I'm a Man United fan at heart, but that doesn't mean that I don't care about the other EPL clubs or the European leagues or even leagues like MLS which are far from "top class". Although the Man United 8-2 Arsenal scoreline is probably the best of the bunch from the world of soccer this week, there were a few other shining tidbits that I'd like to mention.
First off, United's evil neighbor Man City decided to get a bit cocky by putting 5 past Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and they were probably thinking they'll be the story of the week until they saw Man United on TV. Dzeko performed well for the first time in his City career by scoring 4 himself though 2 were tap-ins that my old grannie could have scored while the other two were pretty good: a nice looping back-header and a magnificent curler from 25 yards (still no match for Ashley Young's brilliance though). Aguero also got one, while Nasri popped a couple of assists on his City debut.
The other two Sunday matches were largely forgettable, as Newcastle triumphed over Fulham with a Leon Best double and Stoke/West Brom would've been a goalless draw but for an Arsenal-esque error between Foster and Shorey which saw both of them expect each other to get the ball only for Ryan Shotton to slip in behind them to knock the ball in on the empty net. In fact, other than the Manchester vs. North London fixtures, the rest of the games were all forgettable, with the only highlights being a outstanding Liverpool who could have had 5 or 6 against Bolton, Norwich giving a good fight at Stamford Bridge before being undone by a cheap penalty and new signing Juan Mata and two missed penalties from Blackburn at Ewood Park before losing to a last-minute penalty from Everton.
In Spain, Real Sociedad briefly went top of the table after a good win at Sporting Gijon but were overtaken by Valencia who beat Racing 4-3 and Real Madrid who thumped Zaragoza 6-0. Sadly, Barcelona have yet to play, and they'll be hosting a confident Villarreal who had just secured their qualifications into the Champions' League, so Los Blancos look to head La Liga this week at least, but my guesses are that Barcelona will win La Liga by a landslide again.
For some reason Serie A hasn't even started yet, so I'll skip them for the German Bundesliga for now. A Schalke led by former Galactico Raul spoiled Borussia Monchengladbach's unbeaten start to the season while Wolfsburg, who had won the Bundesliga 3 or 4 years ago now laughably lost to this season's relegation favorites Freiburg. Bayern Munich, as usual, are top after a win over Kaiserslautern (what is with these long German football club names?) while the other matches were boring except for another 4-3 scoreline from an unlikely outfit in Hamburg and Cologne. For the Bundesliga, it again looks to be a fight between Bayern, Schalke and Bremen all with 9 points, which makes it as predictable as La Liga where Barcelona and Real Madrid are obviously going to finish 1st and 2nd, which is a shame since I really enjoy the unpredictability of the Bundesliga.
The less popular French Ligue 1 was actually the most entertaining. Montpellier still lead the table despite losing to Lyon who are unbeaten, while last season's runner-up Marseille are sitting in 16th after a harsh loss to the holders Lille, who are 7th on goal difference. After 4 games, the teams from 3rd-9th are all tied on 7 points, so it looks like the typical Ligue 1 season where anybody from 1st-12th has a shot at winning the title at January, while the bottom 3 are at the bottom by somewhere along the margin of 26 points.
Well, still some space left over so I'll talk a bit about MLS. First off, the Canadian teams in this league are an absolute joke: Toronto let in another late goal to draw with San Jose and Vancouver are still sitting bottom of the Western Conference without an away win all season. Hopefully Montreal Impact will join next year so we won't have to see the shambles that is Toronto FC, while the Whitecaps shouldn't even be playing professional football the way they're acting on the road.
Another week in soccer, and obviously the highlight of the week was the Man United v. Arsenal game. If you want to see what I have to say on that game, just go here.
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