Spurs continue revival

Newly appointed Tottenham boss Tim Sheerwood maintained his unbeaten Premier League record as Spurs defeated Manchester United 2-1 on New Year’s Day.

Emmanuel Adebayor headed Spurs into the lead against the run of play in the 34th minute. That lead was doubled by Christian Eriksen when he rounded off a counter-attacking move in the 66th minute. Danny Welbeck pulled one back almost immediately after, however, but that was all she wrote for United.

Manchester City’s winning ways have continued into the new year, the blue Mancunians outscored Swansea City 3-2 at Liberty Stadium. Fernandinho scored the first Premier League goal of 2014 when he pounced on a loose ball in the box to fire home in the 14th, but Wilfried Bony pulled one back in first-half stoppage time. Yaya Toure and Aleksander Kolarov also scored for City, while Bony had another in injury time.

Liverpool 2 — Hull City 0

Southampton 0 — Chelsea 3

Arsenal 2 — Cardiff 0

Sanchez treble seals easy win for Barcelona

In the absence of the injured Lionel Messi, and the rested Neymar, Alexis Sanchez put his hand up to lead Barcelona to a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Elche. The Chilean forward scored three — in the seventh, 63rd and 69th minutes — while Pedro scored one in the first half. The goals ensured the Catalonian team took back their place as league leaders.

Atletico Madrid resumed their march on the Spanish Primera title as they ground out a 1-0 win at Malaga on Saturday. Leading scorers Diego Costa and David Villa did not fire on the day, but it was Koke who rifled home the winner to move Atletico eight points clear of city rivals Real Madrid, who play Monday.

Valencia 2 — Levante 0

Sevilla FC 3 — Getafe 0

Real Sociedad 2 — Athletic Bilbao 0

Bianconeri dismiss Roma

Defending champions Juventus defeated AS Roma 3-0 in what was a one-sided top of the table clash in Turin. Arturo Vidal opened the scoring in the 17th minute and Leonardo Bonucci doubled the lead just after half time.

Roma defender Leandro Castan handled in the area and subsequently received a red card, Mirko Vucinic scored the resulting penalty kick to make it three.

Gonzalo Rodriguez headed home the only goal of the game as Fiorentina defeated Livorno 1-0 on Sunday.

The Argentine defender headed in from a Borja Valero corner, only two minutes after Ibrahima M’Baye hit the post for Livorno.

Meanwhile, Giuseppe Rossi limped off the field with what seems to be another knee injury, a major blow for the Italian national team.

Chievo 0 — Cagliari 0