Weekend Review

England:
Defending champions Manchester United continued their recent good form in the league by claiming an important win over Premier League leaders Arsenal, with ex-Gunner Robin van Persie sealing a 1-0 win at Old Trafford. More importantly they climbed up to fifth, five points behind Arsenal. The gap at the top is down to two points after Luis Suarez struck twice in Liverpool’s 4-0 demolition of Fulham, while surprise package Southampton downed Hull City 4-1 to go third. There were many shocking results over the weekend, with Manchester City succumbing 1-0 at Sunderland, Chelsea drawing 2-2 against West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspurs losing at home to Newcastle United.

Spain:
Barcelona defeated bottom club Real Betis 4-1 to open up a three-point gap at the top over second-placed Atletico Madrid who could only draw 1-1 at 4th placed Villarreal. That allowed Real Madrid CF to climb within three points of their city rivals, Cristiano Ronaldo firing his 18th hat-trick in the La Liga in a 5-1 success against Real Sociedad. The Portuguese forward has taken his league tally to 16 goals in just 13 games.

Germany:
Bayern Munich set a new Bundesliga record of 37 games without defeat by downing Augsburg 3-0. The triumph also lifted them four points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at Wolfsburg. They are joined on 28 points by Bayer 04 Leverkusen, who won an eight-goal thriller 5-3 against Hamburger SV, while fourth-placed Borussia Monchengladbach earned a 3-1 success against 1. FC Nurnberg.

Italy:
AS Roma’s lead has been cut to a single point after Rudi Garcia’s team could only draw 1-1 at home to lowly Sassuolo. This was their second consecutive stalemate after kicking off the campaign with ten consecutive wins. Defending champions and 2nd placed Juventus swept aside third-placed Napoli 3-0 at home, while Inter Milan are in fourth place, overcoming Livorno 2-0 and Fiorentina edged past Sampdoria 2-1.

France:
A hat-trick from Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped Paris Saint-Germain extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to four points winning 3-1 against OGC Nice, as their main opponents LOSC Lille and AS Monaco FC both failed to pick up wins. Second-placed LOSC could only grind out a goalless stalemate with Guingamp, while Monaco came from behind to earn a 1-1 home draw with Évian Thonon Gaillard.  Nantes continued their dream start and won 3-0 at FC Girondins de Bordeaux, to remain fourth.