Swans stick up the Gunners

EPL: The biggest upset of the new calendar year took place on Sunday as Swansea City came from behind to clip Arsenal 3-2. The in-form Robin van Persie fired the Gunners into the lead before being pegged back by a penalty strike from Scott Sinclair and trailing Swansea following a second-half strike from prospective Jamaican international Nathan Dyer. Theo Walcott did score Arsenal’s second on 69 minutes to bring the teams level but this, however, was short-lived as Danny Graham bagged the game’s winner less than a minute after Walcott’s goal.

Manchester United maintained the pressure on “their noisy neighbours” as they easily dispatched Bolton Wanderers 3-0. In his second game out of retirement Paul Scholes proved his worth as he finished from close range to give the Red Devils the lead on the stroke of half-time.

In the second half, Danny Welbeck and Michael Carrick made the points sure to keep Bolton firmly in the relegation zone. A fortuitous first-half strike from Frank Lampard handed Chelsea a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sunderland to extend their lead on the Gunners for the final Champion’s League spot.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs failed to overcome weaker opponents as they drew 0-0 with Stoke City and 1-1 with Wolves respectively while the encounter between Aston Villa and Everton also ended in a 1-1 draw.

Yellow Submarines continue to plummet

La Liga: A 3-0 whipping at the hands of Atletico Madrid ensured that for another weekend, at least, Villareal remained in the bottom three of the league. Ramadel Falcao scored twice for the victors who used the win to climb into the top half of the league while condemning one of the league’s better squads to another week in the gutters.

Real Madrid showed no signs of easing up as they came from behind to defeat Mallorca 2-1 on the road. Mallorca had the league leaders trailing in the 39th minute as Tomer Hemed put them ahead but Real sneaked away with maximum points through late strikes from Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon. Champion’s League hopefuls were denied the opportunity to close the gap on the teams leading the race as they suffered a surprise 1-0 home defeat against Real Sociedad.

Athletic Bilbao increased their chances of claiming a spot amongst Europe’s elite as they used a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante to climb into fifth place. Spanish international Fernando Llorente capped off a fine overall performance with a goal. Rayo Vallecano recorded their second win in as many games defeating Granada 2-1 away while Racing Santander also claimed three points on the road, easing past Osasuna 2-0.

Inter claim Milan derby

Serie A: The impressive form of Inter Milan showed true on Sunday as they upset city rivals and previous league leaders AC Milan 1-0 on their home turf. A defensive lapse put Diego Milito through on goal in the 54th minute and like a true talisman he capitalised on the error to hand his team victory.

Despite playing to a 1-1 draw with Cagliari, Juventus regained the top spot in the league as a result of Milan derby, as they were trailing Milan on goal difference. Possibly foreseeing the result of the Milan derby, Lazio registered a much needed 2-0 home win over Atalanta with strikes from Miroslav Klose and Hernanes. The win helped them to maintain a one point lead over Inter.

Inspired by Sebastian Giovinco, Parma claimed an impressive 3-1 home win to pull six places away from the relegation zone.

The German Bundesliga is still on winter break.

— Devaro Bolton