the corner.

As for Chelsea -- who face Arsenal 48 hours later in the Capital One Cup -- they've scored 14 goals in their last four games in all competitions, which spells that their wealth of attacking options are beginning to gel quite nicely. There is even talk of Fernando Torres being "back," but this is a path well trodden, so let's not revisit it until he's maintained the excellence he showed against Schalke over the course of a campaign.

Poyet pressure in Wear-Tyne derby

The size of the task that new Sunderland manager Gus Poyet faces was rammed down his throat as his side capitulated in the second half at Swansea to lose 4-0. For the Uruguayan, watching their collapse must have been as comfortable as digesting a pine cone.minutes was impressive.

Managerless Crystal Palace spiralling down

And so Ian Holloway's return to the top flight lasted just eight fixtures -- no more kookiness for us, dear friends of the footballing "characters" of this world. No, the writing was on the wall as to concede four goals against a Fulham side that had previously scored six in seven outings was unacceptable.

There were few grumblings about the departure of Holloway, who appeared to lack the belief he'd avoid relegation following a scattergun summer of recruitment -- of which the nadir was Florian Marange being brought in only not to make the 25-man Premier League squad.

At the time of writing, former Stoke boss Tony Pulis is the favourite to come in at Selhurst Park, paving the way for a lot of