AC Milan and Arsenal stutter with draws

While the Serie A looks to return to normality with Inter Milan near the top, Spain's La Liga is looking competitive, and in the EPL Chelsea is running away four points ahead of second-placed Arsenal. The Bundesliga looks very interesting with Bayern Munich ninth, seven points behind first placed Mainz 05, and the Ligue 1 looks very complicated with plenty of teams fighting for the title. Plenty of interesting results, so lets get started.

Berbatov with six goals in the Premier League

Manchester United - Liverpool

This epic match finished 3-2 for Manchester United, it was Dimitar Berbatov who grabbed a hat trick for United while Gerrard could only score a brace. The scoring started with Berbatov heading in from a corner before halftime, putting United in front. After the half, Berbatov struck again with a beautiful bycicle kick which looped over Reina, hit the bottom of the crossbar, and bounced into the back of the net. A truly sublime hit which put Ferguson and his men into dreamland. 


While Manchester United enjoyed plenty of chances, against the run of play, Raul Mereiles played Torres in, and Evans plowed through the Spaniard, giving Liverpool a lifeline. Gerrard scored the penalty making the score 2-1, and soon after Liverpool earned a free kick right outside Manchester United's penalty area, and Gerrard scored again. So another lead lost by Manchester United, and with only 8 minutes to go Liverpool were looking more composed than ever.


But United fought back and found the winner, Berbatov again heading the ball past Reina to complete his hat-trick and give United three important points. Berbatov is the first player in 64 years to score a hat-trick for Manchester United against Liverpool, back when Stan Pearson did it. And so the match ended 3-2 for Manchester United who are now 3rd in the table, while Liverpool are 16th.

In Italy, AC Milan are beginning to stumble, a 1-1 draw against Catania was all they could manage at home. Capuano scored a stunning long range volley to open the scoring, and AC Milan only found the back of the net with the eternal Filippo Inzaghi, if you want more info on that match, click here. Fiorentina lost 2-1 at home to Lazio, while they started the scoring with the 18 year-old Ljajic (one to watch out for) slotting in a penalty, Lazio fought back well to get three points away from home. 

Inzaghi equalized for AC Milan

Another one of Inter's main opponents for the title stumbled this weekend, Roma drew 2-2 against Bologna at home. While things looked rosy as the giallorossi went two goals up, Bologna fought till the end with Di Vaio scoring a late double to ruin Roma's party. But Juventus managed to win 4-0 against Udinese with the ex-Udinese players Quagliarella and Iaquinta scoring. Udinese find themselves bottom of the table with 0 points, and if they don't begin to win, then Guidolin will be without a job soon.

Inter Milan came back a goal down against Palermo to win 2-1 at the Renzo Barbera stadium. Both teams created plenty of chances and wasted a lot of them, but Eto'o scored a double to make sure that Inter draw near to the top of the table, right behind Cesena on goal difference. Cesena grabbed a 1-0 win against Lecce thanks to a sweet goal by Bogdani, who perfectly curled the ball onto the post and into the back of the net, to put the newly-promoted side at the top of the table.

Wenger babbling on about too much stoppage time

In England, Chelsea just can't stop winning, another big win for them against Blackpool which finished at 4-0 with Malouda scoring twice. Tottenham completed a late comeback against Wolves to win 3-1, with Van der Vaart scoring his first goal for the Spurs from a penalty. Tevez shined as Manchester City defeated Wigan at the DW Stadium, the Argentine scored a sublime chip and then assisted Yaya Toure for the second goal in City's 2-0 win. Arsenal slightly messed up in their 1-1 draw with Sunderland, Fabregas scored early as he was closing down Anton Ferdinand, and the defender's clearance hit his shin and looped into Sunderland's goal. Then, around the 70th Arsenal were given a penalty, Rosicky stepped up to take it, and he blasted it just inches over the bar. After that chance, Arsenal were punished in the 5th minute of stoppage time, Darren Bent knocking in an epic equalizer for all the fans at the Stadium of Light.




In Spain, Barcelona recover from their 2-0 loss to Hercules last week and defeat Atletico Madrid at the Calderon 2-1. But there's some sad news for any Barca fans out there, Messi received some ligament damage to his ankle and could be out for up to two weeks. Real Madrid also won 2-1, defeating Real Sociedad. Di Maria started the scoring with a wonderful goal, looping over the keeper into the far corner, and then Sociedad equalized from a free kick. It was Ronaldo who won the game, his free kick deflecting off of the wall and into the back of the net, giving Jose Mourinho a tight win.

Messi could miss some important games for Barcelona...

Sevilla, Villareal, and Valencia all won 2-1 defeating Malaga, Levante, and Hercules respectively, with Nilmar scoring both goals for Villareal, and Trezeguet scoring his first goal for Hercules from a penalty kick. 


Right now the La Liga table has Valencia two points ahead of Sevilla and Real Madrid, with Barcelona dragging behind in 6th place. Maybe this season we could see a different winner? What are your thoughts? 

The Resurrection of AC Milan and Real Madrid

Image from Reuters UK

This article was written by Amr Samy, you can visit his site here, and his articles on EPL Online here.


AC Milan and Real Madrid have begun their Champions League campaigns winning 2-0. Bad performances by them last season brought a lot of criticism towards the two giants of European football. Real being knocked out by Lyon and AC Milan losing to Manchester United made them the laughingstocks of last sesson's UEFA Champions League. But this season AC Milan and Real Madrid seem to have different mindsets from last season.

Ac Milan defeated Auxerre 2-0 at home, they had good chances and scored two goals in three minutes. But we can't consider that this performance will make them go far in this tournament. Auxerre were proactive, they tried to score, and had two dangerous balls in the match. AC Milan didn't have a full control over the match and this needs to be fixed if in their next matches they want to defeat strong teams, and ultimately aim for the trophy. Ibrahimovic had a great performance and it was a good response to all who criticized him, but he must have consistency.

Real Madrid on the other hand had complete control in their match, they put in a great performance and won 2-0, a good result. They controlled the match and showed their skills with little trouble. Real played a good match under Mourinho and it's a good start for their first match in the UEFA Champions League this season. The team was offensively active, a lot of chances were created. And the most important thing that they were coming from different ways and players, that is what Mourinho added to Real Madrid. They will go far in this tournament if they stay concentrated and continue with performances like this one against Ajax.

AC Milan will face Ajax next Champions League matchday as Real Madrid will face Auxerre. They'll both have to win these matches as the next match they'll be facing each other. So if they can have six points before they face each other in the, they'll both be in a good position. And then we'll have a spectacle to enjoy when the two teams battle each other for the top spot on the group.

This article was written by Amr Samy, you can visit his site here, and his articles on EPL Online here.

Mourinho finds winning way and holders struggle in Champions League

Jose Mourinho, ready to win more

The Champions League has begun, and while we are only at the group stages, I still find it very interesting to see how teams are finding European competition. There were plenty of interesting results in this group of matches, and as you'd expect, some ridiculous thrashings.

Make sure to click "Read More" to read more, and find out just what happened in Europe's top competition...

Plenty of goals in Serie A as Barca lose to newly-promoted Hercules

Kenwyne Jones celebrating his goal against Aston Villa

This weekend was wonderful for me. A return to domestic football which has begun to really excite me with plenty of surprise results. And there was another thing which made my weekend, there were plenty of goals scored. I'm not just talking Serie A, where there were 35 goals scored in the last slate of games, but there were exciting matches everywhere. In the EPL, Serie A, and La Liga, there were only two scoreless games, for me, that's awesome.

In England, we continue to see a Chelsea team which truly dominates. While they conceded their first goal in the Premier League this weekend, they had little trouble defeating West Ham 3-1 at Boleyn Ground. Essien scored a brace with Malouda scoring the other goal for Chelsea, and a late goal from Scott Parker brought one back for West Ham, but his pretty chip wasn't enough to stop Chelsea.

On the other hand, Manchester United were unable to win at Goodison Park. They were 3-1 up against Everton when the Toffees pulled two back in stoppage time for an epic 3-3 draw. The United defence looked shaky letting in two goals in the final minutes of the match, while I expect them to win the title, maybe they're just not secure enough at the back.

Arsenal had no trouble winning 4-1 against Bolton at the Emirates Stadium, while Manchester City should've done better only drawing 1-1 against Blackburn, with Vieira scoring their goal for them. West Brom and Tottenham also drew 1-1 along with Sunderland and Wigan. Blackpool got their second win this season beating Newcastle 2-0 at St. James' Park, a great result for the newly-promoted side which find themselves in fourth right now, only five points away from table leaders Chelsea. Liverpool could've done better, only drawing 0-0 against Birmingham, while Fulham defeated Wolves 2-1, and Stoke City defeated Aston Villa by the same scoreline.

Mourinho working his magic at the Bernabeu

In Spain, Jose Mourinho finally found the winning formation. Real Madrid won 1-0 against Osasuna with Ricardo Carvahlo scoring the only goal. Mesut Ozil was combining well with Ronaldo, and Higuain like always was pretty wasteful in front of goal.

However Real Madrid's main rivals for the title, Barcelona found a way to mess things up at home against newly-promoted side Hercules. Guardiola's men lost 2-0 in front of their fans, who were probably expecting the blaugrana to spank Hercules with five or six goals. This wasn't the case as the Paraguayan Nelson Valdez scored twice, with Trezeguet nearly scoring a third. It's advantage Mourinho (by one point), all the Portuguese coach has to do now is win the rest of his games.

In La Liga you also had an eight goal thriller between Real Zaragoza and Malaga! Malaga were five goals up by halftime, but after that the home fans of Zaragoza watched their side pull three back, hoping for probably one of the most epic comebacks in history. Atletico Madrid now stand at the top of the table after having defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1. Forlan and Tiago scored to make it 2-0, but Llorente pulled one back in the 89th, yet the equalizer didn't arrive.

Pepe celebrating his goal (assisted by Krasic) against Sampdoria

In Italy, Juventus and Sampdoria played out a 3-3 draw, and the new signing Krasic was instrumental for the bianconeri, providing two assists. AC Milan lost to Cesena 2-0 as Ibrahimovic and Robinho couldn't do much in their debut against the newly-promoted side. Another title contender lost, Roma suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Cagliari who found it easy to win after Nicolas Burdisso was sent off. Inter Milan were able to win 2-1 against Udinese, with Lucio scoring, and Samuel Eto'o tucking in the rebound of his penalty which was saved. Bari drew 2-2 against Napoli at the San Paolo stadium, where they played some fantastic football. A radically attacking possession game which was extremely risky, but produced plenty of chances which the Bari players were unable to put away.

That's basically all that happened this weekend, what are your thoughts on this weekend's action? Share your thoughts below by commenting!