WITH THE exception of Wolverhampton Wanderers, it was a good weekend for strugglers. Some teams for whom the new season has been a catalogue of disasters, managed to secure much-needed victories. Metz, who have been leaking goals in recent weeks, achieved a second successive win, beating Nantes 2-0, while Borussia Mönchengladbach won 4-0 away to St. Pauli for their first success of the Bundesliga season. Among the big five leagues, only four teams are without a win: Wolves in the Premier League and a trio of Serie A sides. Wolves ran out of patience with their manager, Vítor Pereira, and sacked him after their 3-0 defeat at Fulham. That means the bottom three of the Premier have all replaced their coaches well before the halfway stage of the campaign. The period of tolerance seems to be getting shorter by the season.
**Premier League: The Haaland monster on the rampage again**
MANCHESTER City may not be the all-conquering force of two years ago, but they are gradually finding their form. They beat Bournemouth 3-1 at the Etihad with Erling Haaland scoring two more goals to take his total for the season to 13. Haaland looked as powerful as ever as City consolidated second place, in fact his stats this season, 1.17 goals per game, are his best since his first season with Pep Guardiola’s side. City are six points behind leaders Arsenal, who were 2-0 winners at Burnley. The Gunners have won nine league and cup games in a row and have kept seven consecutive clean sheets. Maybe this really is their season? Liverpool bounced back from four successive league defeats to beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield with Mo Salah scoring their first goal. Tottenham’s home form continues to be poor – they were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea, for whom João Pedro scored for the first time since the end of August. Nottingham Forest and Manchester United drew 2-2 at the City Ground, Forest’s first point at home since the opening game of the season. West Ham, at last, won at the London Stadium, coming from behind to beat Newcastle United 3-1.
**Ligue 1: PSG scrape win but the contenders are right behind them**
PARIS Saint-Germain had to wait until the fourth minute of added time for their winning goal against Nice. Despite dominating the game (28 shot to Nice’s five), PSG struggled for the second successive game in front of goal. The winner came from Gonçalo Ramos, who had come on for Mayulu in the 72nd minute. PSG are two points clear at the top, but their rivals are close behind. Marseille won 1-0 at Auxerre with a workmanlike performance, the winning goal scored by Angel Gomes. Lens kept up their challenge with a 3-0 win against Lorient and Lille won 1-0 at home to Angers. Inconsistent Strasbourg were trounced at Rennes, with Estaban Lepaul netting a hat-trick for the home side, taking his tally to seven for the season. Monaco were surprisingly beaten at home by Paris FC, whose goal came from Moses Simon just after half-time. Paris ended Monaco’s four game unbeaten run under Sébastian Pocognoli while also moving up to a more comfortable position.
**Eredivisie: Heracles come alive**
BOTTOM of the table Heracles went berserk against Zwolle, winning 8-2 at the Asito stadium. The Alemo-based team had won just once before the weekend and had scored seven goals in 10 games. They even went a goal behind in the ninth minute before waking up with four goals before half-time. Zwolle lost a player just prior to the break and in the second half, they were torn apart by Heracles, for whom Jizz Hornkamp scored a 14 minute hat-tric in the first period. At the top, leaders Feyenoord won 3-1 against Volendam PSV Eindhoven beat Fortuna Stittard 5-2 after going in at half-time 3-0 ahead. The visitors almost drew level, but PSV added two more late in the game to sew things up. Ajax continue to stutter and were held 1-1 at home to Heerenveen. AZ are still in third place after their 1-0 win at Sparta Rotterdam.
**Bundesliga: Good news for Gladbach**
BORUSSIA Mönchengladbach ended a grim 15-game winless run with a 4-0 win at St. Pauli, thanks to two goals from Haris Tabković. Their Hamburg-based hosts were also in dire need of a win after five games without a win and 328 minutes without a goal. Both sides had won in midweek in the DFB Pokal. St. Pauli’s neighbours HSV, were heavily beaten 4-1 at Köln.
League leaders Bayern Munich won 3-0 against Bayer Leverkusen and were confident enough to name Harry Kane as a substitute. Niclas Jackson, who is on loan from Chelsea, scored one of Bayern’s goals. Leipzig are in second place, five points behind Bayern after their 3-1 win against Stuttgart. Third-placed Dortmund won 1-0 at Augsburg, the only goal coming from Serhou Guirassy.
**La Liga: Sociedad win Basque derby**
REAL SOCIEDAD continued their recent improvement with a 3-2 win over Athletic Club Bilbao in the Basque derby at the Reale Arena. Sociedad led three times, the decisive goal coming from Jon Gorrotxategi in the 92nd minute. Their other goals came from Brais Mendez and Goncalo Guedes, while Bilbao’s scorers were Gorka Guruzeta and Roberto Navarro. It was a tense affair that threatened to blow up at various times. El Diario Vasco summed it up perfectly: “There is no better feeling than beating your eternal rival in stoppage time.”
At the top of the table, Real Madrid hammered Valencia 4-0 with two goals from Kylian Mbappé. Villareal also won 4-0, against Rayo Vallecano. Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford were on the scoresheet for Barcelona as they beat Elche 3-1. Atlético made it 10 games without defeat with a 3-0 win against Sevilla, all the goals coming in the second half.
**Serie A: Title race could be a close one**
FOUR teams are tightly packed at the top of Serie A this season, with Napoli narrowly ahead of Inter, Milan and Roma. Napoli were held 0-0 at home by Como, whose goalkeeper, Jean Butez had an outstanding game. Inter won 2-1 at Verona thanks to an own goal by Martin Frese. Inter are said to be interested in Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi when the January window comes around, emphasising that the England central defender could be the big transfer story at the start of 2026. AC Milan beat Roma 1-0 with a goal from Strahinja Pavlović, but Milan’s goalkeeper Mike Maigan was the hero of the hour when he saved Pablo Dybala’s penalty kick. Juventus, with Luciano Spalletti installed as coach, won 2-1 at Cremonese. Jamie Vardy was the home side’s goalscorer, his second since joining the club.
**Attendances**
1. AC Milan v Roma. 75,048
2. Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen. 75,000
3. Real Madrid v Valencia. 74,796
4. Atlético Madrid v Sevilla. 66,119
5. West Ham v Newcastle United. 62,441
6. Tottenham v Chelsea. 61,202
**And elsewhere…**
* Celtic and St. Mirren won through to the Scottish League Cup final, Celtic beating Rangers 3-1 and St. Mirren winning 4-1 against Motherwell
* Thun beat Sion 2-1 to go six points clear at the top of the Swiss Super League
* Union Saint-Gilloise won 4-1 at Zulte Weregem, the reigning champions have a three point margin at the top of the Belgian Pro league
* Shamrock Rovers, who confirmed their title win in Ireland a few days ago, ended their league campaign with a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Sligo
* At the top of the Portuguese Primeira, Porto, Sporting and Benfica all won. Porto are top, three points ahead of Sporting.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)