For the most part, it has been seven days since Premier League champions Manchester City would sooner forget. Yet a week is a long time in politics and football and it has finished on a much happier note for those in sky blue.
It was on Monday morning when news broke that the league had levelled more than 100 charges against the club – since then multiple errors on the original charge sheet have been rectified.
The announcement was made public at around the same time the club was actually being informed and duly added to the shock and anger within City circles.
Now you can argue that approach lacked respect – or perhaps it was totally deserved.
That, of course, depends if the charges are proven (if they are, the punishment should be on a gargantuan scale) but, as it stands, innocent until proven otherwise and on Sunday afternoon City played like champions; like a team with an ‘us against the world’ mentality and a determination to hit back at the critics who, in the words of manager Pep Guardiola, have already sentenced them.
Against Aston Villa, the immediate reaction was sharp and swift.
After just four minutes, Rodri was left unmarked and headed home a Riyad Mahrez corner.
Six minutes before the break, Calum Chambers attempted to clear a Kevin de Bruyne ball but ended up giving it to Erling Haaland who rolled across for Ilkay Gundogan to make it two – sparking memories of his double salvo to win the title in magical fashion in May.
There was still time for a third before the break when Jack Grealish, against his boyhood club, was adjudged to have been fouled and Mahrez converted the resulting penalty.
At that point it would have been interesting to see what the SBOTOP Premier League betting odds offered on a Villa comeback.
Not a chance, although Ollie Watkins showed composure to pull one back just after the hour mark.
All in all, after the week that was, it was a good end to a good weekend for City as they closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to three points.
Ahead of their top of the table clash on Wednesday night in North London, the Gunners have one point from their past two games and were incredibly frustrated after Brentford pegged them back.
The Bees deserved their point on Saturday, secured through Ivan Toney’s header.
Yet the fact the goal was allowed to cancel out home substitute Leandro Trossard’s first goal for his new club was a VAR howler.
Toney’s goal, incidentally, was his 15th of the season – only Haaland and Harry Kane have scored more – and with the Bees having an excellent defence allied to his threat, there is a chance they could even qualify for Europe next season.
If they managed that, Thomas Frank would deserve the manager of the year accolade.
Back to the action and it wasn’t just in North London that VAR was under scrutiny.
That came in west London and east London too where another club chasing an unlikely European dream, Brighton, had to settle for a point at rivals Crystal Palace.
When Solly March opened the scoring from a searching cross from Pervis Estupinan, the Seagulls were in front.
However, a mistake from the usually reliable goalkeeper Robert Sanchez allowed James Tomkins to head home from close range and salvage a point for the hosts.
By then Brighton would feel they should have been two goals to the good after Estupinan was adjudged to have been offside when he converted a first half pass from Pascal Gross’.
It was later found out the offside line was wrongly drawn from Tomkins rather than his fellow Palace defender Marc Guehi, who was standing just behind him.
In west London, in a match which saw three goals disallowed, West Ham and Chelsea had a share of the spoils but the visitors were adamant they should have been awarded an 89th minute penalty after Tomas Soucek appeared to handle Conor Gallagher’s shot inside his own box.
VAR did not manage to have a negative impact on the other weekend contest to end 1-1 as basement battlers Bournemouth held big sending Newcastle on Eddie Howe’s return to the south coast.
Having spent more than 10 years as Bournemouth manager across two spells, Howe was back at the Vitality Stadium and saw his former charges take the lead through Marcos Senesi.
An equaliser in first half stoppage time through Miguel Almiron extended Newcastle’s unbeaten run to a club record-equalling 17 league games and the point was about right.
Premier League highlights seem few and far between elsewhere on the south coast and Southampton’s decision to sack Ralph Hasenhuttl and replace him with Nathan Jones has proven to be a major error.
Never more was that clear as the Saints lost 2-1 at home to Wolves, despite their opponents playing for more than an hour with 10 men. Jones has duly been dismissed.
The final word of the weekend goes to one of the best goalkeepers to have ever graced the Premier League.
At Elland Road on the day he made his 400th Premier League appearance – the first number one to reach such a milestone – David de Gea made some vital saves when Manchester United needed him.
That provided a platform for a fine 2-0 win against hosts who have performed admirably under caretaker boss Michael Skubala this week.
More showings like this and Leeds should survive.
De Gea, meanwhile, is a class act.
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