WHAT a game at the Emirates! Arsenal and Manchester United were involved in a five-goal thriller that was settled by a stunning goal and reduced the Gunners lead at the top to four points. Since Michael Carrick took over as temporary manager, United have beaten Manchester City and Arsenal and are now in fourth place. The Premier leaders went ahead thanks to an own goal on 29 minutes, but Bryan Mbuemo equalised eight minutes later. Dorgu put United ahead with a piledriver off the crossbar and Merino levelled with six minutes to go. United struck back and on 87, Matheus Cunha hit a 25-yard low shot that beat David Raya to secure the points. Lots of long faces at the Emirates, but Arsenal are still favourites to win the Premier League title. City won 2-0 against Wolves with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden left on the bench at the start. Antoine Semenyo maintained his form since arriving at the club with another goal. Chelsea won 3-1 at Crystal Palace but Liverpool lost ground with a 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth. Aston Villa kept up their challenge with a 2-0 win at Newcastle United, Emchano Buendia and Ollie Watkins scoring for Unai Emery’s men.
**Premier League
**1: Arsenal, P 23, Pts 50 2: Man.City, P 23, Pts 463: Aston V, P 23, Pts 46
4: Man.Utd, P 23, Pts 38
**Bundesliga: What happened at Bayern?**
BAYERN Munich were beaten for the first time in the league this season, going down 2-1 to Augsburg at the Allianz Arena. Augsburg had gained one point from their previous seven away games, but they were not overawed by their visit to leaders Bayern, who took the lead through Ito in the 23rd minute. Arthur Chaves, who joined Augsburg on loan two days earlier, scored on his first appearance to level the scores on 75 minutes and Han-Noah Messengo added a second five minutes later. Michael Olise almost saved the day for Bayern when the struck the woodwork with almost the last kick of the game. Bayern manager Vincent Kompany referred to his team’s busy schedule and list of injuries in a bid to explain the shock defeat: “When you have seven games in 20 days, then each player who is out for a week will miss three games. And then when he comes back, he needs time to get to full fitness.” Both Dortmund and RB Leipzig won 3-0 away from home, against Union Berlin and Heidenheim respectively. Stuttgart also won comfortably by three goals at Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Hamburg derby between St. Pauli and HSV ended goalless.
**Bundesliga
**1: Bayern, P 19, Pts 50 2: Dortmund P 19, Pts 423: Hoffenheim P 19, Pts 36
4: Stuttgart P 19, Pts 36
**Serie A: Inter comeback with six**
ALMOST 74,000 saw Inter extend their lead at the top of Serie A to five points, coming back from two-down to thrash struggling Pisa 6-2 at San Siro. The visitors took the lead in the 11th minue when Stefano Moreo lobbed Yann Sommer and 12 minutes later, he headed a second for Pisa. Inter responded dramatically, with Piotr Zielinski and Lautaro Martínez making it 2-2 and Pio Esposito giving Inter a half-time advantage. Inter missed a hatful of chance in the second period, but they finally added some gloss to the scoreline with three goals in the last 10 minutes from Federico Dimarco, Bonny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Milan, in second place, drew 1-1 at Roma with Luka Modric creating a goal for Koni De Winter but Lorenzo Pellegrini levelling from the penalty spot. Napoli received a blow to their title hopes when they were beaten 3-0 at Juventus, with Antonio Conte warning fans that the club’s injury crisis will not end soon. Como, playing some excellent football, beat Torino 6-0 and Atalanta trounced Parma 4-0.
**Serie A
**1: Inter, P 22, Pts 52 2: Milan, P 22, Pts 473: Roma, P 22, Pts 43
4: Napoli, P 22, Pts 43
**La Liga: Big three on song**
BARCELONA took advantage of defensive weaknesses to beat Oviedo 3-0, with Danni Olmo, Raphinha and Yamal Lamal on the scoresheet in the second half. Real Madrid are just one point behind after their 2-0 win at Villareal. Kylian Mbappé scored both goals for Real, taking his total for the league season to 21. His second goal was a penalty in added time, taken in “Panenka” style in tribute to his team-mate Brahim Diaz, who missed a vital spot-kick in the Africa Cup of Nations. Atlético beat Mallorca 3-0 at the Metropolitano to jump into third place. Valencia won by the odd goal in five against Espanyol with Largie Ramazani scoring the winner from the penalty spot in added time. Ramazani is on loan from Leeds United. A penalty from Seville’s Akor Adams was enough to beat troubled Athletic Bilbao.
**La Liga**
1: Barcelona, P 21, Pts 522: Real Madrid, P 21, Pts 513: Atlético, P 21, Pts 44
4: Villareal, P 20, Pts 41
**Ligue 1: PSG knock Lens off the top**
LENS, who had won eight successive games before the weekend, received a blow to their confidence when they were beaten 3-1 at Marseille. Armine Gouiri scored twice for the home team and on-loan Arsenal youngster Ethan Nwaneri netted on his debut for the club. Rayan Fofana scored a consolation goal for Lens. Marseille’s win was the only home success of the weekend in Ligue 1. PSG bounced back from their midweek defeat at Sporting to win 1-0 at Auxerre with a goal from Bradley Barcola. Lyon were 5-2 winners at bottom-placed Metz with Endrick, who is on loan from Real Madrid, scoring a hat-trick. There were also away wins for Lorient, Nice, Toulouse and a rampant Strasbourg, who won 4-1 at out-of-sorts Lille.
**Ligue 1**
1: PSG, P 19, Pts 452: Lens, P 19, Pts 433: Marseille, P 19, Pts 38
4: Lyon, P 19, Pts 36
**Attendances**
1: 75,000 – Bayern v Augsburg2: 73,594 – Inter v Pisa3: 63,582 – Roma v Milan4: 62,077 – Schalke v Kaiserslautern
5: 60,296 – Arsenal v Manchester United
**And elsewhere …**
Hearts and Celtic drew 2-2 at Tynecastle in the big clash of the weekend in the Scottish Premiership. A goal from Cláudio Braga three minutes from time saved the day for Hearts against a Celtic side that had Auston Trusty sent off in the 77th minute. Hearts remain on top with a four-point margin, Rangers are second and Celtic third, six points behind the leaders.
PSV Einhoven were held 2-2 at home by strugglers NAC Breda but still have a 14-point lead at the top of the Eredivisie. Ajax beat Volendam 2-0 with two goals from defender Youri Baas.
Sporting and Benfica kept the pressure up on Portuguese leaders Porto with the reigning champions winning 2-1 at Arouca and José Mourinho’s Benfica winning 4-0 against Estrela. Two of their goals came from leading scorer Vangelis Pavlidis.
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/)