English Premier League
Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United
It was literally a “bloody” affair when the red side of Manchester travelled to their “Noisy Neighbors” with the latter having done the double over the former last season.
City dominated possession from the off and kept attacking as United soaked up the pressure but it was United who took the lead that looked unlikely to many but were in front after 15 minutes thanks to some neat inter-play. Robin Van Persie combined with Ashley Young and the winger found Wayne Rooney who, despite being surrounded by 3 defenders, managed to get a shot away that crept into to the bottom corner with Joe Hart rooted to the spot. Vincent Kompany was replaced by Kolo Toure after the City captain seemed to have picked up an injury. United were 2 goals to the good less than 10 minutes later when Rafael’s cross found Rooney in the box and the Englishman side footed first time to become the sixth player and the youngest of the lot to score 150 goals in the Premier League.
The 2nd half saw a disappointing Mario Balotelli taken off within 7 minutes of the restart and United were denied their third goal, quite incorrectly when Young was adjudged to have been offside when he tucked in Van Persie’s rebound that hit the post. City pulled one back through Yaya Toure after David De Gea had done well to deny Carlos Tevez and David Silva. Van Persie then headed over a cross from Tom Cleverley and De Gea was unaware but somehow kept out Silva’s near post shot with the use of his shoulder. City drew level through Pablo Zabaleta who smashed in a half cleared corner. United won it though in injury time, this time 3 ex-Gunners combining. Gael Clichy fouled Rafael, Van Persie took the free kick which took a deflection off Samir Nasri on its way into the net. The game ended in an ugly fashion after Rio Ferdinand was struck by a coin while celebrating the winner and Hart had to stop an onrushing fan.
Arsenal 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
Arsenal won it at the Emirates Stadium thanks to 2 penalties, 1 awarded incorrectly after a Santi Carzola dive and the other correctly after Chris Brunt brought down Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the box. Both spot kicks were confidently converted by Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners had 2 chances before the erroneous penalty decision which were wasted by Gervinho and Carzola. Chris Brunt saw a long range effort go just wide before West Brom went behind after which Jack Wilshere missed a good chance. WBA had a call for a penalty waived off when Per Mertesacker seemed to have handled the ball but a free kick was given against the Baggies. Arsenal though ended the half on a high with several more chances coming their way.
Gervinho kept missing chances but Arsenal got their second thanks to another penalty and Arteta almost got a hat trick but his free kick went wide.
Sunderland 1-3 Chelsea
Rafael Benitez got his first league win as Chelsea Manager and Fernando Torres got a brace enabling him to silence his critics, at least for the time being. A penalty was not awarded to the Blues when Eden Hazard was pulled back by Sebastian Larsson. They were ahead after 11 minutes though when Hazard found Torres with a cross from the left which the Spaniard did well to guide in. They doubled the lead through a penalty which Torres took and converted confidently.
The Black Cats conceded a third just 4 minutes after the restart when Juan Mata scored after Torres had hit the woodwork thanks to some poor defending by Phil Bardsley. Victor Moses then missed a great chance to make it 4 but Adam Johnson pulled one back for Sunderland with a powerful drive across the face of goal which was misjudged by Petr Cech to be going wide. He then redeemed himself twice when he kept out a free kick from Johnson and another effort from Connor Wickham and Craig Gardner hit the crossbar.
West Ham United 2-3 Liverpool
Glen Johnson put the Reds in front after 11 minutes when he launched a missile of a shot into the net beating Jussi Jaaskelainen. Raheem Sterling then missed 2 great chances to double the lead for his side before the Hammers drew level through a penalty which Mark Nobel converted. Matt Taylor headed waywardly from close range but they went into the break leading when Steven Gerrard headed into his own net from a brilliant cross by Matt Jarvis.
Sterling and Jonjo Shelvey came close to leveling the score but missed their chances for Joe Cole to eventually do so after being played in by Sterling. James Collins was the culprit as he turned Jordan Henderson’s cross into his own net to win it for Liverpool.
In other results Aston Villa drew 0-0 at home against Stoke City while Southampton beat Reading 1-0 at St. Mary’s with Jason Puncheon scoring the winner. Norwich City beat Swansea City 4-3 at the Liberty Stadium with Steven Whittaker, Sebastien Bassong, Grant Holt and Robert Snodgrass scoring for the Canaries and Jonathan De Guzman scoring in the middle of a brace from Michu for the Swans.
Wigan Athletic drew 2-2 against Queens Park Rangers with James McCarthy scoring a brace for the Latics while Ryan Nelsen and Djibril Cisse scored for QPR. Steven Pienaar and Nikica Jelavic scored in the dying minutes of the game to win it 2-1 for Everton against Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park after Clint Dempsey had put the visitors in front. Fulham got back to winning ways after they beat Newcastle United 2-1 at Craven Cottage thanks to goals from Steve Sidwell and Hugo Rodallega either side of Hatem Ben Arfa’s equalizer.
Spanish La Liga
Leaders Barcelona won 2-1 away at Real Betis with Lionel Messi scoring a brace for the Catalans and the Argentine broke Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals in a calendar year.
Real Madrid travelled to Real Valladolid and won 3-2 thanks to a goal from Karim Benzema and a brace from Mesut Ozil.
Atletico Madrid put 6 past a hapless Deportivo La Coruna side at home with Radamel Falcao getting 5 after Diego Costa had got the opener.
Barca lead after 15 games with 43 points and remain unbeaten with Atletico and Real in 2nd and 3rd with 37 and 32 points respectively.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich won 2-0 away at Augsburg thanks to goals from Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez while Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-2 away at Hannover. Borussia Dortmund lost 3-2 at home against Wolfsburg with Eintracht Frankfurt thrashing Werder Bremen 4-1 at home. Bayern are 11 points clear at the top after 16 games with 41 points followed by Leverkusen, Dortmund and Frankfurt. 5th place Schalke lost 3-1 away at 6th place Stuttgart.
Italian Serie A
Juventus lead the pack after 16 games with 38 points with Inter Milan in 2nd with 34 followed by Napoli, Lazio and AS Roma. Fiorentina, AC Milan and Udinese wrap up the top 8.
Juve beat Palermo 1-0 away while Inter beat Napoli 2-1 at home. Lazio drew 0-0 away at Bologna with AS Roma beating Fiorentina 4-2 at home. AC Milan recorded a much needed 4-2 win away at Torino on their quest to reach the summit.
French Ligue 1
Lyon lead after 17 games with 35 points followed by Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille both on 32 points. Lyon beat St Etienne 1-0 away while Marseille lost 3-0 at home against Lorient with PSG thrashing Evian Thonon Gaillard 4-0 in Paris.
PSG thrashed Valenciennes 4-0 away in midweek while Lyon drew 1-1 at home against Nancy and Marseille beat Bastia 2-1 away.
Capitol One Cup
Arsenal crashed out at the hands of Bradford City losing 3-2 on penalties after normal time ended 1-1. Norwich were beaten 4-1 at home by Aston Villa thanks to a brace from Andreas Weimann and goals from Brett Holman and Christian Benteke after Steve Morrison had put the Canaries in front.
Swansea beat Championship side Middlesbrough 1-0 at the Liberty Stadium with Seb Hines’s own goal proving to be the only difference.
FIFA Club World Cup
European Champions Chelsea will meet Mexican side Monterrey in Japan.
Previous Fixtures:
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan) 1-0 Auckland City (New Zealand)
Ulsan Hyundai (South Korea) 1-3 Monterrey (Mexico)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan) 1-2 Al Ahly (Egypt)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima (Japan) 3-2 Ulsan Hyundai (South Korea)
Al Ahly (Egypt) 0-1 Corinthians (Brazil)
