Barry could become king of the yellow cards, Arsenal won't ease up and Gerrard receives a warm welcome from Newcastle fans
Ralph Ellis runs you through what we learned from the weekend's football... with some star turns and a look through the leagues, too. This week includes how Gareth Barry could overtake everyone on the list of the most yellow cards in the Premier League, Arsene Wenger can expect his Arsenal side to keep going strong and Steven Gerrard gets a round of applause from Newcastle fans.
Approach with caution: The Premier League's most-booked players
1. Gareth Barry had the rub of the green when ref Neil Swarbrick ruled he didn’t touch Kevin Mirallas’ shot in an offside position for Everton’s first goal against Hull.
The former England midfielder was also fortunate to get only a yellow for a lunge on Sone Aluko, after having already escaped a booking for a clumsy clash that left Danny Graham injured.
Barry, with 501 Premier League games behind him, has never had a reputation as one of the game’s hard men but he is now only three bookings away from catching Robbie Savage on the Premier League’s list of most yellow cards collected.
He’s had 86 – making him sixth overall behind Scott Parker (87), Savage (89), Paul Scholes (97), and joint leaders Kevin Davies and Lee Bowyer with 99. At 32 he’s got time to be the first to reach a century!
Over the top: Gareth Barry can count himself lucky that he only received a yellow for this foul on Sone Aluko
Did he touch it? Kevin Mirallas' goal could have been ruled out for offside on another day
2. Saturday’s Mesut Ozil inspired win over Norwich maintained Arsenal’s two point gap at the top above Chelsea, and a trip to struggling Crystal Palace is beckoning next week.
The cynics will say Arsene Wenger’s sides often have a sunny Autumn then fall away in winter – but in recent years the opposite is true.
In the last eight seasons only twice – in 2011 and 2008 - have Wenger’s teams finished the season in a lower position than they occupied after eight games.
Leaders: Mesut Ozil scored twice and inspired Arsenal to another victory at the top of the Premier League
Happy days: Arsene Wenger even showed his delight as his side easily saw off Norwich
3. We know football can bring out the worst of us at times – so credit to Newcastle’s supporters for a nice touch when Liverpool turned up.
They gave England captain Steven Gerrard a huge round of applause in recognition of his performance getting England to the World Cup finals when his name was read out among the team line-ups.
Well respected: Steven Gerrard was given a wide round of applause after his England heroics
4. Sir Alex Ferguson once issued a ruling forbidding Manchester United’s youth and Academy players from wearing any colour boots but black.
So what would he have made of the line-up in Aston Villa’s newly refurbished tunnel before their players went out to face Tottenham?
All but one of the 22 starters were wearing coloured boots of one sort or another – mainly bright yellow although Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris and skipper Michael Dawson were in white.
The only man sticking to traditional black was Spanish striker Roberto Soldado, who scored one of the two Tottenham goals.
Multi-coloured: It appears that black boots have gone out of the game completely
5. The body language of Sunderland’s players after Phil Bardsley’s own goal broke the deadlock at Swansea spoke volumes about the task facing Gus Poyet.
There were drooped heads everywhere – and so no surprise that Jonathan De Guzman doubled the home team’s advantage just a minute later.
The Black Cats’ new boss will be aware it is an alarming habit – his new team have conceded at least two goals within ten minutes of each other in all their last six Premier League games except at West Brom, where it was two in 14.
Dejection: Sunderland players look devastated after being thrashed by Swansea
6. Liverpool’s players were rightly castigated for wearing Luis Suarez tee-shirts while awaiting the outcome of racism allegations, as were Chelsea’s hierarchy for backing John Terry before the Anton Ferdinand case has been resolved.
So why did Blackpool think it was okay to give out hundreds of Paul Ince masks supporting their manager at the start of his five-match stadium ban?
Ince has not just been accused, but found guilty, of offences including shoving a fourth official. So much for the ‘Respect’ campaign.
Banned: Some Blackpool fans wore masks showing the face of Paul Ince
7. It’s not been the easiest fortnight for Steve McClaren as the build-up to England’s make-or-break match with Poland brought constant references to his 'Wally with the Brolly' night against Croatia.
Inspired: Steve McClaren sent on Connor Sammon for Derby and the striker scored the winner
The former England coach had the last laugh, though, with a perfect substitution that brought his second win in two games as Derby manager.
McClaren responded to his team coming under huge pressure at Watford by sending on an attacker with 15 minutes left rather than another defender – and got his reward when Connor Sammon scored the 88th minute winner.
8. Peterborough have won seven out of eight home matches this season but it seems there’s no pleasing some of their fans.
Boss Darren Ferguson found himself and his players being booed by sections of the London Road support while they waited for substitute Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to curl in their 64th minute winner.
'I don’t like the atmosphere – some fans are being disrespectful to this league. It’s impossible to win 6-0 every game,' said Fergie junior.
9. Leeds striker Matt Smith has an England ‘C’ cap from his non-League days but Gordon Strachan might have been taking note of his two-goal heroics against Birmingham.
The 24-year-old celebrated his first Championship start after moving on a free transfer from Oldham by starring in the 4-0 demolition of Lee Clarke’s side.
He’s qualified for Scotland through his father Ian, who played for Birmingham a couple of times in the 1970s.
Moving up in the world: New Leeds striker Matt Smith scored on his first Championship start
10. Striker Ian Henderson makes up his earnings at Rochdale with a sideline running a store in Manchester that specialises in sports nutrition.
He’s not a bad advert for his products – the 28-year-old was still going strong in the last ten minutes to score both the goals at Cheltenham which took his team into second place in League Two behind Chesterfield only on goal difference.
Keith Hill’s team have now put together a run of seven wins from eight matches.
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