Young and Fabregas inspire victories, Sunderland slump and West Brom wilt

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HEROES

Who are you and what on earth have you done with Ashley Young?! What a turnaround from everyone's least favourite Manchester United player, who has transformed from a feckless, diving void of unrealised potential into a potent threat and Louis van Gaal's favourite player. Young, if that is his real name, was the Dutchman's man of the match in Sunday's win vs. Manchester City and who would argue against him? But seriously, it is time for this imposter to reveal his true identity now.

Just when it was all looking a little tense, Cesc Fabregas popped up to end Queens Park Rangers' resistance and, surely now, put the title beyond reach of a host of inadequate challengers. Chelsea had been, as they have been so often of late, flat and lethargic, but when a cool head and a crisp strike was required, Fabregas was there to deliver. You have to question the wisdom of tearing off that face mask though. Surely the critical time for protection is when screaming men are going to jump on you?

The celebrations started moments before the final whistle and Tottenham's supporters should count themselves fortunate that Tim Sherwood kept his emotions in check for so long. Hired and fired in the space of six months by this club last season, Aston Villa's manager returned like an avenging samurai, albeit a samurai in smart casual attire. What a message to send to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. You can mock the man, if it helps, but you can't mock the effect he's had on his new club. They are a team in his own image now; confident and pugnacious. Plus, they are almost safe.

Tom Sherwood returned to White Hart lane and left with all three points as Aston Villa beat Tottenham.

Speaking of managers proving points, this has been quite the week for Alan Pardew. As popular in Sunderland as he was in Newcastle while manager at St. James' Park, he guided Crystal Palace to victory at the Stadium of Light and lifted them above the 40-point marker. That's a position no-one could have expected in the time between Tony Pulis' dramatic resignation and Pardew's own arrival, AKA the Neil Warnock era. Pardew has harnessed the squad's mercurial talent, most notably Yannick Bolasie, while keeping all of its more prosaic attributes.

We've always got time for a trier here, so well done to Graziano Pelle for finally scoring another Premier League for Southampton. You have to go all the back to December 2014 -- 15 games ago -- to find the last time the Italian did that. Will it spark a resurgence in form? Saints will certainly hope so. Their routine 2-0 victory over Hull City lifted them to fifth place and with a forgiving run-in, you can't rule them out of a top four finish just yet. Pelle's goal was certainly enough to secure their highest-ever Premier League points haul. They currently have 56 and it's only April.

Another must-win home game, another crushing defeat, another four goals conceded, another mass exodus from supporters who have paid too much to witness too little. What on earth is wrong with Sunderland? In retrospect, it might have been unwise to get carried away by a 1-0 win over a Newcastle side hampered by their insistence on playing in flip-flops. Sunderland are so bad, so irredeemably awful, that they may as well just relegate themselves now, flushing themselves into the Championship to save further embarrassment. The Black Cats need a total reboot.

We've got a bit of sympathy with Seamus Coleman. There was no question that he was pushed by Swansea's Marvin Emnes and probably with enough force to warrant a free-kick in his favour. However, that's for the referee to decide and you can't just unilaterally decide that you've been fouled and scoop the ball up with your hand. A referee might miss a crafty shove but he won't miss you handling the ball right in front of his very eyes. Everton manager Roberto Martinez complained about the decision afterwards but he'd have been better off moaning about Coleman and his cataclysmic stupidity.

We tried to warn West Bromwich Albion last week but they paid us no heed! They are not safe from relegation yet and they definitely won't be safe if they keep losing at home to the Premier League's weakest teams. With 10 minutes to go, the Baggies were leading Leicester 2-1 and looked set to reach 36 points. By the end, it was Leicester who were celebrating. You would expect a Tony Pulis team to be able to keep a lead. It is inexplicable that men under his brutal employ would take any sort of chance with a lead. Don't they know what he did to James Beattie?

Manchester City slumped to their fourth straight away league defeat as Manchester United claimed derby day honours.

It was always going to take something special to make Manchester City's 2012-13 title defence look spirited, but somehow the "Class of 2014-15" have found a way. City started well at Old Trafford and, for 20 minutes, were more than the equal of their hosts. It was the next 70 minutes that caused the trouble. There's no getting away from the lack of spirit in this team. Money can buy you a lot, but it can't buy desire and someone needs to take an axe to in the summer. However, with every senior managerial position quite possibly up for review, who will be left to oversee the revolution?

It was a crucial goal, it may have sealed a title and football is very exciting, but did Chelsea assistant Rui Faria really have to bound over to the Queens Park Rangers' technical area to conduct his celebrations? The angle of the camera did Faria no favours and there's no suggestion that he actually taunted devastated Hoops' boss Chris Ramsey, but come on, man. You've got friends on the Chelsea bench. You've won the title with them, maybe celebrate with them? At least Jose Mourinho had the class to commiserate with the poor man at the end. And, yes, that felt odd to type.

Epl 03:31