Torres & Keane in the goals, the great Ryan Giggs and Chelsea finally lose

The race at the top of the Premier League tightened up this weekend as Chelsea's defeat at Wigan allowed Liverpool and Manchester United to close the gap on the early leaders. here are a few of the high points of the weekend...

Here come the goals...
It was a classic weekend in the Premier League for action, as 33 goals were scored in nine matches and three games enjoyed five or more goals. There won't be too many worries about defensive uncertainty at Anfield after Liverpool's devastating 6-1 victory over Hull - thanks to a Fernando Torres hat-trick and a goal-of-the-season contender from Steven Gerrard - shot them into third place and gave them the best goal difference in the division (plus 12). Robbie Keane went one better than Torres for Spurs and notched up four against Burnley as Tottenham scored five for the second consecutive game in the space of four days. Finally, Sunderland cruised to a 5-2 victory of Premier league new boys Wolves, with Kenwynne Jones (2) and Darren Bent among the goals for Steve Bruce's Black Cats.

Chelsea finally lose
Carlo Ancelotti declared that he "didn't know" why Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the season against Roberto Martinez's Wigan on Saturday. The 3-1 reverse brought to an end a nine-game winning streak in all competitions, and the Italian was generous in defeat, saying that "Wigan were very good, very well-organised" and deserved to win. Petr Cech misses next week's visit by Liverpool to Stamford Bridge after receiving a straight red card for bringing down Hugo Rodallega in the box, and unlike certain London managers Ancelotti had no problems with the dismissal. Another headache for Chelsea as they travel to Cyprus for a Champions League fixture against Apoel Nicosia is the knee injury to Ashley Cole, which threatens to rule him out.

Ryan Giggs' Indian summer
Manchester United struggled for the first hour of the game against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday, as the home side's typically forthright defending gave the champions nary of sniff of a goal. A frustrated Alex Ferguson brought off the Portuguese winger Nani after 55 minutes, who had been trying the patience of his teammates with his inability to read the game and play the correct ball, and called for another hurrah from his Welsh wizard Ryan Giggs. Twenty two minutes late, United were cruising with a two-goal advantage, the 35-year-old having set up both goals with an inch-perfect pass to Berbatov in the 62nd minute, and a free kick that John O'Shea touched home with 13 minutes left on the clock. That's seven assists in 125 minutes of two Premier League games now for Giggs.

Vito the magnificent
Arsenal escaped from Craven Cottage in the late game with all three points after the goal-keeping performance of the weekend. As other sticksmen spent the weekend games retrieving the ball from the net, the Italian 21-year-old, third choice at Gunners but elevated to the starting line-up due to injuries suffered by Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski, made six stops of the highest calibre to deny Roy Hodgson's side a second consecutive home victory over Arsenal. "For me my favourite save was the double save in the first half when I went to my right. It gave me a lot of confidence," he said of his 15th-minute stunner that saw off efforts from Andrew Johnson and Clint Dempsey. ·