Premiership: Wolves maul City

David Edwards scored his first goal in 14 months to earn Wolves a shock 2-1 win over Manchester City and boost their Premier League survival hopes. City went ahead from the penalty spot after a foul on David Silva but Wolves fought back with two goals and held on for victory. Champions Chelsea had to come from behind to take maximum points from Blackburn in a battling display. Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic got the goals for the leaders. Fulham kept their good home form going with a 2-0 victory over Wigan thanks to a brace from Clint Dempsey. Alex Song’s late header denied West Ham a deserved point at the Emirates as the Gunners overcame the cellar dwellers 1-0. Manchester United made it two wins on the trot with a 2-0 victory over the impressive Tottenham albeit in controversial circumstances. Stoke slipped to their third straight defeat as Everton extended their unbeaten run to five games with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Goodison Park. Newcastle blitzed local rivals Sunderland in a 5-1 drubbing of Steve Bruce’s side. Captain Kevin Nolan scored a hat-trick and Shola Ameobi grabbed a brace as the Toons battered the Blackcats. Maxi Rodriguez struck a late winner to earn Liverpool a 1-0 win over Bolton and maintain what little momentum they have started to build. In the other Derby clash of the round, Aston Villa and Birmingham played to a goalless draw.

La Liga: Ronaldo and Messi again

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were in scintillating form again as both bagged braces in Barcelona and Real Madrid’s respective victories. Barca thrashed Sevilla 5-0 with an imperious display at Camp Nou, while Real came from behind to beat Hercules 3-1. Valencia lags six points off the lead as they were held to a 1-1 draw with Zaragoza. Giuseppe Rossi struck a late penalty to earn 10-man Villarreal a 1-1 draw with Sporting Gijon. Racing Santander produced their best performance of the season thus far with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Osasuna. Deportivo eased pass Espanyol 3-0 and Malaga was left to rue Apono’s penalty miss as they remained without a point in five home matches this season following a 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad. Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 with Almeria while Bilbao defeated Getafe 3-0.

Serie A: Old Lady sings

Juventus put in an inspired performance to defeat AC Milan 2-1 and put themselves in the fray for the Serie A title. Fabio Quagliarella and Alessandro Del Piero got the goals for the travelling Juventus while Ibrahimovic got the consolation for Milan. Mirko Vucinic’s 76th minute strike moved Roma into the top half of the league with a 2-0 wins over Lecce. Leaders Lazio, Sampdoria and Napoli all had 1-0 wins over Palermo, Cesena and Brescia respectively. Second half strikes from Nene and Radja Nainggolan earned Cagliari a 2-0 win over Bologna with Udinese sharing a similar score line against Bari. Palermo and Chievo ended a goalless draw as both sides were reduced to 10-men and Fiorentina failed to score against Catania.

Bundesliga: Dortmund on top

Borussia Dortmund replaced Mainz at the summit of the Bundesliga as they defeated Mainz 2-0 in the top of the table clash. Lucas Barrios and Mario Gotze scored the goals for the new leaders while Eugen Polanski missed a penalty for Mainz. Gylfi Sigurdsson bagged a brace and an assist in Hoffenheim’s 4-0 win over Hannover 96. Wolfsburg climbed clear of trouble with a 2-0 win over Stuttgart who lies third from bottom with seven points. FC Cologne and Nurnberg both had similar 3-2 victories over Hamburg and Werder Bremen respectively. A Sidney Sam second half strike earned Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win over Schalke. Greek international Theofanis Gekas notched a brace as Eintracht Frankfurt defeated St Pauli 3-1.