United leave themselves open to attack

Was it always coming? The scoreline was highly unusual – United conceded six goals at home in the league for the first time since 1930 – but the number of shots they allowed on their own goal was nothing out of the ordinary, 22. That was the same number attempted by Chelsea on their visit to Old Trafford last month, while Tottenham Hotspur managed 21 and Arsenal 20.

On those occasions, they were bailed out by David de Gea, who had made more saves than any other Premier League goalkeeper coming into the weekend. On Sunday, however, he only made one save. Worryingly for United, they were unlocked from all angles – pull-backs or crosses from both the left and the right, as well as from direct breaks through the middle.

They had managed to hide it well until now, but the truth is that United are missing their first choice centre-back pairing – Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have played just 52 minutes together this season. No other side in the league has allowed the opposition as many shots.

Arsenal are not a one-man team

Robin van Persie was yet again Arsenal's hero after coming off the bench to grab two crucial goals, but Gervinho deserves a share of the credit too. In addition to opening the scoring, he laid on two assists for Van Persie by crossing the ball to the centre after good movement in wider positions. The Ivorian seems to be building a good relationship with Arsenal's captain – he also assisted Van Persie's early goal in the previous game against Sunderland.

"I think he [Gervinho] had a really good game overall," Van Persie said after the game. "He had a good few actions in the first half, he went past players really well. He has this extra quickness in his movement … which gives him a bit of extra space, and so he has a bit of extra time after his action. He had one goal and two really good assists, so for me he is the man of the match today, and I think he is a great signing for us."

His final ball has certainly improved since his debut. In that game, away at Newcastle, he was neat and tidy on the wings but wasteful in the box – on Sunday, his passes were still reliable, and he also managed to find a final ball.

11 v 9 should not be that hard

Queens Park Rangers recorded a famous victory over Chelsea, but rarely in Premier League history have a team found themselves dominated so much despite having two extra players. QPR failed to record a shot on target after Didier Drogba's red card in the 43rd minute, while they were out-passed in the second half, 197-173.

Their inability to keep the ball despite the numerical advantage was highly surprising, with most of the side guilty of trying to overplay. The one man who tried to keep the ball was Alejandro Faurlín, who completed 41 from 47 passes in the 90 minutes – the highest number of completed passes on the QPR side, as well as the highest pass completion ratio.

Liverpool pay for Suárez's profligacy

John Ruddy frustrated Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, and Luis Suárez in particular. The Uruguayan had 11 attempts at goal – the most by any Premier League player without scoring since Cristiano Ronaldo in December 2006.

Suárez was also guilty of losing the ball too often in and around the penalty box. Seven times he attempted to dribble past an opponent and was dispossessed – and he was also flagged offside four times. For once, he didn't win any free-kicks.

Michael Cox is editor of zonalmarking.net.