A look at La Liga !

Barcelona remained four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after comfortably beating Racing Santander 3-0 at Camp Nou, continuing their brilliant goalscoring and clean sheet record. They currently have + 53 goal difference in comparison with Real Madrids +31. Pedro, Andres Iniesta, and a penalty kick from Lionel Messi secured another valuable victory for the Catalunyans who are sitting quite nicely at the top of the league.

Lionel Messi, in the best form of his life after winning the Fifa
Ballon D'or for the second successive year.

Karim Benzema; scored the match winner.

Real Madrid just about defeated Real Mallorca at the Santiago Bernebau beating them 1-0 courtesy of a goal from French international and former Lyon striker Karim Benzema. Cristiano Ronaldo came close with a free-kick just wide and also saw one of his headers strike the crossbar. Iker Casillas made a very important save right at the end of the match after a shot from Mallorca's Webo, the Spanish number 1 putting it out for a corner which was cleared by the Madrid defence, and they held on to the win, keeping the gap between them and Barcelona at four points.







Other Results:

Almeria	3-2	Osasuna

Getafe	1-3	Espanyol

Real Zaragoza	1-0	Deportivo La Coruna

Sporting Gijon	1-0	Atletico Madrid

Sevilla	4-1	Levante

Valencia	4-3	Malaga

Premier League round-up

This weekends Barclays Premier League games saw Manchester United go back to the top of the table after a 5-0 thrashing of Birmingham City at Old Trafford, Arsenal jumped to second capitalising on Manchester City's defeat, Liverpool temporarily climbed into the top half and Stoke dropped to 10th after a poor loss to Fulham.

Brilliant Berbatov scores 3 for United.

At Old Trafford the league leaders Manchester United took on Alex Mcleish's Birmingham side who were hovering above the relegation zone. United continued their unbeaten run and after their average displays they provided a performance worthy of their current status as the Premier League leaders. A hat-trick from star man this season Dimitar Berbatov and goals from Ryan Giggs and Luis Nani gave United the 5 goals and the important 3 points sending them back to the top replacing big rivals Manchester City. Despite not scoring, Wayne Rooney proved to be influential in the build up to United's goals providing some nice skill and a great cross to assist Giggs. A much better performance from United against a poor Birmingham side who were not really in it.

Valiant Van Persie celebrates hat-trick.

Arsenal secured second place after a very comfortable 3-0 victory over relegation battlers Wigan Athletic at the Emirates. A hat-trick from the Flying Dutchman Robin Van Persie gave the hosts the victory, and he could have had four after a penalty was awarded to Arsenal because of a foul by Gary Caldwell who consequently got sent off. Van Persie had already scored 2 prior to the penalty but he skied it over the crossbar. But Van Persie redeemed himself and got the goal to earn him the match ball.

£24 million Bent cherishes his debut goal for Villa.

Manchester City lost their place at the top of the league after a disappointing 1-0 defeat away to Aston Villa at Villa Park. City had some good opportunities, especially a quickly whipped in corner from Kolarov went all the way through the box, Argentine international Carlos Tevez missing the opportunity. After a week of controversy and headlines for the big transfer of Darren Bent from Sunderland to Aston Villa, the £24 million striker popped up to give Villa the winner in the 18th minute getting a goal on his debut. Amazing scenes were witnessed when the goal went in and Bent was full of happiness and passion getting his first goal as an Aston Villa player.

Delight for Dalglsih as Liverpool cruise to victory over Wolves.

The early lunchtime kick off saw Wolverhampton Wanderers face Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool at Molineux. Dalgsish was still awaiting his first win since becoming manager of Liverpool, replacing the unfortunate Roy Hodgson. Wolves managed to beat the Reds 1-0 at Anfield shortly after Christmas last year, but it was a different story this time. Fernando Torres opened the scoring after receiving the ball from Poulsen. Raul Meireles made it two for the visitors in the 50th minute with an absolutely stunning strike into the top corner. Torres wrapped things up in the 90th minute claiming his second and giving the Reds a 3-0 win and a first victory for King Kenny.

Forceful Fellaini grabs late equaliser for Everton.

Avram Grant was still in charge of West Ham United going into their crucial fixture against Everton, despite all of the speculation about his future last week. It was an interesting game at Goodison Park. Jonathan Spector gave West Ham the lead in the 26th minute, and the Hammers held on until the 77th minute when Russian Bilyaletdinov found the back of the net for he first time since the final game of last season. However West Ham regained the lead through a great header from Piquionne who, for his celebrations received a second yellow card, resulting in his dismissal. To make matters worse for the visitors, Marouane Fellaini salvaged a point for the Toffees with a last minute strike past Robert Green.

OTHER RESULTS


Newcastle United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
(Collocini, 59)            (Lennon, 90)

Blackburn Rovers 2-0 West Bromwich Albion
(Tamas OG, 41)
(Hoilett, 47)

Blackpool 1-2 Sunderland
(Adam, 86)     (Richardson, 15,36)

Fulham               2-0       Stoke City
(Dempsey, 33,56)        (Shawcross s/o, 55)


Tomorrow:

Bolton Wanderers v Chelsea 8.00pm KO Sky Sports

Premier League round-up

The Barclays Premier League games this weekend saw Manchester City go top of the table, but it was only temporarily as their big rivals Manchester United regained the top spot after their result at Spurs.

Nicolas Anelka celebrates with team-mate Frank Lampard
after the Frenchman got  Chelsea's second goal.

Chelsea managed to defeat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at Stamford Bridge courtesy of goals from Branislav Ivanovic and Frenchman Nicolas Anelka. Roque Santa Cruz started on the bench for Blackburn after he secured a loan move back to his former club from Manchester City. However when the Paraguay International came on, he failed to make an impact on the game, and wasn't influential enough to comeback from the 2-0 deficit.





Supporters at the City of Manchester stadium witnessed a spectacular thriller as Manchester City held on to beat Wolves 4-3. It was the visitors who took the lead through a scrappy goal, Milijas putting his name on the scoresheet for Mick Mccarthy's men. Wolves held on to their lead until the 40th minute when Kolo Toure grabbed the important equaliser before half-time. However, it was an incredible second half with Manchester City scoring three goals in reasonably quick succession, a magnificent solo effort from Carlos Tevez gave City the lad for the first time before Yaya Toure made it 3-1 to the hosts and it was 4-1 when Tevez got his second of the game. It looked to be an inevitable victory for the Blues, but Wolves didn't give up, and a Doyle penalty made it 4-2 before Zubar set up a very nervy and tense end in the 86th minute getting a third for the away side. Roberto Mancini's men held on for a valuable three points sending them to the top of the league, even if it was only for a short time. Widely discussed new City boy Edin Dzeko impressed on his debut after completing a move from German side Wolfsburg whom he scored two for against Manchester United in the Champions League.

Carlos Tevez celebrates after his tremendous goal against Wolves

Etherington on the way down, winning a penalty for the Potters.

Stoke City secured an important 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at a very windy Britannia Stadium, the first goal came from Danny Higginbotham after a scrappy build up, there was a debate over whether the ball had gone over the line but replays were conclusive and showed that the goal was right to have been allowed. Kenwyne Jones was gifted a great opportunity, his testing shot was well tipped over the bar from Jussi Jaskellainen. Tuncay was looking very sharp, and a potential threat to the Bolton defence, and the Turkish star got man of the match after reported to have posted videos of his goals online to attract clubs to him earlier in the week. In the second half, Bolton improved and had more chances in front of goal, but Stoke stayed strong and tight at the back, and when Matthew Etherington burst forwards to the goal, he was brought down by Zat Knight, giving the referee an easy decision to point to the spot awarding the Potters a penalty. The man who won the penalty, Etherington tucked it into the corner and despite Jaskellainen making contact with the ball it came off the post and went in, to give Stoke a 2-0 lead, which was the end result sending Stoke upto 8th in the table, level with Bolton and a game in hand on their opponents.

Jermaine Beckford after giving Everton a 2-1 lead.

The Merseyside Derby was one to enjoy as it finished 2-2 at Anfield in King Kenny's first home game as current manager of Liverpool. It was the home side who took the lead after Tim Howard made a cracking double save to deny Dirk Kuyt twice from close range, the ball found Raul Meireles near the edge of the box who struck it perfectly into the back of the net taking a slight deflection off Everton left-back Leighton Baines. However the Toffees made an immediate response in the second half with Sylvain Distin getting his first premier league goal for Everton heading it in from the corner and despite Glen Johnsons headed effort off the line it went in and it was 1-1. Six minutes later the visitors had the lead after a good finish from former Leeds United striker Jermaine Beckford. But in the 68th minute Tim Howard brought Maxi Rodriguez down inside the box, the referee immediately giving the penalty which Dirk Kuyt took responsibility of in place of suspended captain Steven Gerrard and placed it in the bottom  corner in front of the passionate Kop. Neither side could find a winner though, but an encouraging performance, and Torres looked more motivated, the Spanish man hitting the post in the first half.



Other Results:

Birmingham City 1-1 Aston Villa
(Johnson, 49)           (Collins, 73)

Sunderland 1-1 Newcastle United
(Gyan, 90)        (Nolan, 52)

Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester United