On Saturday evenings throughout the 2011/12 season, TEAMtalk's writers are presenting their Premier League Picks - the special moments, star performers, stunning matches or shocking incidents from the day's action which we expect to dominate the headlines.
We'll be watching all the action unfold on the live TV feeds which are piped into TEAMtalk Towers from grounds up and down the country.
Once you've read through our choices for April 28, let us know your opinions by adding a Comment below.
Suarez in headlines for right reasons
It's been an eventful season, to say the least, for Luis Suarez but despite everything that has been said and written about the Uruguayan there can be no denying the sheer quality that he possesses. Jusk ask poor old Norwich!
The Reds hitman banged in a brilliant hat-trick at Carrow Road on Saturday but his third was a stroke of genuis as he chipped John Ruddy from fully 50 yards.
There was a real swagger about his play on Saturday and Chelsea will have to be on their guard for next weekend's FA Cup final. Rob McCathy
Gunners fail to take chance
Arsenal missed out on a chance to widen the gap with Newcastle in the race for third place in the Premier League and with it automatic entry to the Champions League group stage for next season.
Wigan hammered fourth-placed Newcastle 4-0 and a victory for Arsenal would have created a six-point gap between the Gunners and United. But Arsene Wenger's men had to settle for a 1-1 draw and so the gap is four points. Arsenal are still in the box seat but they could rue their failure to pull further away from Newcastle.
As for Stoke, they again played to their strengths and Peter Crouch has surely done enough in recent weeks to earn a call-up to England's Euro 2012 squad.
Sam Nightingale
Latics survival prospects still shaping up
Wigan have been in fine form of late, deservedly beating Manchester United and Arsenal in two of their last three games, but it was essential for their survival push that Roberto Martinez's men recovered some momentum after last week's blip at Fulham. The Latics evidently got the message, judging from the first-half demolition job they did on Newcastle.
The finest minds in the Premier League, namely Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, have had no answer to the recent questions posed by Martinez's 3-4-3 system and by the time Alan Pardew tinkered with his team's shape to match the Latics, it was already too late. Shaun Maloney and Victor Moses found the pockets they needed to weave their magic, with Moses' quickfire brace before the quarter-of-an-hour mark giving Wigan the reward that their approach play deserved.
Moses has shown only glimpses of what he is capable of during his time at the DW Stadium, but the Crystal Palace flier has recently added an end product to his direct approach play. Moses' goals both came from first-touch finishes, arriving late in the box to demonstrate that he has the intelligence to make the most of the space Martinez's system allows him.
Maloney also helped himself to a fine goal before Franco Di Santo scored the best of the lot with a stunning 30-yard curler into the top corner moments before the break.
Why Wigan leave it until the last two months of the season before they finally get going, not even Martinez knows. But the time to ask those questions will come in the summer, by which time the Latics will surely have pulled off another great escape. Will Martinez be around, though, to conduct the necessary inquest?
Newcastle, for their part, must write today off as a merely a blip. They showed some fight in the second half, as Papiss Cisse hit the woodwork on two occasions and brought the best out of Ali Al Habsi on another. The Magpies will certainly need to show similar character as things don't get any easier in their remaining three games. Trips to Chelsea and Everton sandwich the arrival to St James' Park of title-chasing Manchester City and Newcastle must rediscover the defensive fortitude they displayed in going 411 minutes without conceding a goal prior to Moses' opener today. Ian Watson
Midfield maestros shine for Toffees
Fulham's four match unbeaten run came to a sticky end as Everton thumped the Cottagers at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Everton, themselves, have now gone six games in the league without losing and are on course to finish the season ahead of arch-rivals Liverpool, a feat they've not achieved since the 2004/05 season when they reached the Champions League.
Martin Jol's decision to leave Danny Murphy on the bench didn't go down well with the Fulham fans as Everton dominated the match from start to finish with Steven Pienaar the main architect.
The on-loan Tottenham midfielder was at his very best again with most of Everton's attacking play spiralling through the elegant playmaker.
Indeed it was Everton's whole midfield that dictated throughout and on their day they are a match for anyone, with the follically-challenged Marouane Fellaini, Toffees stalwart Leon Osman and former Man United man Darron Gibson all putting in a superb shifts. Mark Murley
What's happened to the art of defending?
As I was feverishly tweeting away, whilst watching goal after goal after goal go in at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, it dawned on me that, bar Chelsea's two Champions League displays against Barcelona, I've not really seen too many decent defensive displays this season.
Both Wolves and Swansea were guilty of some truly awful play at the back in a game that finished 4-4 but could have been double that to be honest.
So just why is defending an art form that has gone so dramatically out of fashion in recent seasons? I realise that the game has speeded up and that it is far easier to pick up a caution for next to nothing these days, but I honestly don't think there is too much defensive coaching going on at training grounds.
I used to love a good old backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win for my team. You would see far more character from your side in a game like that than you would in a 5-0 mauling. But I suppose I shouldn't complain too much as it certainly makes for decent entertainment - albeit laughable at times. RMc
Davies shows his class
Kevin Davies hit a brace to earn strugglers Bolton a 2-2 draw at Sunderland and keep their survival hopes alive. Davies, 35, is in the twilight of his career but is still a key player for the Trotters and showed his class at the Stadium of Light to earn Wanderers a crucial point.
Owen Coyle's men are third from bottom on goal difference, with fourth from bottom QPR also on 34 points. The battle to avoid relegation is set to go right down to the wire and the likes of Davies will be key if Bolton are to beat the drop. SN







