Cisse | Newcastle | 2 |
| Leonardo Ulloa | Leicester City | 2 |
| David Nugent | Leicester City | 1 |
| Esteban Cambiasso | Leicester City | 1 |
| Jamie Vardy | Leicester City | 1 |
| Robin van Persie | Manchester United | 1 |
| Angel Di Maria | Manchester United | 1 |
| Ander Herrera | Manchester United | 1 |
| James Morrison | West Brom | 1 |
| Frank Lampard | Manchester City | 1 |
| Andre Schurrle | Chelsea | 1 |
| Mile Jedinak | Crystal Palace | 1 |
| Fraizer Campbell | Crystal Palace | 1 |
| Yannick Bolasie | Crystal Palace | 1 |
| Romelu Lukaku | Everton | 1 |
| Leighton Baines | Everton | 1 |
| Niko Kranjcar | QPR | 1 |
| Steven Caulker | QPR | 1 |
| Mame Biram Diouf | Stoke City | 1 |
| Peter Crouch | Stoke City | 1 |
| Mesut Ozil | Arsenal | 1 |
| Danny Welbeck | Arsenal | 1 |
| Aly Cissokho | Arsenal | 1 (OG) |
| Nikica Jelavic | Hull | 1 |
| Mohamed Diame | Hull | 1 |
| Victor Wanyama | Southampton | 1 |
| Winston Reid | West Ham | 1 |
| Diafra Sakho | West Ham | 1 |
| Morgan Amalfitano | West Ham | 1 |
| Raheem Sterling | Liverpool | 1 |
Saturday's first match was a thrilling battle between Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City. The Hoops got a late goal in the 88th minute from Niko Kranjcar on a free kick to earn a draw, get a point and avoid a fourth loss in five games to start the season.
In addition to being a game saver for QPR, Kranjcar's late goal also ended a long scoreless drought for him. According to WhoScored.com, QPR's midfielder hadn't scored in more than 15 hours of league play:
As impressive as Kranjcar's overall performance was in the match, he was not the best player on the pitch, according to WhoScored.com's match ratings. That distinction belonged to Stoke City's Peter Crouch with a score of 8.7, one-tenth of a point ahead of Kranjcar.
Crouch scored one of the Potters' goals and assisted Mame Biram Diouf on the first goal of the match. His post-match comments to BT Sport were filled with disappointment and regret over what he feels should have been a victory, via The Independent:
"It's a huge disappointment," Crouch said. "I think we should have been leading at half-time and to not win the game... I think we were the better team and deserved to win."
Stoke City certainly needed a victory today, having just one through four matches, but give QPR all the credit in the world for continuing to battle and getting a much-needed point of its own.
The performance of the day on Saturday, from a team perspective, belonged to Arsenal. Consistency has not been a strength of the club thus far, with three draws and a plus-one goal differential through its first four matches, but going against an unbeaten Aston Villa proved to be the perfect elixir.
It was a particularly sweet win for Arsene Wenger, who has gone on the defensive leading up to this week's match and was immediately rewarded, via Arsenal News:
Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck scored the first two goals of the match for Arsenal. It was smooth sailing for the club after that.
For Aston Villa, this match got out of hand in a hurry. As the photo from ESPN FC illustrates, Arsenal's first three goals came in the span of four minutes.
It doesn't help when Aly Cissokho is putting the ball in his own goal, giving Arsenal more breathing room, via Premier League:
What made Aston Villa's sloppy play on Saturday more confusing is how crisp and on point the club has been in its first four matches. The goals weren't coming in droves, just four entering the day, but everything else was falling into place, as these stats from Sky Sports News illustrate:
Not surprisingly, Danny Welbeck got in on the scoring barrage for Arsenal. The English star has a knack for being on point against Aston Villa, according to WhoScored.com:
About the best thing that can be said for Aston Villa coming off this loss is the club still has 10 points and is going to finish the weekend no more than five points behind EPL leader Chelsea. Given how strong the defense has been prior to the Arsenal match, as well as the mental mistakes, it's not time to panic yet.
Arsenal should be turning cartwheels right now. Wenger's bunch needed to show something big in a critical early season match after recording three draws in four matches. This is the kind of win that can ignite a team going forward, though now we need to see them find consistency to take the next step.
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