Ronaldo makes a cameo as United are pegged back in the battle of Stamford Bridge. Neighbours City rip into Portsmouth at Eastlands with Wright-Phillips starring once again. Everton fight back for a point at Hull. Villa triumph in their Derby with the Baggies. Oh, and Spurs stay bottom as they struggle to a draw with Wigan.

Here’s the round-up and notes on Sunday’s games…

West Brom 1 Aston Villa 2

Mowbray had Zuiverloon fit again and he returned to right back for Hoefkens but the Baggies did lose Meite to a recurrence of his calf injury in the warm-up. That meant that Barnett kept his place alongside new signing Olsson in central defence. Miller was fit but had to make do with a place on the bench with Bednar keeping his start.

O’Neill was right to be optimistic about Carew, Davies and Young as all three were passed fit to start in an unchanged Villa lineup that won at Spurs.

West Brom’s fragility at the back to high balls and set plays manifested itself again with Villa’s opening goal, while Barnett was badly at fault for the second. Again the Baggies played some decent stuff and threatened at times but clearly lack a real cutting edge up front. There’s little within their ranks right now to interest fantasy managers, despite a run of decent fixtures to come.

Villa did enough to win this without really putting on a sparkling display. Carew was perhaps the stand-out performer on the day and he and Agbonlahor now have seven goals between them in the Premiership. Both will get further interest then, particularly with Sunderland at home next. Young earned a third assist of the season here and his monopoly of set plays, should continue to contribute more points throughout the season. Defensively they are still struggling for clean sheets – Laursen needs to keep the FPL bonus points coming with the odd goal to maintain his popularity.

Injuries and Bans
West Brom lost Meite in the warm-up when he was due to start alongside Olsson in defence. They also lost Brunt early on to injury on 20 minutes.

Chelsea 1 Man United 1

Scolari looked to keep an unchanged side but lost Deco in the warm-up to a thigh injury. That meant that Ballack came into the midfield for his first start of the season. Drogba started on the bench with Anelka keeping a starting role up front.

Ferguson decided on bringing Evans in alongside Ferdinand and sprung a surprise by recalling Neville at right back and dropping Brown to the bench. Ronaldo started on the bench as he did against Villarreal as Fletcher, Park and Hargreaves kept their starting roles from the midweek Champions League tie. Berbatov did earn a recall up front however, with Tevez dropping to the bench.

A predictably tight game then – no clean sheets, no heavy scoring but at least a return to action for Ronaldo and Drogba who are sure to go on become big fantasy signings from this point on. In contrast, Berbatov didn’t look too interested to me – he’s probably short of match fitness but will need to lift his game if Ferguson is going to keep Tevez on a leash on a regular basis. Somehow though, Berbatov went home with three FPL bonus points to his name – probably one of the most baffling bonus point decision in living memory.

Neville’s selection is an interesting one from a defensive viewpoint – presumably he is now above Brown in the pecking order, although with the Champions League now in full swing, I’d anticipate frequent rotation over the coming weeks. Van der sar continues to look very suspect so perhaps we need to exercise some caution with them defensively until his confidence is back or Ferguson decides on an alternative.

Drogba will surely start for Anelka a Stoke next weekend, while Alex could get some starts now that Carvalho has a knee injury. We await news on that in the week.

Injuries and Bans
Chelsea were another club to lose a player in the warm-up – Deco suffering an injury that saw him drop out and Ballack come into the starting eleven. Scolari then lost Carvalho early in the second half to a knee problem with talk of potential ligament damage. Alex replaced him.

United lost Van der sar to an “impact injury” after 32 minutes with Kuszczak coming on to replace him. To be honest, Van der sar looked decidedly shaky once again but the injury shouldn’t keep him out of the Bolton game next weekend according to Ferguson.

Hull 2 Everton 2

Phil Brown gave a full debut to Zayatte in defence with Gardner out with an injury. Cousin came in for the injured Fagan and Geovanni and Boateng had to make do with starts on the bench.

Moyes dropped Lescott to the bench and started with Baines at left back in an otherwise unchanged lineup. Saha made a first appearance on the bench and was brought on along with Lescott, at half-time as Everton chased the game.

Hull, like fellow promoted side Stoke, continue to hold their own – and in Turner at the back and King up front they have a couple of possible budget purchases to consider. Certainly they are not proving to be the automatic clean sheet for opponents we may have envisaged. Having said that, they face the daunting task of a trip to the Emirates next and Brown’s side will do well to cope with Arsenal’s attack whilst threatening goals at the other end.

Everton continue to concede goals which does at least push their attacking players to perform. Arteta, Cahill and Yakubu have all stepped up their game in fantasy terms and Osman also showed his potential with a goal in this game. However, it’s worth noting that over the next four games Everton face Liverpool, Arsenal and United – their toughest four game sequence of the season. The next two are at home against Liverpool and Newcastle – Arteta, Cahill and Yakubu will need to maintain their form to avoid being sold on by a good few fantasy managers with Arsenal and United to follow immediately after those fixtures.

Tottenham 0 Wigan 0

Lots of chances from Ramos with Assou-Ekotto returning to left back and Zokora shifting to right back allowing Corluka to join Woodgate in central defence. Bale pushed into midfield in place of Lennon who dropped to the bench. Bentley started on the right wing, while O’Hara came into central midfield. Bent kept his place with Pavlyuchenko up front. Modric remained sidelined.

Steve Bruce brought Scharner into the centre of his midfield to replace the suspended Cattermole, so Bramble kept a starting role in defence. Koumas also made a return to the starting lineup with Kilbane dropping to the bench. Ryan Taylor made a return to the Wigan squad and was also on the bench.

A clean sheet but Spurs lacked the creative flair and threat up front to trouble an organised Wigan side and Ramos clearly has plenty of work to do. The lack of confidence in the Tottenham ranks has even resulted in the likes of Bentley going into his shell, and it really wasn’t until he was replaced by Lennon and Pavlyuchenko by Campbell, that Spurs looked like troubling Wigan. Fixtures remain kind for Spurs in the coming weeks but with so many in-form options elsewhere, there will be few fantasy managers considering the likes of Bentley and Bent right now.

Wigan will take a point and continue a steady start to the season – they had chances to win this but will take the draw with three home games in four to come.

Injuries and Bans
Pavlyuchenko took a knock in the first half and was replaced by Frazier Campbell at half time.

Man City 6 Portsmouth 0

Hughes kept Garrido at left back which will disappoint the many fantasy investors in Michael Ball. Elano started in midfield with Hamann dropped to the bench after starting against Chelsea.

Redknapp went back to the 3-5-2 with wingbacks so brought Kaboul back into the side with Utaka dropping to the bench. Traore took up the left wingback role with Belhadj employed in midfield with Diarra and Davis. Redknapp changed things for the second half as he chased a 2-0 deficit, switching to 4-4-2 with Utaka replacing Kaboul.

City are clearly a mighty attacking force – Hughes has an embarrassment of riches up the field and he has quickly moulded them into a hugely effective outfit. It was like the Harlem Globetrotters at times in this one. Wright-Phillips, in particular, is beginning to show the kind of fantasy potential we all knew he was capable of. He was simply bombing forward into a central attacking role while Robinho drifted out wide and Ireland and Elano pulled the strings in midfield. Jo also looked more than a handful up front. All of those players look worthy of attention but Wright-Phillips looks an almost essential mid-price purchase, while Ireland looks a steal at his price across the games. What’s more, City’s fixtures look kind going forward over the coming weeks.

Portsmouth were swept away in this one and Redknapp’s tinkering with the formation is clearly troubling his side, particularly in defence where they were all at sea. Harry went from a 3-5-2 back to 4-4-2 and badly needs to settle on a system if their defence is to find the solidity it had for the bulk of last season. Luckily, their fixtures take a turn for the better in the coming weeks and with three of the next four at home we should see an upturn in their fortunes at both ends of the field.

Injuries and Bans
Portsmouth lost Davis to a groin injury after 33 minutes.