It’s Manchester United’s Title to lose now…

English Premier League

Manchester United lead the table after 26 games with a 12 point cushion over reigning champions Manchester City and they will feel that it’s their title to lose if they were to slip up as they did last season when they conceded the title to their arch rivals.

The league leaders won 2-0 against Everton at Old Trafford thanks to first half goals from Ryan Giggs and Robin Van Persie. The win was much needed after City lost 3-1 away at Southampton with City themselves devising their destruction. 

Jason Puncheon gave the Saints the lead and Joe Harts horror miss enabled Steven Davis to poke the ball home and after Edin Dzeko had halved the deficit, Gareth Barry scored a bizarre own goal to condemn the champions to their 3rd defeat in the league.

3rd place Chelsea smashed Wigan 4-1 at Stamford Bridge thanks to goals from Ramires and Eden Hazard, Frank Lampard and Marko Marin while Shaun Maloney’s goal to make the score 2-1 proved to be a mere consolation in the end.

Tottenham Hotspur strengthened their 4th place standing after they beat Newcastle United 2-1 at White Hart Lane thanks to a brace from Gareth Bale and Yoan Gouffran scored for the visitors.

Santi Carzola’s solitary goal in the first half gave 5th place Arsenal a 1-0 away at Sunderland and the Gunners hung on to secure all 3 points after Carl Jenkinson was sent off in the 2nd half.

Liverpool find themselves 9th after they suffered a home defeat at Anfield at the hands of West Bromwich Albion who completed a memorable double over the Reds. Steven Gerrard’s penalty miss was punished by Gareth McAuley and Romelu Lukaku.

Norwich drew 0-0 at home against Fulham while Stoke beat Reading 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium. Aston Villa got a much needed win as they beat West Ham United 2-1 at Villa Park and Swansea thrashed bottom side Queens Park Rangers 4-1 at the Stadium of Light.

Spanish Primera Liga

Barcelona continue to cruise towards the Spanish Title and they thrashed Getafe 6-1 at the Nou Camp with 6 different scorers getting on the score sheet for the Catalans and Lionel Messi was one of them. 

Atletico Madrid in 2nd place lost 2-1 away at Rayo Vellecano while Real Madrid in 3rd place hammered Sevilla 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat trick.

Barca have 62 points after 23 games, 12 clear of Atletico and 16 clear of Real and should ease their way to winning the title.

Italian Serie A

Juventus and Napoli seem to be in a two horse race to win the title with the former leading the latter by 5 points after 24 games while Lazio in 3rd place are 11 points adrift of the league leaders. City rivals Inter Milan and AC Milan make up the top 5.

Top 5 Results:

Juventus 2-0 Fiorentina

Lazio 1-1 Napoli

Cagliari 1-1 AC Milan

Inter Milan 3-1 Chievo Verona       

German Bundesliga 

Bayern Munich look favourites to win the title as they lead the pack with 54 points after 21 games with Borussia Dortmund in 2nd place trailing the Bavarian giants by 15 points. Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg make complete the top 5 respectively.

Top 3 Results: 

Bayern Munich 4-0 Schalke 

Borussia Dortmund 1-4 Hamburg

Borussia Monchengladbach 3-3 Bayer Leverkusen         

French Ligue 1 

Paris Saint-Germain lead after 24 games with 51 points followed by Lyon and Marseille on and 45 and 43 points respectively.

Top 3 Results:

PSG 3-1 Bastia 

Evian Thonon Gaillard 1-1 Marseille

Lyon 1-3 Lille

Dutch Eredivisie 

It’s still tight in the league as the top 5 have a good chance of winning it for themselves with PSV Eindhoven leading the pack with 47 points after 22 games followed by Ajax and Feyenoord on 44 points, Twente Enschede on 43 and Vitesse Arnhem on 39.

Top 5 Results: 

Vitesse Arnhem 2-2 PSV Eindhoven

Ajax 1-1 Roda

Feyenoord 3-1 AZ Alkmaar 

PEC Zwolle 1-1 Twente Enschede   

African Cup of Nations

Nigeria beat underdogs Burkina Faso 1-0 to win the cup while Mali beat Ghana 3-1 in the 3rd place playoff.  

UEFA Champions League Round of 16

Celtic lost 3-0 at home against Juventus Alessandro Matri, Claudio Marchisio and Mirko Vucinic scoring for the Italian side even though the Scottish side created more chances. Celtic boss Neil Lennon said that they would need a “miracle” to win as they go to Turin for the 2nd leg.

Valencia were beaten 2-1 at home by PSG thanks to goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore with Adil Rami grabbing a last minute goal for the hosts which will be well received as they travel to Paris for the deciding leg of the tie.

All eyes were on Real Madrid taking on Manchester United and it was quite a game with both teams having plenty of chances. The game ended 1-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo’s header cancelled out Danny Welbeck’s headed goal. The tie will be decided at Old Trafford in 3 weeks’ time and United will fancy their chances having grabbed an important away goal but Jose Mourinho stated that his side can score more than a goal at the Theatre of Dreams.

It was honours even in Ukraine as Shakhtar Donetsk were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Borussia Dortmund. Darijo Srna and Douglas Costa scored for the hosts while Robert Lewandowski and Mat Hummels scored for the visitors.

Key Transfers in January

*Figures are approximate