European Football Weekend Review

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Premier League - Brighton 2-1 Manchester City

Brighton produced a stirring comeback on Saturday evening to inflict a 4th straight defeat on Man City, the most losses Pep Guardiola has suffered since becoming Man City manager back in 2016. 

The result and Liverpool’s win over Aston Villa opens up a 5 point gap at the top of the league with City struggling without the presence of the new Ballon D'or winner Rodri, as well as the continued fitness issues that plague Kevin De Bruyne. 

Erling Haaland had put the Citizens into a 23rd minute lead, taking his tally to the season to 11 goals in 12 Premier League games. 

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler made several key substitutions in the 2nd half, notably Matt O’Riley and Joao Pedro who would score 2 goals in a 5 minute spell to give the Seagulls a famous win, and stretch their unbeaten home start to 6, 1 game off their best overall start achieved back in 1982-83 (7 games).

With 19 points, Brighton are level on points with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Nottingham Forest, occupying 6th spot; Next up is a trip to Bournemouth. 

City will be glad of the respite that the international break will bring, allowing Pep some thinking time to come up with solutions to arrest their current form; they host Tottenham in 2 weeks time. 

Other Results

Brentford 3-2 Bournemouth

Crystal Palace 0-2 Fulham

West Ham 0-0 Everton

Wolves 2-0 Southampton

Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa

Man Utd 3-0 Leicester City

Nottingham Forest 1-3 Newcastle United

Tottenham 1-2 Ipswich Town

Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

Player Of The Weekend - Bruno Fernandes

The Portuguese was in fine form, helping Man Utd to 3-0 win over Leicester, grabbing a goal and an assist to give Ruud Van Nistelrooy a happy send off, making it 3 wins and a draw in all competitions under the Dutchman. 

League Table

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La Liga - Real Sociedad 1-0 Barcelona

Real Sociedad ended Barcelona’s excellent recent run of results, winning 1-0 with a goal from Sheraldo Becker enough to take all 3 points.

Without young talisman Lamine Yamal, Barca struggled to create opportunities, failing to register a shot on target in the game. They had only achieved this unwanted stat once before, back in 2014 in a goalless draw with Malaga. 

La Real were well worth the win, and in truth should arguably have added more to the scoreboard, only for the likes of Mikel Oyarzabal, and Takefuso Kubo failing to take the opportunities presented to them. 

Real Madrid made full use of the slip up, dispatching 4-0 to narrow the gap at the top of La Liga to 6 points, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side having a game in hand. 

The victory puts Sociedad into 8th spot, 6 points off the Champions League places; they face minnows Jove Espanyol on Thursday week in the Copa Del Rey, before facing Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao the following Sunday. 

Hansi Flick will be glad of the international break to take the sting out of the defeat, they travel to Celta Vigo on Sunday 23 November, hoping to get back to winning ways quickly. 

Other Results

Rayo Vallecano 1-3 Las Palmas

Real Madrid 4-0 Osasuna

Villarreal 3-0 Alaves

Espanyol P-P Valencia

Leganes 1-0 Sevilla

Real Betis 2-2 Celta Vigo 

Mallorca 0-1 Atlético Madrid

Getafe 0-1 Girona

Real Valladolid 1-1 Athletic Bilbao

Real Sociedad 1-0 Barcelona 

Player Of The Weekend - Vinicius Junior

The Brazilian continues to be the main man at the Bernabeu, usurping his teammate Kylian Mbappe time and time again, surely something that could cause tactical as well as personal headaches for coach Ancelotti down the line. Vinicius Jr grabbed himself a hatrick in the 4-0 pummeling of Osasuna, taking his tally to 12 goals in La Liga so far this season. 

League Table

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Bundesliga - VFB Stuttgart 2-3 Eintracht Frankfurt

Despite being massively outplayed, Frankfurt left the MHP Arena with all 3 points, securing the away win, stretching their unbeaten run in all competitions to 6. 

Stuttgart will be left scratching their heads as to how they did not at least take a point from the contest; Die Schwaben (the Swabians) hit the woodwork, missed several good opportunities, and striker Ermedin Demirovic had a penalty comfortably saved by Kevin Trapp.

Once again the man of the moment for Frankfurt, Omar Marmoush was in scintillating form, scoring a superb freekick, and providing an assist that takes him level with Harry Kane at the top of the goalscorers charts; for good measure, he also heads the assists charts. 

Hugo Ekitike, Nathaniel Brown, and the aforementioned Marmoush put the away side into commanding 3-0 lead, only for 2 late goals from Josha Vagnoman and Nick Woltemade to provide late drama. Chris Fuhrich thought he had leveled the game deep into stoppage time, but his strike was ruled out by VAR for offside. 

Frankfurt remain in 3rd place, occupying a Champions League place, but still 5 points off table toppers Bayern.

Stuttgart drop into the bottom half of the table, continuing their disappointing league form this campaign. 

Other Results

Union Berlin 0-0 Freiburg 

Bochum 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen 

Mainz 3-1 Borussia Dortmund 

St.Pauli 0-1 Bayern Munich 

Werder Bremen 2-1 Holstein Kiel 

RB Leipzig 0-0 Borussia Monchengladbach 

Augsburg 0-0 Hoffenheim 

FC Heidenheim 1-3 Wolfsburg 

Player Of The Weekend - Omar Marmoush 

Where would Frankfurt be without their talisman this season? The Egyptian has provided 18 goal contributions so far, his latest goal was a wonderful dipping free kick from distance that left Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nubel helpless; it is no surprise that the likes of German giants Bayern are keeping a close eye on him. 

League Table

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Serie A - Inter 1-1 Napoli

Coming into the fixture only a point separated the sides, Inter were hoping to overtake Napoli, who having been well beaten by Atalanta were aiming to avoid back-to-back defeats. 

In the end the game would finish in a scoredraw, with the main talking point being Hakan Calhanoglu missing the first penalty of his Inter career, the Turkish midfielder could only watch in horror as his spotkick struck the post. 

Already becoming an indispensable member of Antonio Conte’s side since joining from Manchester United in the summer, Scott McTominay opened the scoring, pouncing inside the penalty area to put Napoli into a 23rd minute lead. 

Calhanoglu would equalise for Inter just before the break, his long-range effort deceiving Alex Meret in the Napoli goal, the netminder might feel he could have done slightly better with the goal.

Simone Inzagi’s side moved the ball well on occasions, but found their opponents stubborn and difficult to break down, the Nerazzurri failing to create many clear cut opportunities.  

In the end both teams will take a point, safe knowing no ground was lost in the pursuit of the Serie A title heading into the international break. 

Inter travel to Verona in 2 weeks time with the aim of capitalising on any slip ups in the title race. 

Napoli will host Roma, fresh from sacking manager Ivan Juric after their poor start to the season continued under the Croatian’s short reign. 

Other Results

Genoa 1-1 Como 

Lecce 1-1 Empoli 

Venezia 1-2 Parma 

Cagliari 3-3 AC Milan

Juventus 2-0 Torino 

Atalanta 2-1 Udinese 

Fiorentina 3-1 Verona 

Roma 2-3 Bologna 

Monza 0-1 Lazio 

Player Of The Weekend - Moise Kean 

The former Juve and Everton forward is enjoying life since swapping Turin for Florence in the summer, Kean hit all 3 of Fiorentina’s goals in their 3-1 win over Verona on Sunday; the treble takes him to win 3 goals of the Capocannoniere leader Mateo Retegui.

League Table

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Ligue 1 - Marseille 1-3 Auxerre 

There were loud boos reverberating around the Velodrome last Friday night as Marseille suffered a shock home defeat mid-table Auxerre.

Happy to cede possession to Roberto De Zerbi’s men, Auxerre favoured the direct route to beat the Marseille press; a good example being goalkeeper Donovan Leon’s assist for the opening goal.

Gaetan Perrin once again played a starring role for AJA, getting a goal and an assist to go with his 2 goals last week in the win over Rennes; Lassine Sinayoko and Hamed Traore were also on target.

Despite the accusation of playing outdated football, only PSG, Marseille, and Nice have scored more goals in Ligue 1 this season.

Poor defending, a high line exposed again and again, as well as a weak attack left all involved with Marseille with much food for thought over the coming break; Mason Greenwood inpulled 1 back from the spot, but failed to inspire a comeback.

Lens away comes next for Marseille in a fortnight, with a positive response required after 2 chastening defeats inside the last month.

Angers make the trip to the Stade de l’abbe-Deschamps after the internationals, Auxerre have lost just once at home all season so will fancy themselves in this encounter.

Other Results

Strasbourg 1-3 Monaco 

Lens 3-2 Nantes 

Angers 2-4 PSG 

Nice 2-2 Lille 

Le Havre 0-3 Reims 

Montpellier 3-1 Stade Brest 

Rennes 0-2 Toulouse 

Lyon 1-0 St.Etienne 

Player Of The Weekend - Gaetan Perrin

Perrin’s input has been vital to Auxerre securing back-to-back wins over Rennes and Marseille, the Frenchman scoring 3 and assisting 1. The results have helped propel his side into the top half of the table with the European spots firmly in their sights. 

League Table