The Chelsea bandwagon continued to roll on this weekend courtesy of a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

That win has maintained Jose Mourinho's side's three-point lead at the top of the table, with their closest rivals being Southampton, who kept up their recent positive form with a 2-1 triumph over Queens Park Rangers.

Elsewhere, there was a second Premier League victory for Louis van Gaal as manager of Manchester United, while the North London and Merseyside derbies ended in draws.

Manchester City struck four times against Hull City at the KC Stadium, with West Bromwich Albion hitting the same number against Burnley.

Towards the bottom of the division, Newcastle were beaten 1-0 at Stoke City and Crystal Palace saw off Leicester City, but there was nothing to separate Sunderland and Swansea City at the Stadium of Light.

Here, Sports Mole has looked back over the entire weekend to pick out the 11 most impressive players.

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur)
The Frenchman made a string of important saves to ensure that Spurs earned a share of the spoils from the North London derby. One stop from Per Mertesacker was particularly notable.

Calum Chambers (Arsenal)
Signed from Southampton during the summer, Chambers had primarily played at centre-back. He lined up at right-back against Tottenham, though, and produced a near faultless display, both in an attacking and defensive sense.
Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur)
A few eyebrows were raised when Kaboul was handed the captaincy by Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, but he produced a towering performance at the heart of the defence.
John Stones (Everton)
The 20-year-old is by no means a tough tackler, but that is mainly because he reads the game so well. That quality was on show at Anfield as he made a handful of crucial interceptions.
Ryan Bertrand (Southampton)
The Saints lost Luke Shaw during the summer, yet Chelsea loanee Bertrand is proving himself to be an able deputy. Solid defensively, the left-back also opened the scoring against QPR.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
Oxlade-Chamberlain formed a positive understanding with Chambers, which caused a host of problems to Spurs left-back Danny Rose. It was his goal from close range that secured a point for the hosts.
Graham Dorrans (West Bromwich Albion)
The Scot was key to his side's comprehensive victory over Burnley. He laid on two goals for his teammates, before rounding off a positive showing by completing the scoring in the 90th minute.
Willian (Chelsea)
He may not have been an automatic starter this season, but the Brazilian made the most of his opportunity against Villa. Willian was involved in Chelsea's first two goals and then scored the third.
Yannick Bolasie (Crystal Palace)
There are occasions when it appears that even Bolasie is uncertain as to what he is going to do next. His ability to twist one way and then the other so quickly made him a nightmare to the Leicester defence.

Saido Berahino (West Bromwich Albion)
The England Under-21 international scored twice against Burnley. His first was a real poacher's effort, while the other saw him show great composure.
Edin Dzeko (Manchester City)
His first goal at the KC Stadium was a stunning effort from the edge of the area, but it was his second of the afternoon that proved to be the crucial one as it saw City regain the lead at 3-2.

Numpty of the week

Wayne Rooney: Some of the reaction to Rooney's actions against West Ham have been wildly over the top. There have even been those that have called for Van Gaal to strip the striker of the Man United captaincy. While his offence certainly does not warrant such drastic punishment, it does get him this dubious honour. It was clear that he intended to bring down Stewart Downing, who was looking to launch a counter-attack. However, rather than clip Downing's heel, Rooney ended up booting him almost waist high. The red card left his teammates up against it, although they did manage to hold on.

Goal of the week

Graziano Pelle - (Southampton) vs. Queens Park Rangers: There will not be another weekend this season when it will be as difficult to pick a goal to claim this award. Phil Jagielka and Charlie Austin will claim, quite rightly, that their strikes should be recognised, but as far as we are concerned, Pelle just edges it. The reason? It was the least avoidable of those three stunning efforts. Being tightly marked by Steven Caulker, the Italian's first touch set him up for an acrobatic volley, which he duly dispatched beyond the reach of a helpless Rob Green.