Anish Anand
Jan 5, 2026, 08:57 AM
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It was another important gameweek in Europe's top leagues. Arsenal have a six-point lead at the top after their win over Bournemouth as second-placed Manchester City drew against Chelsea. Liverpool FC remained unbeaten in nine games but it was another uninspiring performance against Fulham.
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LaLiga returned after a break with both Barcelona and Real Madrid earning wins. Barcelona beat Espanyol 2-0 while Real Madrid hit five past Real Betis.
In Serie A, the top four -- Inter Milan, AC Milan, Napoli and Juventus have all secured victories.
ESPN's By The Numbers brings you the best of stats from the weekend's football matches:
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Arsenal are the 16th Premier League team to win 15 or more of their first 20 games in a season, with only four previous sides failing to win the league in that campaign (Arsenal in 2022-23, Liverpool and Spurs in 2018-19 and Manchester United in 2003-04).
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Arsenal are now six points clear, which is their biggest ever lead at the top after 20 games of a Premier League season.
Arsenal are now six points clear of both Man City and Aston Villa to start 2026
They have a very busy schedule for the remainder of January ��
⚫️ Liverpool ️
⚫️ Portsmouth
⚫️ Chelsea
⚫️ Nottingham Forest
⚫️ Inter
⚫️ Manchester United pic.twitter.com/j6e1ZbqctD
- ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 4, 2026
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Gabriel Magalhães became only the second defender to reach 20 goals for Arsenal in the Premier League after Laurent Koscielny (22).
His 20 league goals since 2020-21 are 7 more than any defender in the competition in that span (Michael Keane 13).
105
Bukayo Saka has 105 goal contributions for Arsenal, equalling Cesc Fabregas's record for 6th on the club list.
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Aston Villa have won 11 straight home games in all competitions for the first time since Oct. 1989-Jan. 1990 (also 11).
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Leeds United's seven-game unbeaten run (W2, D5) is their longest in the Premier League since between May-November 2001 under David O'Leary (13 games - W8, D5).
LALIGA
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Gonzalo García has become the second player to score three goals in his debut with Real Madrid in LaLiga in the 21st century after Ruud van Nistelrooy did it in September 2006 against Levante.
21Y, 286D
García (21 years, 286 days) became the youngest Spanish player to score a hat trick for Real Madrid since Raúl González Blanco in 1999 and the youngest Real Madrid player with a hat trick in LALIGA since Gonzalo Higuain in 2008.
Gonzalo Garcia celebrates after scoring a goal for Real Madrid against Real Betis in LaLiga. Getty Images
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All 5 goals for Real Madrid were scored by Spanish players. It happened for the first time for the club in LaLiga since Feb. 10, 2002 when Fernando Morientes scored 5 goals in a 7-0 win vs Las Palmas.
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FC Barcelona have scored in each of their last 39 LaLiga games (105 goals), the best current streak of any team in Europe's top five leagues.
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Barcelona's 29-game unbeaten streak against Espanyol is tied for the second longest run against a single opponent in LALIGA history. Real Madrid hold the longest unbeaten run against an opponent -- 34 games vs. Real Sociedad from 1957-79.
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Atlético Madrid have dropped 16 points from winning positions in LaLiga, tied with Fiorentina and Bournemouth for most among teams from Europe's Top 5 Leagues this season.
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Lautaro Martínez has scored 10+ goals in a season for the seventh time for Inter. Only Alessandro Altobelli (eight), Giuseppe Meazza and Benito Lorenzi (nine each) have done it more times than Martínez.
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Weston McKennie has been directly involved in 5 goals (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last 9 appearances for Juventus in all competitions after recording just one (one assist) in his previous 31.
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Napoli's Amir Rrahmani has scored 11 goals in Serie A since 2021/22, more than any other central defender in the competition in this period.
MESSI-RONALDO WATCH
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Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr suffered their first league loss of the season in 12 games. They were beaten by Al Ahli 3-2.