Premier League chalkboard analysis

Roy Hodgson's tactics have not been popular with Liverpool fans so far, but there is little doubt that his focus on defensive shape is useful when they are ahead in games. The win over Chelsea was set up with two marvellous Fernando Torres goals in the first half, and protected with resilient defending in the second. Just as they did against Arsenal on the opening day of the season (with a man sent off), Liverpool defended their lead against a superior side well, getting two banks of four behind the ball and using Dirk Kuyt in a central position, closing down Mikel John Obi. It was notable how central the side played as a whole – Raul Meireles and Maxi Rodríguez tucked in to pack the centre of the pitch, and therefore almost all Liverpool's interceptions came in central zones.

The chalkboard of Manchester City's passing in their 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion shows how patient they were in possession, and how rarely they looked to play a killer pass. The only two successful passes they played into the box in the entire game were both assists, with David Silva and Carlos Tevez teeing up Mario Balotelli for his first Premier League goals. City recorded only one other shot on target, through Silva, but their dominance of the ball meant that their opponents did not test Joe Hart once.

The Manchester United captain, Nemanja Vidic, led by example in their late win over Wolves, pushing the side up the pitch in search of the goal that finally arrived in the 93rd minute. The top chalkboard shows that Vidic barely crossed the halfway line until Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's equaliser on 66 minutes, but when United were chasing a goal he moved forward, and played 10 passes from within the Wolves half.

Newcastle United's Cheick Tioté has proved to be one of the signings of the season, turning in another excellent display in their 1-0 win at Arsenal. In addition to completing 44 of his 45 passes, he also won six of the seven challenges he contested.

Michael Cox is the editor of zonalmarking.net