Chelsea thrash Arsenal!

EPL: The Emirates hosted another edition of the London derby between Arsenal and Chelsea. The Blues were convinced that beating the Gunners would deal a killer blow to their rivals title push and duly dispatched Arsenal 3-0 thanks to a Drogba brace and a Vermaelen own goal. A Yobo own-goal and a Kuyt strike 10 minutes from time gave Liverpool the victory in the first edition of the Merseyside Derby.

The Reds fresh from their Champions League exit were looking to rebound and climb up the standings and took advantage of a slumping Everton side. Avram Grant faced a stern for his first match in charge of cellar dwellers Portsmouth. They went up against champions Manchester United who ran out 4-1 winners thanks to a Wayne Rooney hat-trick and a Ryan Giggs strike. Kevin-Prince Boateng had earlier scored for Pompey.

The Reds fresh from their Champions League exit were looking to rebound and climb up the standings and took advantage of a slumping Everton side. Avram Grant faced a stern for his first match in charge of cellar dwellers Portsmouth. They went up against champions Manchester United who ran out 4-1 winners thanks to a Wayne Rooney hat-trick and a Ryan Giggs strike. Kevin-Prince Boateng had earlier scored for Pompey.

West Ham moved out of relegation zone with a 5-3 win over the impressive Burnley. Zola’s men went five up thanks to strikes from Jack Collison, Junior Stanislas, Guillermo Franco and two penalties from Carlton Cole and Luis Jimenez.

A brace from Steven Fletcher and a goal from Man. United-product Chris Eagles provided the goals for Burnley. Fulham and Ricardo Gardner’s Bolton Wanderers ended in a stalemate as each team could only muster a goal a piece. Ivan Klasnic, getting his first Premier start opened the scoring while Damien Duff responded for Fulham.

The league’s most unpredictable team Wigan, fresh from their thrashing at the hands of Tottenham rose from the ashes like the phoenix to defeat former manager Steve Bruce and Sunderland 1-0 at the JJB with a Hugo Rodallega goal. Five goal sensation Jermain Defoe and his Tottenham team played to 1-1 draw with fellow Champions league spot chasers Aston Villa. Villa struck early through Gabby Agbonlahor but was under constant threat from Tottenham. The equalizer eventually came from centre-back Michael Dawson.

Ibracadabra!

La Liga: Zlatan Ibrahimovic settled El Clasico with a solitary strike in the 56th minute to reclaim top spot for Barcelona. Real Madrid entered the match with an one-point lead over the defending champions but came out on the losing end. Both teams ended the game with ten men as Lassana Diarra and Sergio Busquets were given marching orders. It was an exciting game of football which could have gone either way but in the end the Catalans were deserved winners. The Yellow Submarines, Villarreal continued their indifferent form succumbing to a solitary strike from Mate Bilic of Sporting Gijon. Valencia played to 1-1 draw with Mollorca. David Villa had given Valencia the lead but that was canceled out by Borja Valero penalty.

Sevilla was rescued by a Luis Fabiano brace against Malaga. Malaga went 2-0 up through Duda and Fernando but Fabiano spoilt the party by netting in the 58th and 72nd minutes. Getafe thrashed Xerez 5-1 thanks to a hat-trick from Roberto Saldado and goals from Daniel Parejo and Casquero. Aythami got the consolation goal for Xerez.

Alberto Lopo gave Deportivo La Coruna a 1-0 win over Racing Santander, while Athletic Bilbao dispatched Almeria 4 goals to 1. Tenerife and Valladolid placed to an exciting 3-3 draw, Osasuna edged Zaragoza 1-0 and woeful Atletico Madrid dispatched Espanyol 4-0 thanks to a brace from Aguero.

Three goals, three red!

Serie A: Genoa defeated Sampdoria in the derby della Lanterna as goals from Omar Milanetto, Marco Rossi and Raffaele Palladino scored for the host. It was a sensational game that ended with 19 players as three red cards were issued. Antonio Di Natale continued his fine goal-scoring form by netting in his side’s 2-0 win over Livorno. The other goal was scored by Antonio Floro Flores.

Roma continued their resurgence since the return of inspirational captain Francesco Totti with a come from behind 2-1 win over Atalanta while promoted Bari defeated Siena by a similar margin. Palermo and Inter also won by similar margins clipping Chievo and Fiorentina 1-0 respectively.

Milan and Juventus suffered contrasting results as each team was on different ends of 2-0 scorelines. Milan, thanks to two extra-time goals late sub from Klass-Jan Huntelaar beat Catania 2-0 while Juventus’ title charge took serious dent as they lost 2-0 to Cagliari. Lazio and Bologna played to a tame 0-0 draw with Napoli and Parma sharing the same fate in a 1-1 tie.

Bayer stay top!

Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen wiped the floor with former champions VFB Stuttgart as the in-form Stefan Kiessling grabbed a hat-trick in his side’s 4-0 win. The win lead extended Bayer’s lead atop the table to 3 points and left Stuttgart in 17th place.

Bayern Munich moved to fourth with a 3-0 win over Hannover 96 with Mario Gomez getting among the goals. SC Freiburg and Borussia M’gladbach had similar 1-0 victories over FC Nuremberg and Scalke respectively.

Defending champions Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen played to a 2-2 draw with Hamburg and Mainz sharing a similar result ending 1 a piece. Borussia Dortmund edged Hoffenheim 2-1 through a Nuri Sahin penalty while Eintracht Frankfurt easily brushed aside Hertha Berlin 3 goals to 1.