1) Balotelli's last act
Among the seven Manchester City substitutes for Fulham's visit was Mario Balotelli. As his side overcame their poor opponents 2-0, he was spied having a trot down the touchline to keep warm and sharing a joke with Aleksandar Kolarov on the bench. But he never got on. Balotelli's turbulent world means the future constantly shifts but with this week potentially ending his City career with a move to Milan, the last act of a man who created the Sergio Agüero winner that claimed the club's first championship for 44 years may have been to walk away anonymously down the tunnel at the Etihad Stadium without any kind of goodbye. Jamie Jackson
2) Zonal marking v man-marking
Sometimes it is not about systems. After all, no system can work if the people who are supposed to apply it do not. West Ham have conceded fewer goals (4) from set pieces than anyone else in the Premier League this season and they use man-marking. Chelsea use zonal marking and have been the second most resilient from set pieces, letting in five. Wigan and Aston Villa have conceded the most (15) and they both try to man mark. "It's not rocket science," explained Paul Lambert after a WBA corner led to Peter Odemwingie equalising against Villa on Saturday. "You've got to go and put your head in." Paul Doyle
3) Chamakh showed promise
Few strikers provoke as much derision as Marouane Chamakh but, terrible as his form for Arsenal has been, he is not irredeemable. He was understandably rusty during his first start for West Ham after joining Sam Allardyce's side on loan but was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the first half and brought good saves out of Julio Cesar with two headers. Admittedly he probably should have scored both of them but the fact that the West Ham fans booed Allardyce's decision to take Chamakh off after an hour showed there is hope for him yet. Jacob Steinberg
4) Big month for Martínez
Wigan Athletic's demise has been predicted every year they have been in the Premier League but, with Queens Park Rangers, Reading and Southampton all beginning to pick up points on a regular basis, Roberto Martínez may have his work cut out to keep them up this time. At times the Latics passed the ball as sweetly as ever against Sunderland on Saturday but without Iván Ramis, out for the season, they looked worryingly vulnerable in central defence and they lacked focus up front. Martínez intends to bring in a replacement for Ramis during the transfer window and must hope the teenage Chilean striker Angelo Henríquez, brought in on loan from Manchester United, has a sustained impact. Richard Rae
5) Graduation day
A couple of years ago Adam Le Fondre was playing League Two football for Rotherham. On Saturday he stepped off the bench and, courtesy of a couple of fabulously instinctive finishes, scored two goals that gave Reading a 2-1 win at Newcastle – not to mention real hope that relegation can be escaped after all. Le Fondre may lack the consistency required at the highest level but he offers proof that lower division players do have the ability sometimes to cut it in the Premier League. There is too much snobbishness on the part of certain leading managers about shopping in the lower divisions. Among a lot of limited players there are a few who just need someone to take a chance on them. Just as fancy designer labels do not always guarantee the best quality clothes, a stint in League Two should not be a black mark on a footballer's CV. As Brian McDermott, Reading's manager, said: "Adam cost us £300,000; you couldn't buy his right sock for that now." Louise Taylor
6) Swans get tough
Swansea proved against a physical Stoke team that they are more than just a silky smooth passing side. Michael Laudrup's team were up for a scrap as they showed they have a physical toughness to go with their more renowned skills. Swansea seem to be developing nicely – Laudrup has certainly taken the team on and given them something extra compared with Brendan Rodgers' team from last season – and this was a comfortable warm-up for their Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at home to Chelsea on Wednesday. They also demonstrated in the 3-1 win over Stoke that they do not rely entirely on their top scorer, Michu, for goals. The first came from the promising full-back Ben Davies before Jonathan de Guzmán scored twice, including a stunning, curling free-kick. De Guzmán now has six goals in all competitions this season and is Swansea's third leading scorer behind Michu (16) and Danny Graham (seven). Rob Calladine
7) Sturridge brings empathy to Anfield
Steven Gerrard believes finishing in the top four this season is not beyond Liverpool and one moment in their thrashing of Norwich showed this is no fanciful idea. With the arrival of Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool suddenly look a team with an abundance of variations moving forward, never more so than when Sturridge's instinctive dummy turned a pass from Lucas Leiva into a killer through-ball for Luis Suárez to score the home side's second. That sort of understanding can take years to develop and yet the Anfield front two are on the same wavelength within a month. Liverpool are seven points adrift of Tottenham in fourth, having played a game more, and travel to Arsenal and Manchester City next for games which will go a long way to showing if Gerrard's goal is attainable. Robert Woodward
8) Arsenal: is it psychological?
Arsenal lost again to one of their rivals for a top-four place and Arsène Wenger was muttering about psychological weaknesses after the match. So what's new, you may say. Chelsea were 2-0 up inside 16 minutes (Manchester City were 2-0 up at the Emirates after 32 minutes a week earlier) and, though Arsenal performed better in the second half and pulled a goal back through Theo Walcott, this was another damaging reverse. They do not seem to possess the mental toughness to cope with the big matches these days. In six Premier League matches against the top four – Manchester United, City, Chelsea and Tottenham – Arsenal have earned a meagre four points. That is not good enough for a team with designs on the top four themselves. "This was very similar to last week," Wenger lamented. "The team has fantastic quality and spirit but we only come into the game when we're 2-0 down … that's worrying. There's a psychological part of it, for sure, because we didn't really go for it at the start again." Rob Calladine
9) Villas-Boas makes friends
Tottenham fans seem increasingly happy with André Villas-Boas, as they should be after their vibrant and intelligent performance against Manchester United. The late-gained draw was the least they deserved and it is starting to look as if Chelsea, through player power last season, may have missed their chance with the man who could have been taking them forward now as, instead, they mark time with the interim Rafael Benítez. At all events it will be interesting to see which manager gets the warmer reception when Spurs visit Stamford Bridge on 13 April. Jeremy Alexander
10) There are bad losers and then there is Ferguson
The talking points from Manchester United's matches could always be the same after they have not won. However it has come about, Sir Alex Ferguson has it in for one official or another, deflecting failure from his team and himself. It was the same again at White Hart Lane on Sunday – a fine sporting occasion marred by one unsporting man. As managers of less successful clubs rightly know, for all the claims that these things – arguable judgments and misfortunes – level out over a season, the bigger clubs on balance get the better rub of the official green. Ferguson's attempts to influence referees before matches have belatedly been constrained this season. His remarks afterwards continue to shame a club whose play before and during his reign have given more pleasure than most. Pity. Jeremy Alexander
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