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Di Matteo's moving tribute to Villas-Boas - or not

Roberto di Matteo is the top dog now - but who was the old guy? © PA Photos

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A winning start for Roberto di Matteo at Chelsea, vital wins for Bolton and Blackburn, another loss for Liverpool... A breathless day in the top division, and we're here to round up the best and worst of the action.

Andre who?
Roberto di Matteo was a loyal assistant to Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea until the Portuguese was sacked last weekend. You might have thought Di Matteo, who's in charge of Chelsea until the end of the season, would at least mention his fallen friend in his programme notes for the game against Stoke. Right? Well, wrong - he didn't come up once. So much for that three-year plan. Di Matteo did at least play a subtle tribute to Villas-Boas by making some odd selections: no Daniel Sturridge or Juan Mata in the starting XI.

Eye eye
Sunderland striker Nicklas Bendtner, playing with a protective mask on after picking up a nasty facial injury, took an airshot when attempting a volley in the first half against Liverpool. Fair enough, you might say, it happens - and he's not the most graceful of players at the best of times - but then he did exactly the same thing a few minutes later. Maybe he needs to get a couple of wing mirrors installed.

Pepe's anti-post
Bendtner certainly saw what was going on when he grabbed the winner in farcical circumstances at the Stadium of Light. Fraizer Campbell's shot hit the post, struck Pepe Reina on the back before meeting the post again - then Bendtner was on hand to tap in. Reina was unlucky at the same ground a few years ago, when he was beaten by a shot that took a deflection off a beach ball.

March madness
Martin O'Neill won just one of 17 Premier League games during March as Aston Villa manager - but, in just his second March contest as Sunderland chief, he helped himself to three points. Black Cats fans should expect to wait at least another 15 March fixtures for the next.

Kean on comedy
Steve Kean must have felt the warm buzz of familiarity when he took Blackburn to Wolves and saw the home fans protesting. Kean, who gets it in the neck from the Ewood Park support most weeks, couldn't have been blamed for giggling at the 'Welcome to the Comedy Club' sign, put up in protest against the Molineux club's hierarchy. You can't imagine that got wheeled out too often during the tenure of old Mick 'Mr Charisma' McCarthy. There would've been nothing familiar to Kean about winning, though.

The Hills have eyes; linesmen don't
QPR defender Clint Hill's powerful header went powering over the line against Bolton; Sky Sports changed their score display, Hill peeled away celebrating - but, amazingly, the linesman didn't see it, and the goal wasn't given. Here's Jeff Stelling: "It hit the back of the net, virtually," and Jimmy Armfield: "Unless my National Health glasses are letting me down, that was a goal." If ol' Jimmy's spotting it, you know the linesman has dropped a clanger.

Calm Cisse
But these things have a way of evening themselves out and, thanks to another mistake from a linesman, QPR were level. Djibril Cisse was offside when he latched onto Shaun Wright-Phillips' through ball - which is probably why, for once, he looked relaxed and produced the sort of composed finish that Liverpool fans rarely saw during his spell at Anfield. It was Bolton who won out in the end, though.

Battered cod
Spurs slipped to a third defeat on the spin in the Premier League, with Everton winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Nikica Jelavic. To be fair to Tottenham they did dominate, they did have the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for offside and they did hit a post in the last minute. But if you don't score, you can't win and that's the answer to Harry 'we battered 'em' Redknapp's question.

Redknapp said: "How did we lose it? We battered 'em second half, they never came out of their half. We just could not get a break in front of goal. We put more industry in, that's why we battered 'em and they did not get out of their half. Our athleticism, we penned them in. They could not get the ball off us."

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