Alex Ferguson celebrates, but City provide fireworks

IT WAS another fascinating weekend of action in the Premier League as Sir Alex Ferguson marked 25 years in charge at Old Trafford and saw his side scrape past Sunderland. However, City are still five points clear at the top of the table after a rip-roaring game against QPR.

Elsewhere Newcastle kept up the pressure on the Manchester clubs and there were wins for London clubs Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Here's what the fans will be talking about this morning:

Fergie in the dark
Alex Ferguson celebrated a quarter of a century at Old Trafford on Sunday, but his powers may be slipping. The big question of the day was how did he allow the club to rename a stand in his honour without knowing? The Scot was genuinely shocked when the announcement was made before the game against Sunderland and his name, in giant letters, was revealed above the old North Stand. Amazingly, hardly anyone knew about chief executive David Gill's plan before the weekend, and no-one who did know let slip. The club as 660 full-time employees, but only eight were in on it. Confidentiality agreements were signed with people outside the club who were involved, for example the company that made the letters. Luckily for Gill Fergie seemed pleased with the gesture and described it as a "proud moment". It is not just the stand that has been named after him, there will also be a statue of the manager at Old Trafford.

City provide the fireworks
Manchester City are doing a good job of upstaging their local rivals, United, this season. Saturday was supposed to be all about Sir Alex Ferguson, but on the pitch he was let down by his players as United produced a lacklustre 1-0 win over Sunderland to dampen the party atmosphere. Down at Loftus Road, however, City's band of travelling fans were treated to a firecracker of a game on Bonfire night as they overcame a spirited QPR side 3-2. Last season City were often dour on the road, but this term they can't help entertaining. They have now banged in 23 goals on their travels, the same number that Arsenal have managed all season.

Alcaraz to Alcatraz
Wigan are rooted to the foot of the Premier League table after an eighth successive league defeat. Wolves won 3-1 despite an absolutely heroic display from Latics goalkeeper Ali al-Habsi, who made a string of sensational saves. Sadly for him it was all in vain, and his performance was overshadowed by an incident involving Paraguayan defender Antolin Alcaraz who was caught on camera spitting at the Wolves defender Richard Stearman. The Wigan skipper could now be charged by the Football Association with improper conduct and faces a possible three‑match ban.

Magpies keep on flying
The Magpies are flying high and continued their unbeaten start to the season with s 2-1 win over Everton at St James' Park on Saturday. Ryan Taylor secured all three points with a stunning 25-yard strike that went in off the bar. Newcastle are now sitting pretty in third place in the table, one point behind Manchester United and three in front of Chelsea. Some of the more optimistic Newcastle fans are dreaming of the Champions League and Alan Pardew is even being touted as the next England manager in some quarters. Newcastle have undoubtedly proved their doubters wrong and deserve to be where they are in the table, they have enjoyed a relatively easy run of games so far this season. Things are about to change, however. After the international break the Magpies face trips to Manchester United and City, while Chelsea come to St James' Park. If they are still unbeaten after those three matches then people will have to start taking them very seriously.

Liverpool stutter
Most people thought that Liverpool would put Swansea to the sword on Saturday, but in the end they failed to even score against the newly-promoted Swans. The Reds have now drawn three straight games at home and do not look like the same team that started the season so well. There were boos for Kenny Dalglish's expensively assembled outfit at the end, although The Kop applauded Swansea off. The Anfield faithful are running out of patience with Andy Carroll at Jordan Henderson, both of whom were hauled off by the manager. Those two players cost Dalglish £53m, the entire Swansea team, on the other hand, cost under £10m. ·