Weekend Developments From Europe's Top Leagues 3/9

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan and Bayern Munich were all winners this weekend as the big guns made statements.

English Premier League

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

Pos Team Pts
1 Chelsea 9
2 Swansea City 7
3 West Bromwich 7
4 Manchester City 7
5 Manchester United 6

Robin Van Persie scored a hat-trick on Sunday to save Manchester United from defeat as they fought back to knock off newly-promoted Southampton 3-2. Carlos Tevez was on song as Manchester City battled hard to get past QPR 3-1, while Arsenal scored their first goals of the season and got their first victory of the campaign with a 2-0 triumph over struggling Liverpool. The Gunners are now eighth.

Pos Team Pts
16 Reading 1
17 Aston Villa 1
18 Liverpool 1
19 QPR 1
20 Southampton 0

The pressure is already mounting on Brendan Rodgers after Liverpool’s 2-0 loss to Arsenal left them with just one point after three games. Paul Lambert eased the tension at Aston Villa with an improved performance and commendable 1-1 draw away to Newcastle, while Southampton are still pointless after their harsh 3-2 loss to United, but have played both Manchester clubs already this term.

Spanish La Liga

Weekend Results, Saturday; Celta Vigo 2 Osasuna 0, Real Zaragoza 0 Malaga 1, Deportivo Coruna 1 Getafe 1, Real Mallorca 1 Real Sociedad 0, Sunday; Rayo Vallecano 0 Sevilla 0, Athletic Bilbao 2 Valladolid 0, Levante 3 Espanyol 2, Real Madrid 3 Granada 0, Barcelona 1 Valencia 0

Pos Team Pts
1 Barcelona 9
2 Real Mallorca 7
3 Malaga 7
4 Rayo Vallecano 7
5 Valladolid 6

Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Valencia with Adriano netting a fine strike for the winner, while Cesc Fabregas spurned some good chances to seal the deal. Real Madrid finally got their first win of the campaign, 3-0 over Granada, although Cristiano Ronaldo refused to celebrate his strikes due to undisclosed issues at the club. Watch this space. Malaga continued their fine start with a win away to Zaragoza.

Pos Team Pts
16 Athletic Bilbao 3
17 Valencia 2
18 Granada 1
19 Espanyol 0
20 Osasuna 0

Valencia’s difficult early season fixture list has left them with only two points from their first three games and down in 17th, while Europa League runners-up Athletic Bilbao finally got their first points of the campaign easily accounting for Valladolid. There’s a few concerns for both Espanyol and Osasuna who have started the season poorly.

German Bundesliga

Weekend Results, Friday; Mainz 0 Greuther Furth 1, Saturday; Fortuna Dusseldorf 0 Borussia Moenchengladbach 0, Bayer Leverkusen 2 SC Freiburg 0, Nurnberg 1 Borussia Dortmund 1, Schalke 3 Augsburg 1, Hoffenheim 0 Eintracht Frankfurt 4, Werder Bremen 2 Hamburg SV 0, Sunday; Wolfsburg 0 Hannover 4, Bayern Munich 6 Stuttgart 1

Pos Team Pts
1 Bayern Munich 6
2 Eintracht Frankfurt 6
3 Hannover 96 4
4 Schalke 04 4
5 Fortuna Dusseldorf 4

Bayern Munich made a big statement on Sunday evening with a 6-1 hammering of Stuttgart with Thomas Muller grabbing a double while big purchase Javi Martinez made a brief debut. Hannover 96 crushed Wolfsburg 4-0 on the road in a Lower Saxony derby with Szabolcs Huszti inspiring. Dortmund stumbled to a 1-1 draw at Nurnberg, while Schalke crushed Augsburg 3-1.

Italian Serie A

Weekend Results, Saturday; Torino 3 Pescara 0, Bologna 1 AC Milan 3, Sunday; Udinese 1 Juventus 4, Cagliari 1 Atalanta 1, Catania 3 Genoa 2, Inter Milan 1 AS Roma 3, Lazio 3 Palermo 0, Napoli 2 Fiorentina 1, Parma 2 Chievo Verona 0, Sampdoria 2 Siena 1

Pos Team Pts
1 Juventus 6
2 Napoli 6
3 Lazio 6
4 Sampdoria 5
5 AS Roma 4

Sebastian Giovinco scored twice as champions Juventus moved into top spot with a 4-1 triumph away to Udinese on Sunday. Giampaolo Pazzini netted a hat-trick for AC Milan as they knocked off Bologna 3-1 on Saturday, while AS Roma made a statement with a 3-1 victory away to Inter Milan.

Ben somerford
Sports Pundit staff writer @bensomerford
Australian journalist who specialises on all sports, focusing on football, tennis, basketball and racing, having written for global publications including FourFourTwo, AAP, Inside Futbol and many more....

Comment on This Article

0 comments
Reply to