5 Things We Learned from Premier League Weekend

Another week of Premier League football has passed, and we have two full weeks to savor it thanks to yet another international break. 

Manchester United got back on track, albeit unconvincingly, with Wayne Rooney back in the starting lineup, Chelsea did just fine without seemingly back on form Fernando Torres and Arsenal remain in a free fall. 

Let's take a look at five things we learned from Week 7 of Premier League action. 

Frank Lampard Isn't Done Yet, but He Was Playing Bolton

For some reason, some football fans were thinking that Frank Lampard's glory days may be coming to an end after an injury-hit season last year and being relegated to the bench in the England squad last month.

Well, Lamps surely isn't done. He's still got the moves, and they were on display against Bolton Sunday as he scored a hat trick inside an hour.

But don't go too crazy about this one. It came against Bolton, a team that has lost six straight games after winning their first 4-0 at newly promoted Queens Park Rangers. 

Nothing Worse Than a Dull Derby

Week 7 of the Premier League saw both the first Merseyside and North London Derbies of the season. And they were both disappointing.

The Merseyside Derby at Everton on Saturday had a controversial red card and a missed penalty in the first half, and it was still a rather dull game of football as Liverpool claimed a 2-0 victory.

Martin Atkinson's decision to send off Jack Rodwell in the 28th minute was very questionable and may have ruined the game, but overall, neither side looked all that impressive.

Everton's defense cost them the game because even against 10 men, Liverpool didn't create much.

Tim Howard saved Dirk Kuyt's first-half penalty, his first miss from the spot at Liverpool, but that was about it.  

The North London Derby at Tottenham on Sunday didn't have much excitement, and Arsenal, naturally, cost themselves at least a draw. 

But even with all the mistakes from Arsenal, Tottenham could still only muster a 2-1 victory over their rivals.

Kyle Walker had a great strike that ended up being the winner for Spurs, though it did go straight through Wojciech Szczesny's hands. 

Defensive mistakes and missed chances were the name of the game for the Gunners, and Arsene Wenger's seat at Arsenal got even hotter. 

Norwich City Must Take Their Chances

Norwich City are new to the Premier League, so they may not know this, but you have to take your chances if you want to win. 

Now no one expected them to get anything at Chelsea earlier in the season and especially not at Manchester United this weekend, but they've given themselves those chances. 

They've just squandered them.

At Old Trafford Saturday, the Canaries defended well in the first half and had the chance to take the lead when Anthony Pilkington was clean through, but he dragged his shot wide.

Minutes later, United took the lead. 

Pilkington could've leveled the score soon after, but his shot bounced off the inside of the post. Norwich are in ninth seven games in, but they could be higher and have a lot more to smile about than just some good performances against Chelsea and Manchester United.  

Could All Promoted Sides Stay Up?

It's still very early in the season, but after seven weeks, the three newly promoted sides, Norwich City, Swansea City and Queens Park Rangers, are not playing anything like sides that just came up from the Championship. QPR's 6-0 whipping from Fulham this weekend aside.

Instead, it's Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton who sit in the relegation zone and don't look like coming out anytime soon. 

Could all three of the new teams stay up this season instead of the standard one-up, one-down routine most follow? 

It'll be down to how they play their fellow survival fighters, and given how all of them have played overall this season, you wouldn't bet against the new boys. 

Oh Arsenal

Arsenal are in a free fall right now. They aren't taking their chances. They aren't communicating. They aren't defending. And they've lost four of their seven matches, winning two. 

Robin van Persie can't do a thing up front all by himself, and it really doesn't help when Yossi Benayoun takes the ball away from him. Jack Wilshere won't be back for a long time, Bacary Sagna is out for three months and Thomas Vermaelen is battling injuries again this year.

How can the Gunners turn this around? Is Arsene Wenger still the man to lead the team?

It's only October and Wenger will likely be in charge until the end of the season at least, so Arsenal need to figure out how to turn this around with what they've got.

Talking to each other may help.

Against Tottenham, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott misplayed pass after pass simply because their teammate wasn't where he thought he'd be. In defense, Alex Song and Per Mertesacker hardly looked at one another, making it hard to believe Spurs only won 2-1. 

Arsenal has a talented squad, and they should be playing much better than they are.