Real Madrid & Chelsea stay on top

Real Madrid, Chelsea stay on top while Barcelona, Manchester Utd., Arsenal keep up the pace to catch the leaders

Real thrashed Racing 6-1 @ the Bernabeu thanks largely to 4 goals scored by Ronaldo. It could have much more as Racing defended awfully bad keeping a very high line and allowing the Madrid forwards to break the offside trap time and again. Higuain & Ozil scored the other 2 goals while Rosenborg grabbed a consolation via a deflection.

Messi scored twice to help Barca win 2-0 @ Zaragoza. He scored goal in each half with Barca in cruise control throughout the game. Ponzio was sent off early in the 2nd half after Alves's antics and though Zaragoza defended well with 10 men they conceded a 2nd near the hour mark and Barca continued their winning run.
Valencia lost 1-2 to Mallorca @ the Mestalla. The main talking point being the 7th minute penalty to Mallorca awarded by the referee for a non-existent foul on Webo.
Atletico Madrid lost 2-0 away to Villareal with Rossi scoring a wonderful individual effort in the 2nd half.

Player of the week: Cristiano Ronaldo

Goal of the week: Rossi (Villareal vs Atletico) 

Match of the week: Sevilla 4-3 Athletic Bilbao: Fabiano (2), Kanoute (2) & Llorente (2). Navarro sent off @ 65'.

Standings (GW # 8): 1. Real Madrid 20, 2. Villareal 19, 3. Barcelona 19, 4. Valencia 16.

Chelsea won 2-0 with goals from Malouda & Kalou against Wolves @ Stamford Bridge. Wolves played well and matched Chelsea in most departments except scoring goals. Arsenal won 3-0 away @ City of Manchester Stadium where Boyata was sent off on 5th minute for a professional foul on Chamakh. Joe Hart saved a 1st half penalty from Fabregas but it wasnt enough for City after they played most of the match with 10 men. Nasri scored the pick of the goals while Song & Bendtner added the others in a game that Arsenal dominated after the sending off. Silva & Adebayor came close to scoring but Fabianksi saved efforts from both to earn the plaudits for a perfect match by Arsenal (first clean sheet on the road for Arsenal since Feb '10). 

Manchester United scored their 1st away victory in the EPL this season with a 2-1 away @ Stoke. Chicharito scored a brace with an innovative 1st header while Tuncay grabbed the consolation for Stoke. Gary Neville can consider himself lucky that the referee didnt send him off for a 2nd bookable offence on Etherington late in the 1st half - Ferguson promptly replaced him with Brown for the 2nd half.

Liverpool recorded only their 2nd league win of the season by winning 2-1 at home to Blackburn with goals from Krygiakos & Torres. Liverpool dominated for large periods of the match but still went into the break with scored tied at 0-0 thanks to Robinson's antics at the opposite end. Krygiakos opened the scoring from a Gerrard corner on 48th minute. However, the lead didnt last long as Blackburn scored with their only real chance of the game after Diouf goal bound shot was stopped by Konchesky but turned in by wrong-footed Carragher. Liverpool continued with their attacks and Cole's cross was turned in by Torres who continued his rich scoring form against Blackburn in every game. Liverpool couldnt add more goals to the game and still remain in the relegation zone but just 3 pts separate them and 7th placed Sunderland in the table.

Player of the week: Samir Nasri

Goal of the week: Tuncay (Stoke vs Man Utd.) 

Match of the week: Man City 0-3 Arsenal: Nasri, Song & Bentdner. Boyata sent off @ 5'.

Standings (GW # 9): 1. Chelsea 22, 2. Arsenal 17, 3. Man Utd 17, 4. Man City 17.

Next week's stand-out fixtures:

La liga - Barcelona vs Sevilla

EPL - Manchester United vs Tottenham Spurs 

This week's trivia - name the last Real Madrid player who scored most number of goals in a single La Liga match & how many did he score ?