Weekend Developments From Europe's Top Leagues

Manchester City had a big win in England’s Premier League, while Real Madrid and FC Barcelona also had nice victories in Spain along with Juventus and AC Milan.

English Premier League

Weekend Results, Saturday; Newcastle 0 Chelsea 3, Blackburn 4 Swansea City 2, Manchester City 5 Norwich City 1, QPR 1 West Bromwich 1, Tottenham 3 Bolton 0, Wigan 0 Arsenal 4, Aston Villa 0 Manchester United 1, Sunday; Everton 0 Stoke City 1, Wolverhampton 2 Sunderland 1, Monday; Fulham v Liverpool

Manchester City continue to look like champions with a swashbuckling 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City with several players getting on the scoresheet including Sergio Aguero and Mario Balotelli. Manchester United ground out a 1-0 win at Aston Villa, although Javier Hernandez went down injured. Tottenham stayed in third with a 3-0 win over Bolton, while Chelsea showed their quality with a 3-0 win at Newcastle.

Blackburn moved out of bottom spot with a 4-2 victory over Swansea City, with Yakubu Aiyegbeni netting four goals in the stunning win which may save Steve Kean’s bacon for the next few weeks. Bolton’s woes continued with a 3-0 loss at Tottenham piling the pressure on Owen Coyle, while Sunderland’s new boss Martin O’Neill has a big task after witnessing his club lose 2-1 at Wolverhampton.

Topscorers, Robin van Persie (Arsenal) 14 goals, Sergio Aguero (Manchester City) 11 goals, Edin Dzeko (Manchester City) 10 goals, Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 9 goals, Demba Ba (Newcastle) 9 goals, Yakubu Aiyegbeni (Blackburn) 9 goals

Spanish La Liga

Weekend Results, Saturday; Sporting Gijon 0 Real Madrid 3, Racing Santander 1 Villarreal 0, FC Barcelona 5 Levante 0, Valencia 2 Espanyol 1, Sunday; Atletico Madrid 3 Rayo Vallecano 1, Real Sociedad 3 Malaga 2, Osasuna 2 Real Betis 1, Real Mallorca 1 Athletic Bilbao 1, Granada 1 Real Zaragoza 0, Monday; Sevilla v Getafe

Angel di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo struck as Real Madrid continued on their merry way in La Liga with a 3-0 win at Gijon. Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas was at his finest with a first-half brace in Barcelona’s 5-0 rout of Levante who continue to slide. Valencia stay in the race with a 2-1 win over Espanyol.

Struggling Racing Santander claimed a big win over Villarreal which left the Yellow Submarine battling down in 15th. Real Betis’ slide down the table continued with a 2-1 loss at Osasuna, thanks to Javad Nekounam’s late winner. Real Zaragoza dropped into bottom spot after their 1-0 loss to Granada who have 10 points from their past four games to fly up to 12th.

Topscorers, Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 17 goals, Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 17 goals, Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) 12 goals, Roberto Soldado (Valencia) 9 goals

German Bundesliga

Weekend Results, Friday; Bayer Leverkusen 2 Hoffenheim 0, Saturday; Bayern Munich 4 Werder Bremen 1, SC Freiburg 1 Hannover 96 1, Kaiserslautern 1 Hertha BSC 1, VfL Wolfsburg 2 FSV Mainz 2, Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 Borussia Dortmund 1, VfB Stuttgart 2 FC Koln 2, Sunday; Hamburg SV 2 FC Nurnberg 0, Schalke 04 3 FC Augsburg 1

With the top four facing off against one another in two big match-ups over the weekend in Germany, it’s interesting to see Bayern Munich return to the summit after their 4-1 win over Werder Bremen with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben creating havoc. Borussia Dortmund slipped from top spot after a 1-1 draw with Moenchengladbach.

Hamburg SV continued on their recent run of good results under new boss Thorsten Fink with a 2-0 victory over FC Nurnberg. Wolfsburg blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with FSV Mainz, while Augsburg slipped into their losing ways again after last week’s win, with a 3-1 defeat at Schalke 04.

Topscorers, Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) 13 goals, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04) 13 goals, Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) 11 goals, Lukas Podolski (FC Koln) 11 goals, Marco Reus (Moenchengladbach) 10 goals, Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund) 10 goals

Italian Serie A

Weekend Results, Saturday; Genoa 0 AC Milan 2, Internazionale 0 Udinese 1, Napoli 4 Lecce 2, Sunday; Catania 0 Cagliari 1, Bologna 1 Siena 0, Chievo Verona 0 Atalanta 0, Fiorentina 3 AS Roma 0, Juventus 2 Cesena 0, Parma 0 Palermo 0, Monday; Lazio v Novara

The top three all recorded wins over the weekend with Udinese’s 1-0 triumph over Inter Milan at the San Siro arguably the most significant given the contest. Elsewhere, Juventus were far too good for Cesena with Claudio Marchisio netting again, while AC Milan won 2-0 at Genoa with Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the scoresheet.

Marco Di Vaio scored the winner for Bologna as they claimed an important 1-0 win over Siena, while there were further defeats for Cesena and Lecce. Inter Milan are still far from safe, after their loss at Udinese left them languishing in 15th.

Topscorers, German Denis (Atalanta) 10 goals, Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) 9 goals, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan) 8 goals, Sebastian Giovinco (Parma) 7 goals, Edinson Cavani (Napoli) 7 goals