One half of football is not enough!

EPL: Hapless Liverpool continues to struggle as they slumped to yet another defeat this time at the hands of Arsenal.

The off-form Liverpool had the chance to turn their season around with a win and this seemed likely as the dominated to first-half of play and took the lead through Dirk Kuyt.

A less than impressive second-half display saw Arsenal wrestle the game away from Liverpool with a Glen Johnson own goal and Andrey Arshavin strike winning it for the Gunners.

Manchester United entertained Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa at the Theatre of Dreams knowing fully well that a win would increase the pressure on table toppers Chelsea. This was not to be as the champions slumped to a 1-o defeat thanks to a Gabriel Agbonlahor 21st -minute strike. Leaders Chelsea suffered an equally bad result all be it a less dramatic one as they conjured up a 3-3 draw with Merseyside outfit Everton. A brace from star striker Drogba was not enough as Louis Saha grabbed the equaliser.

Host’s Chelsea dominated for most of the match, but a determined Everton side held them to a draw in another disappointing result for them. Birmingham City continued their impressive winning streak of four consecutive wins defeating West Ham 1-0.

In a thrilling encounter at the Reebok Stadium, Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers played to the second 3-3 draw of the day. The game was highlighted by braces from Carlos Tevez of City and Ivan Klasnic. Manager Mark Hughes praised his team for their effort as they were reduced to 10 men after Craig Bellamy was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The draws continued as Fulham v Burnley and Sunderland v Portsmouth both ended one a piece. Hull and Blackburn played to a tame goalless draw while Wigan playing away from home drew 2-2 with Stoke. An early Kevin Doyle strike earned Wolves all three points at White Heart Lane.

From behind again

La Liga: For the second time in as many weeks Villarreal has fought back to claim all three points. This trip, the unlucky was Atletico Madrid who found the opener through Simao. His goal was cancelled out by David Fuster before Joseba Llorente buried the winner in the very last minute.

A late goal from Ezequiel Garay gave Real Madrid a 3-2 victory over Valencia. Gonzalo Higuain scored twice for Los Blancos while David Villa and Joaquin scored for the hosts. Despite the win, Madrid remains five points off the pace.

Defending champions Barcelona defeated city rivals 1-0 thanks a converted penalty by summer signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Athletic Bilbao earned an impressive 2-1 victory over Real Zaragoza. Getafe made it three in four with a close 2-1 win over visiting Tenerife. Mallorca also had a close win, edging Osasuna 1-0 with Chori Castro getting the only goal. Malaga v Valladolid and Almeria against Deportivo La Coruna both ended in 1-1 draws.

Sevilla moved into third spot with a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon.

Facing the boot

Serie A: Juventus’ rookie coach Ciro Ferrara is now seriously facing the boot as his side slumped to a 3-1 defeat to promoted Bari away from home. Following their Champions League hiding by Bayern Munich, Juventus were looking to bounce back, but it was not to be. Ricardo Meggiorin, Barreto and Sergio scored for the hosts while David Trezeguet struck for the visitors.

Napoli let a two-goal lead slip against Cagliari as the game ended 3-3. AC Milan’s superb run of form came to an abrupt end as they were beaten 2-0 by Palermo at the San Siro. Goals from Fabrizio Miccoli and Mark Bresciano in the second-half did the trick for the visitors. Milan’s only spark of the day came from the fact that Inter had also dropped points. Inter’s game against Atalanta ended 1-1 with Diego Milito’s strike being cancelled out by Simone Tiribocchi.

Livorno and Lazio had similar 1-0 victories over Catania and Genoa respectively. Chievo, Parma and Siena also won by similar margins defeating Fiorentina, Bologna and Undinese 2-1 respectively. Sampdoria who has been poor since their blistering start to the season took on a now stabilised Roma under former Juve manager Claudio Ranieri. Neither side could take the advantage in a scrappy match and the tie ended 0-0

A great week!

Bundesliga: German giants Bayern Munich continue to turn around their season by giving Bochum a 5-1 hammering away from home. The win further pushed them up the table and capped off a fine week as they thrashed Juventus 4-1 in Turin to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.

In the second five-goal thriller of the round, Hanover was defeated by Borussia M’gladbach 5-3. Two own-goals from Hanover player Karim Haggui effectively won the game for Gladbach.

Hamburg defeated Nuremburg 4-0 thanks to an Elijero Elia brace. Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim played to 1-1 draw with Cologne and Freiburg also ending in a draw but a goalless one. Schalke shrugged off Werder Bremen 2-0 through goals form Kevin Kuranyi and Jan Moravek. Borussia Dortmund effectively put the game to bed against Wolfsburg with their first two shots of the game. Lucas Barrios grabbed his brace with in 10 minutes. The game was put out of reach when Patrick Owomoyela made it 3-0.

Grafite pulled one back for Wolfsburg who found the task too great to overcome. Stuttgart v Mainz ended a goal a piece with former Arsenal and now Stuttgart keeper Jens Lehmann seeing red.