European League roundup

The top four battle took a new twist over the weekend when a Victor Moses inspired Wigan team defeated high flying Newcastle United at the DW Stadium. The Nigerian International scored a brace to lift his team to the 16th position on the league table with 37 points. Alan Pardew's men were very miserable in the opening 45 minutes while  Roberto Martinez's men were very clinical in front of goal. Papiss Demba Cisse had an effort that came off the bar in the second half after hos team mates tightened their defence. In the end Wigan won the match 4-0. Fernando Torres scored his first hat trick for Chelsea as his team crushed QPR at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon. Daniel Sturridge opened scoring within the first minute of the game before John Terry and Malouda scored goals each that were sandwiched with a hat trick from Torres. Chelsea are now 5th on the league table and they are only a point behind Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle who are both on 62 points. Chelsea will host Newcastle United at the Stamford Bridge on Tuesday while Tottenham will be the guest of Bolton Wanderers.

In Italy, Juventus kept their title hopes alive as they thrashed Novara by four unreplied goals in an away match. AC Milan also recorded a 4-1 away victory of Siena. Malaga defeated Valencia by 1-0 in the Spanish La liga.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 43rd league goal of the season in their 3-0 win over Sevilla on Sunday afternoon. Karim Benzema increased his goals tally to 20 when he grabbed a brace against the former UEFA Cup Champions. Lionel Messi scored a brace as Barcelona defeated Rayo Vallecano 7-0 in Sunday's late game. Messi and Ronaldo are tied on 43 goals.

In Germany, Schalke 04 and Monchengladbach booked their tickets for next season's UEFA Champions League. Kaiserslautern were slaughtered at home by 5 goals to 2 by Bundesliga Champs, Borussia Dortmund. Mario Gotze scored one of the goals for the Champions.

The Ligue 1 title might be decided before the end of the season. Montpellier recorded a win on Friday night, while PSG were beaten 2-1 by Lille on Sunday night. Carlo Ancelotti's team are now 5 points behind Montpellier in the race for the French League title. Olympique Lyonnais won the French Cup on Sunday evening.

Weekend Extra

Apart from the big games we have previewed on our blog, there are other interesting matches across the globe this weekend. Manchester United will hope to maintain their 5 points lead over Manchester City when they host Everton at the Old Trafford Stadium. Manchester City will visit the Britannia Stadium to tackle Wolverhampton Wanderers in a bid to continue their resurgence after their two consecutive wins over West Brom and Norwich City. The Citizens have scored 10 goals in their last two matches.
In Italy, Napoli will clash against Novara in the race for a top four finish. Fiorentina VS Inter is another interesting match to look forward to this weekend. AC Milan can replace Juventus at the top of the table if they can win against Bologna, but that will only occur if AS Roma should deny the Old Ladies all three points at stake in Turin.
In France,PSG will welcome Sochaux in Paris and Montpellier will equally be at home to host Valenciennes. The race for the French Ligue 1 will definitely go down to the last day of the season.
Atletico Madrid and Espanyol will clash at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday.

The Nigerian Premier League will resume this weekend after a two week break that followed the end of the first half of the season. Enugu Rangers,Kano Pillars and Dolphins of Port Harcourt are all tied on 32 points each. The Scottish Premier League has already been won by Celtic FC last weekend, Rangers and Hearts will continue to fight for the second spot on the table.

In the MLS, Thierry Henry will hope to score more goals for the NY Red Bulls. The former Arsenal and Barcelona hit man has scored seven goals this season.