Europes Top: A Wrap!!!

It was a weekend of goals and smashing performances from of Europe’s top teams across the leagues. From the captivtating English Premier League, to the stylish Spanish La Liga, the shocks in the German Bundesliga to the business as usual trend in the Italian Seria A, results have been achieved, games lost and won in the dying minutes and  the action seemed unending.

On Saturday the shock result had two candidates, from the stiff goalless draw achieved by Stoke City at Anfield against the once again disappointing Liverpool, to the 2-5 thrashing of Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the hands of the rampaging Weder Bremen (who in truth needed such a result after the poor result at home in the champions league in midweek). Roma did pick up a good result against Regginna  and the impact of Francesco Totti was there for all to be seen. Arsenal picked up a deserved 3-1 win at the Reebok stadium despite going down in the early stages and their performance characterized by a quick and stylish passing attack influenced game that put them atop of the table, should help Arsene Wenger in his quest for the Premiership title. New man, Gianfranco Zola led his team to a victory over the crisis ridden Newcastle United, and his good start was down to the industry of compatriot David Di Michele.

Sunday’s big game was definitely Chelsea at home against the unimpressive defending champions, Manchester United and it was a game that didn’t have a lot of individual brilliance and the viewership would not be excited at the quality of the game. Goals from Ji Sun Park and Salomon Kalou were enough to cancel out each other on the day; Manchester City showed their potential and the danger of underestimating the new “Big Boys”. Goals from six different players against Portsmouth give reason to the assumption of the new players settling down quick. Aston Villa put up their second impressive back-to-back away performance by beating West Brom at their back yard. The hype that followed the summer business and impressive pre-season showing of Tottenham Hotspurs now has to be effectively dismissed, as another uninspiring show at White Hart Lane against a well structured Wigan Athletic leaves the team without a win this season at the bottom of the log.

Jose Mourinho would take a lot of heart from the performance of his boys as Inter Milan effectively beat Torino to go top of the Seria A and its was stand-out play from Brazilan right-back Maicon that set the tone for victory. Juventus did not disappoint as they beat Cagliari by a lone goal off the boot of the dangerous Amaury. A.C Milan beat SS Lazio comprehensively at the San Siro and any talk of a crisis or the sacking of Coach Carlo Ancelloti disappeared after goals from Clarence Seedoff, Zambrota, Pato and Kaka sandwiched the only goal for Lazio from the in-form Mauro Zarate.

Normal service resumed in Spain and Barcelona showed intent with their 6-1 whitewash of new boys Gijon away from home, while Goals from Ruben De La Red and Ruud Van Nistelroy delivered the goods for Bernd Shuster’s Real Madrid, as Villarreal and Valencia picked up wins without key players