It was another massive weekend of European football with Manchester City defeating city-rivals United in emphatic fashion, while there were new teams at the top in Italy and Spain.
English Premier League
Weekend Results, Saturday; Wolverhampton 2 Swansea City 2, Aston Villa 1 West Bromwich 2, Bolton 0 Sunderland 2, Newcastle 1 Wigan 0, Liverpool 1 Norwich City 1, Sunday; Arsenal 3 Stoke City 1, Fulham 1 Everton 3, Blackburn 1 Tottenham 2, Manchester United 1 Manchester City 6, QPR 1 Chelsea 0
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 25 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 20 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 19 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 19 |
| 5 | Tottenham | 16 |
Manchester City made an emphatic statement in the English Premier League title race after a stunning 6-1 derby win over champions Manchester United. David Silva was sensational while Mario Balotelli grabbed a crucial double, before Edin Dzeko netted twice late. Elsewhere, Chelsea stumbled to a 1-0 loss at QPR after seeing two men sent off.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Wolverhampton | 8 |
| 17 | Fulham | 7 |
| 18 | Bolton | 6 |
| 19 | Wigan | 5 |
| 20 | Blackburn | 5 |
Sunderland scored late twice to knock off Bolton in a lowly encounter, while Wolverhampton also scored twice late in the match to earn a 2-2 draw with newly-promoted Swansea City. Interestingly, there’s no newly-promoted clubs in the bottom five. Bottom club Blackburn’s woes continued after a 2-1 loss to Tottenham and Steve Kean is surely running out of time.
Topscorers, Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 9 goals, Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 9 goals, Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 8 goals, Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 7 goals
Spanish La Liga
Weekend Results, Saturday; Sporting Gijon 2 Granada 0, Racing Santander 0 Espanyol 1, Malaga 0 Real Madrid 4, FC Barcelona 0 FC Sevilla 0, Real Betis 0 Rayo Vallecano 2, Real Sociedad 0 Getafe 0, Sunday; Atletico Madrid 1 Real Mallorca 1, Osasuna 3 Real Zaragoza 0, Valencia 1 Athletic Bilbao 1, Villarreal 0 Levante 3
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levante | 20 |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 19 |
| 3 | FC Barcelona | 18 |
| 4 | Sevilla | 16 |
| 5 | Valencia | 15 |
Incredibly, Levante find themselves in top spot in La Liga after eight games, following their impressive 3-0 win at Villarreal with Juanlu hitting a double. Barcelona slipped down to third with Lionel Messi missing a late penalty as they drew 0-0 with Sevilla, while Real Madrid moved up to second after their first-half rout of big-spending Malaga with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a hat-trick.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Villarreal | 7 |
| 17 | Getafe | 6 |
| 18 | Granada | 5 |
| 19 | Sporting Gijon | 4 |
| 20 | Racing Santander | 4 |
Sporting Gijon finally won their first game of the season with a 2-0 home win over newly-promoted Granada who are struggling. Racing Santander dropped into bottom spot after losing to the improving Espanyol, while Villarreal’s home loss to Levante sees them drop into the bottom five.
Topscorers, Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 10 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 10 goals, Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 9 goals, Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 6 goals, Radamel Falcao (FC Sevilla) 6 goals,
German Bundesliga
Weekend Results, Friday; FC Augsburg 1 Werder Bremen 1, Saturday; Borussia Dortmund 5 FC Koln 0, FC Nurnberg 2 VfB Stuttgart 2, Kaiserslautern 1 SC Freiburg 0, Hoffenheim 1 Borussia Moenchengladbach 0, Hertha BSC 0 FSV Mainz 0, Hamburg SV 1 VfL Wolfsburg 1, Sunday; Bayer Leverkusen 0 Schalke 04 1, Hannover 96 2 Bayern Munich 1
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 22 |
| 2 | Borussia Dortmund | 19 |
| 3 | Schalke 04 | 18 |
| 4 | Hannover 96 | 18 |
| 5 | VfB Stuttgart | 17 |
Bayern’s lead at the summit was cut to three points after slumping to a 2-1 defeat at the impressive Hannover 96 on Sunday evening. Jerome Boateng’s first-half sending off didn’t help their cause, but perhaps this is a sign of a chink in Bayern’s armour. Champions Dortmund closed the gap after their comprehensive 5-0 thrashing of FC Koln with Shinji Kagawa finding form.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Kaiserslautern | 11 |
| 15 | FSV Mainz | 9 |
| 16 | FC Augsburg | 8 |
| 17 | Hamburg SV | 8 |
| 18 | SC Freiburg | 7 |
SC Freiburg’s woes worsened after a defeat at Kaiserslautern left them in bottom place after Hamburg SV managed a 1-1 draw with Wolfsburg in new boss Thorsten Fink’s first game in charge. Nurnberg, placed in 13th, drew with Stuttgart, meaning they haven’t won in five matches and will be looking over their shoulders.
Topscorers, Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 10 goals, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04) 8 goals, Papiss Demba Cisse (SC Freiburg) 7 goals, Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 7 goals, Mohammed Abdellaoue (Hannover 96) 7 goals, Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 7 goals
Italian Serie A
Weekend Results, Saturday; Fiorentina 2 Catania 2, Juventus 2 Genoa 2, Sunday; Lecce 3 AC Milan 4, Cagliari 0 Napoli 0, Internazionale 1 Chievo Verona 0, Parma 1 Atalanta 2, AS Roma 1 Palermo 0, Siena 2 Cesena 0, Udinese 3 Novara 0, Bologna 0 Lazio 2
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Udinese | 15 |
| 2 | Lazio | 14 |
| 3 | Juventus | 13 |
| 4 | Cagliari | 12 |
| 5 | Napoli | 11 |
Juventus slipped down to third after their 2-2 draw with Genoa despite Alessandro Matri’s double for the Old Lady. Udinese took over at the top after their comfortable 3-0 victory over Novara where Antonio Di Natale fired in a brace. Wins for AS Roma and AC Milan saw them move up to sixth and seventh respectively.
| Pos | Team | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Internazionale | 7 |
| 17 | Novara | 5 |
| 18 | Lecce | 4 |
| 19 | Bologna | 4 |
| 20 | Cesena | 2 |
Inter moved away from the drop zone with their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Chievo Verona, which came thanks to Thiago Motta’s goal. Following a win in the Uefa Champions League in midweek, Inter have some momentum. The bottom four all lost, while newly-promoted Atalanta won 2-1 at Parma thanks to Max Moralez’s brace.
Topscorers, Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 6 goals, Rodrigo Palacio (Genoa) 5 goals, Sebastian Giovinco (Parma) 5 goals, German Denis (Atalanta) 4 goals, Miroslav Klose (Lazio) 4 goals, Pablo Osvaldo (AS Roma) 4 goals, Stevan Jovetic (Fiorentina) 4 goals, Max Moralez (Atalanta) 4 goals