Premier League

The international break may have tested the patience of football fans all over but after the long, aching wait things kicked back off with a bang. Arsenal hosted Manchester City in what was sure to be a litmus test for each of them and their championship aspirations. It was the hosts, with Danny Welbeck in tow, that started better. In fact Welbeck found himself on the end of an errant pass that had him fortuitously through on goal, but his confident little chip came back off the far post. He really should have scored.

Arsenal continued to dominate, yet it was City that took the lead on the break through Sergio Aguero after Matty Flamini misread a ball in the midfield. Following that it was City that controlled the play of the game, despite the odd bit of magic from Alexis Sanchez. Wenger must have had something to say at half time because things changed for the opposite in the second. Arsenal came out with passion and intensity and fully deserved their equaliser when Jack Wilshere finished off a nice goal. In fact before long they were in front as Sanchez powered home a difficult volley. City were aggressive all game, giving away plenty of fouls and copping a few yellows. Frank Lampard started but was subbed off at half time as he seemed off the pace. Arsenal seemed likely to hold on for the win until Martin Demichelis headed home from a corner to leave things tied at 2-2. Another set piece goal conceded by Arsenal (whose attacking dead ball stuff wasn’t much better), still it was a point which they were happy to take. Unfortunately right back Mathieu Debuchy could miss 4 months with an injury picked up in the second stanza.

The hero of the week was Diego Costa of Chelsea. He scored a hat-trick against Swansea as the Blues rallied from an early John Terry OG to cruise in the end to a 4-2 win. Costa scored the first three, all opportunistic and impressive strikers’ goals, before Loic Remy added a fourth. Jonjo Shelvey pulled one back late but it was only a consolation. We’re only 4 games in but Chelsea already seem to be running away with things. Costa has 7 goals in those 4 games (a mark it took Fernando Torres 52 games to reach for Chelsea!). Fabregas was also crucial, pulling the strings and creating goals as always.

You know it was a massive weekend when it takes this long to get to Manchester United! The Red Devils finally looked like the dominant force they appeared under Fergie (this column’s namesake), running absolute riot over QPR 4-0. It could have been double that. The Gaalacticos opened accounts with an Angel Di Maria special, a curling free kick that curled all the way inside the far post. Ander Herrera (on debut) scored from the edge of the box to make it two, before Rooney was given too much room to shoot and he made it three at the break. Daley Blind played the defensive midfield role well in his first game, spreading the ball around with ease while the back four (four not three, note) did all they had to do. Blackett and Evans had their best games of the season while Rafael and Marcos Rojo were superb on the flanks. Di Maria capped things off turning provider for Juan Mata. Falcao made an appearance off the bench too, though was unable to make it a scoring one as United earned a rare opportunity these days to take the foot off the pedal.

Oh, and Liverpool lost. Yeah, to Aston Villa. With no Sturridge, and Sterling rested off the bench, they were limp and lifeless. Mario Balotelli didn’t do a whole lot and the Reds barely managed a shot on target. Gabby Agbonlahor scored the winner. 1-0.

Alan Pardew does not seem long for his job, with Newcastle’s rotting body picked apart by the vultures of Southampton. Even Toon-Old Boy Jack Cork scored – something he didn’t do in 3 years for the Magpies. Italian Graziano Pelle grabbed a double, bringing his season tally to 3. Obviously Morgan Schneiderlin scored the fourth. Pardew may just find himself replaced by Steve Bruce, whose Hull City side drew 2-2 with West Ham this morning. Twice the Hammers equalised, as strikers Abel Hernandez and Enner Valencia each scored their first goals for their respective clubs. Valencia’s was a rocket.

And in the other games, Romelu Lukaku scored his first EPL goal for a club that actually owns him as Everton beat West Brom 2-0; Lenny Ulloa scored again for Leicester City, who were able to hold on for a plucky 1-0 win at Stoke; Sunderland snuck a 2-2 draw against Tottenham after Harry Kane scored an own goal in the last 10 minutes; Plus Crystal Palace had keeper Julian Speroni to thank for their 0-0 draw against promoted Burnley, after his brilliant penalty save with five minutes left on the clock.

La Liga

There’s major speculation over Cristiano Ronaldo’s future in Spain this week. Even his president at Real Madrid has admitted that Ronny’s “fed up” with things. Selling Ozil he wasn’t happy with last year, but selling Di Maria after the Argentine spurred Real to the Champions League (and Xabi Alonso too) seems to have pissed him off no end. I doubt losing to Atletico helped either.

Ronaldo returned for this game after getting the international break off to nurse a few knocks. Joining him were James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema yet despite all that firepower it was Tiago who gave Atletico the early lead. Ronaldo earned, won and converted a penalty just before the break to tie things up. Atletico were able to slow and stifle the game as they wanted in the second, then threw on Antoine Griezmann and Arda Turan to spice things up. They obliged. Turan scored the winner and Atletico won 2-1. Iker Casillas is taking the blame for Real’s slow start, and the fans seem happy to let him have it too. Javier Hernandez made his Real Madrid debut off the bench but didn’t do all that much.

Meanwhile Barcelona are rolling on. They triumphed 2-0 over a tough Athletic Bilbao team thanks to some inspiration from the always brilliant Lionel Messi and a pair of nice finishes from Neymar off the bench, in the 79th and 84th minutes. Bilbao held on firmly for a long time at a venue (The ol’ Bernabau) where they haven’t won since the 2001/02 season. But having a weapon like Neymar sitting on the bench for God’s sake is too much attack for anyone to handle.

Believe it or not, there are other teams in Spain too. Almeria and Cordoba drew, as did Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad, Granada and Villareal, and Malaga and Levante. Elche grabbed a 3-2 away win at Rayo Vellecano and there were wins for Deportivo, Valencia and Sevilla. Barca are the only perfect team left with three wins from three, and Valencia, Sevilla and Atletico are hot on their heels. Poor old Real Madrid are sitting back in 13th with two losses already.

Bundesliga

It was a perfect return to pastures of old for Manchester United offload Shinji Kagawa. The Japanese international never really settled in England, despite a few promising moments, but on his return to Borussia Dortmund he settled straight back in like he’d never left. After setting up the opening goal against Freiburg Kagawa went and scored the second goal himself. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added a third for Dortmund before a consolation goal late on meant a 3-1 win for Jurgen Klopp’s lads and they climb into the Champions League places where they belong.

The top two sides also provided some entertainment. First of all, Bayer Leverkusen’s winning start to the Bundesliga came to an end, as they drew 3-3 with Werder Bremen. Leverkusen were typically thrilling on attack, taking the lead through a stunner from Tin Jedvaj (the Croatian teenager who scored a couple weeks back for you Fergie’s regulars) though at the back they were far from convincing. Die Werkself (aka Bayer Leverkusen – ‘The Factory Workers’) threatened plenty and three times saw the ball cannoning back off the opposition’s goal frame. Yet sloppy work at the back meant that against the run of play, they went into the break at 1-1. More poor marking and they were down 2-1, before Hakan Çalhanoglu equalised from a clinical free kick. Son Heung-Min scored his first of the season to put the hosts back in front but Werder Bremen equalised for good five minutes from time.

Then we have the Champs. Bayern Munich were visited by Stuttgart, who have had quite the stuttering start to the season. Bayern, starting a stretch of seven games in 22 days, have so much depth that their bench looks stronger than most opposition starting XIs… and that’s even with injuries to guys like Arjen Robben. World Cup hero Mario Gotze scored in the first half and Bayern cruised from there, eventually putting Stuttgart out of their misery when substitute Franck Ribery (sporting a Great Big Bushy Beard) scored in his first appearance of the season. 2-0 was the final score, and Bayern join Leverkusen at the top with 7 points from 3 games. Stuttgart sit in the relegation zone with just 1.

Elsewhere there were solid wins for Borussia Munchen Gladbach and Mainz, while Paderborn and Cologne fought out a stalemate and 10-man Wolfsburg grabbed a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim. Augsburg grabbed a 1-0 away win at Eintracht Frankfurt and a couple of early goals helped Hannover past Hamburg.

Ligue 1

At the top of the Ligue 1 ladder, Lille and Marseille sit pretty after each bagging wins over the weekend. Marseille are on a 3 win hot streak thanks to a 3-1 win over Evian while Lille did the business against Nantes with a 2-0 win. Andre-Pierre Gignac continues to impress upfront for Marseille as he put away his 4th goal of the season and All White Bill Tuiloma got some bench time which is cool despite not getting any game time.

It's still a bit of a log jam at the top of the ladder with Lille on 11 points while Marseille, Bordeaux and St Ettienne all sit on 10 points respectively. Of course we have to cast a brown eye on the big dogs from Paris who could only muster a 1-1 draw against Rennes thanks to two goals from PSG defenders. Zoumana Cama scored for PSG while Maxwell tucked away an own goal, good on ya.

Serie A

It's the big dogs at the top of the table in Italy with Milan, Juventus, Roma and Inter making up the top 4 after two weeks of footy. There wasn't much defence on offer in the two games which involved the Milan teams, AC Milan won 5-4 while Inter took care of Sassuolo 7-0. Both strikers for Inter got on the score sheet with Icardi bagging a hatty and Osvaldo putting 2 goals away, it'll be interesting to see if Inter can make a big of a mark this season after a few lean years.

AC Milan's win over Parma was a bit of a goal fest including this beaut from Menez who got on the score sheet twice

Juve got up 2-0 over Udinese with Carlos Tevez and Marchisio getting the goals which sets up a lovely match between Milan and Juve this weekend. Coach Filippo Inzaghi reckons that Milan needs a miracle to beat Juve, but anything could happen at the San Siro. Either way she'll be a decent game of footy.