EPL: Luis Suarez, this weekend netted a triple against Wigan to help Liverpool into seventh, and himself to first in league goals as the Reds won 4-0.

Shinji Kagawa also netted a hat-trick as Manchester United disposed of Norwich with by the same margin. In the North London derby, Gareth Bale took his tally to nine goals in seven games as the Spurs overcame Arsenal 2-1 at home to leapfrog Chelsea and take third place.

A few days after Rafa Benitez’ angry outburst about of his lack of support in West London, Chelsea managed to coax out a 1-0 win over West Brom. Swansea also won 1-0 against Newcastle in a game that seemed even until Luke Moore capitalised on poor Geordie defending. Meanwhile, sixth-placed Everton made light work of relegation candidates Reading with a 3-1 win.

Bottom of the table QPR eked out only their third win of the season against Southampton as a gutsy team performance gave them the 2-1 triumph.

Barca lose again

La Liga: Jose Mourinho fielded a weakened team against Barcelona in El Clasico, with Cristiano Ronaldo most notably on the bench ahead of Real’s clash with Manchester United today.

Ronaldo, however, came on in the second half and helped Madrid to the 2-1 win, Barca’s third defeat in three games after losing to AC Milan, and to Real in the Copa Del Rey. Second Atletico Madrid, however, now just one point ahead of Los Blancos, were held to a 0-0 draw by Malaga.

Valencia also had to settle for just one point as Levante equalised in the penultimate minute of regulation time to snatch a 2-2 draw. Bilbao meanwhile put a little more space between them and the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at Osasuna.

Juve keep lead

Serie A: Juventus kept their lead of six points in the race for the Scudetto as they kept their closest challegers Napoli to a 1-1 tie at Napoli.

AC Milan, however, who were at one point not even in the top half jumped into third with a victory over their former leaders Lazio. AC, without Mario Balotelli who was injured outplayed the Romans for a 3-0 win.

Inter were far less convincing as had to rely on Rodrigo Palacio’s second in the 92nd minute to get the win at Catania. Pescara boss Cristiano Bergodi had no saving grace at the end however as he was sacked after Pescara went down 1-0 at home to Udinese.

Second-bottom Genoa were defeated by mid-table Roma 2-1as the legendary Francesco Totti converted a penalty, while Bologna blanked Cagliari 3-0.

Top teams execute

Bundesliga: Bayern Munich were made to fight for their 1-0 win over Hoffenheim this weekend as the Bavarians came up against a staunch and slightly lucky Hoffenheim defence.

Dortmund didn’t have as much trouble as Robert Lewandowski netted a brace on his return from suspension to give them a 3-1 win over Hannover. Leverkusen also took care of business as they marched past Stuttgart 2-1 as Stefan Kiessling scored yet again this season. Kiessling and Lewandowski are tied for top scorer in the league.

Julian Draxler scored a brace to highlight a great performance in Schalke’s 4-1 rout of Wolfsburg who will have to play Bayern in the semifinal of the German Cup. Wolfsburg are inching closer towards the relegation zone as they are just six points ahead of Augsburg who upset Bremen 1-0.