Weekend Developments From Europe's Top Leagues 27/8

Europe’s top four leagues are now all officially underway with Real Madrid and AC Milan making poor starts, while Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Barcelona sparkled.

English Premier League

Weekend Results, Saturday; Swansea City 3 West Ham 0, Aston Villa 1 Everton 3, Manchester United 3 Fulham 2, Norwich 1 QPR 1, Southampton 0 Wigan 2, Sunderland v Reading (postponed), Tottenham 1 West Bromwich 1, Chelsea 2 Newcastle 0, Sunday; Stoke City 0 Arsenal 0, Liverpool 2 Manchester City 2

Chelsea continued their fine start to the new season with a 2-0 win over the dangerous Newcastle with Eden Hazard again impressive and on the scoresheet, while Fernando Torres also netted as he continues to re-discover his form and confidence. Manchester City dropped points for the first time this season, drawing 2-2 with Liverpool, while Manchester United fought hard to get past Fulham 3-2 with Robin van Persie scoring his first goal for his new club.

The reality of the situation for Paul Lambert at Aston Villa was made clear on Saturday after they were humbled 3-1 at home by Everton, seeing them sink into bottom spot. Liverpool got off the mark with their draw against the champions although it may have been three points had it not been for Martin Skrtel’s defensive howler. Southampton’s 2-0 home loss to Wigan doesn’t bode well for them.

Spanish La Liga

Weekend Results, Saturday; Real Sociedad 2 Celta Vigo 1, Real Betis 1 Rayo Vallecano 2, Espanyol 1 Real Zaragoza 2, Malaga 1 Mallorca 1, Sunday; Osasuna 1 Barcelona 2, Getafe 2 Real Madrid 1, Granada 1 Sevilla 1, Valencia 3 Deportivo Coruna 3, Monday; Valladolid v Levante, Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao

Champions Real Madrid slumped to their first defeat of the season, going down 2-1 away to Getafe to leave them with one point from their opening two games. On the back of their midweek Spanish Supercopa first-leg loss to Barcelona, it’s been a shocking week for Real who had gone ahead through Gonzalo Higuain. Meanwhile Barca took ground early with Lionel Messi scoring two goals in the final 15 minutes to see them past 10-man Osasuna 2-1. Rayo Vallecano’s fine early season form continued with a 2-1 win at Real Betis.

German Bundesliga

Weekend Results, Friday; Borussia Dortmund 2 Werder Bremen 1, Saturday; Borussia Moenchengladbach 2 Hoffenheim 1, Freiburg 1 FSV Mainz 1, Augsburg 0 Fortuna Dusseldorf 2, Hamburg SV 0 Nurnberg 1, Greuther Furth 0 Bayern Munich 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1, Stuttgart 0 Wolfsburg 1, Sunday; Hannover 96 2 Schalke 2

After the opening weekend of the season it’s not worth looking at the table, but Bayern Munich’s 3-0 victory away to newly-promoted Greuther Furth deserves special mention as they begun the season signalling their intent with a comprehensive win. Champions Borussia Dortmund had a harder task taking no Werder Bremen but got the job done 2-1 on Friday evening with Mario Gotze coming off the bench to score the winner. New Wolfsburg signing Bas Dost scored a last-minute winner against Stuttgart too.

Italian Serie A

Weekend Results, Saturday; Fiorentina 2 Udinese 1, Juventus 2 Parma 0, Sunday; AC Milan 0 Sampdoria 1, Atalanta 0 Lazio 1, Chievo Verona 2 Bologna 0, Genoa 2 Cagliari 0, Palermo 0 Napoli 3, Pescara 0 Inter Milan 3, AS Roma 2 Catania 2, Siena 0 Torino 0

Champions Juventus proved they can be a formidable force without banned boss Antonio Conte on the touchline as they defeated Parma 2-0 on the opening day, although keeper Marco Storari was a star, while Fiorentina’s ambitious new season started with a bright win over Udinese. The newlook AC Milan suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to newly-promoted Sampdoria, while Inter Milan impressed winning 3-0 at Pescara with Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito netting early goals.