Starting in England there were many incredible games over the weekend, but the Arsenal win over Manchester United was by far the best and most consequential at the top of the table. It was an incredible 3-2 shootout that saw Manchester United almost squeak out a 2-2 draw after a mere six shots heading into the 89th minute, but Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah had other plans after he bagged a second goal in the 90th minute to send Arsenal 5 points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand over perennial title contenders (and often winners) Manchester City. Man Utd’s defense was poor and Erik Ten Hag made it clear he expected more from his team in the post match press conferences.
In other news Chelsea continued their spending spree signing Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk for an absurd $108.4 million dollars. This was unfortunately not enough for them after a disappointing 0-0 draw with Liverpool. Meanwhile, Manchester City kept their title hopes alive with a 3-0 win over the Wolves featuring an Erling Haaland hat trick. That brings his goal haul up to 25, which will almost definitely be enough to win him the golden boot this season.
In Germany Bayern had a disappointing first game back from winter break with a 1-1 draw with Leipzig. The Bavarian giants are still top of the table but will have to pick up the pace quickly as both Frankfurt and Union Berlin won their respective games over the weekend. In Dortmund Jude Bellingham kept up his World Cup goal scoring form with an incredible opening goal against Augsburg to inspire his team to a big 4-3 win, Gio Reyna also got on the score sheet and celebrated with the classic finger in his ears celebration.
Moving south to Italy Napoli seems to have the Serie A in the back after recording yet another win with Osimhen continuing his fine run of form. That, however, took back burner to the clash between Juventus and Atalanta which was a 6 goal thriller that went back and forth with the teams settling for a draw after an amazing Ademola Lookman brace for Atalanta. Roma also moved up to fourth with a classy 2-0 win over Spezia featuring two Paulo Dybala assists.
Finally, in Spain (the Ligue 1 had an off week) Atletico Madrid cruised to a 3-0 victory over Real Valladolid and both Real Madrid and Barcelona dispatched their respective opponents with relative ease. That leaves Barcelona top of the tables with 44 points, Real Madrid 3 points behind, Real Sociedad three points behind them despite having played one more game, and Atletico Madrid in the final Champions league spot 7 points off Real Sociedad and 13 points off Barcelona.