MIKEL Arteta was very frustrated after Arsenal drew 1-1 with Manchester United at Old Trafford. His team went a goal down to a sublime Bruno Fernandes free kick but Declan Rice equalised in the second half. Once more, Arsenal’s lack of firepower was evident but Arteta was not in the mood to discuss and walked away from a post-match interview. The loss of two more points strengthened Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to 15 points, the title race almost looks over. Arne Slot’s men won 3-1 against Southampton after going a goal down. Nottingham Forest pulled off another excellent result in beating Manchester City 1-0, the winner coming from Callum Hudson-Odoi. Chelsea moved back to fourth after their 1-0 win against Leicester City and Tottenham came from 2-0 down to earn a point against Bournemouth. At the bottom it is not looking good for Ipswich Town, Leicester and Southampton, all three lost this weekend and while the Saints look doomed now, the other two are six points off safety.
**Bundesliga: Bochum stun the Allianz**
NOBODY would have anticipated that VFL Bochum would beat Bayern in Munich, but the Bundesliga strugglers won 3-2 at the Allianz Arena. Bayern went into a 2-0 lead with both goals coming from Raphael Guerreiro inside the first half hour. Bochum pulled one back but three minutes before the interval Bayern had Joao Paulinha sent off. Bochum levelled just after half-time and then in the 71st minute, Matus Bero netted from close range to win the game. Bayer Leverkusen, who went into the weekend eight points behind Bayern, failed to reduce the margin as they lost 2-0 at home to Werder Bremen. There was a further blow to Leverkusen when Florian Wirtz was injured and looks set to be out for weeks with an ankle ligament problem. Borussia Dortmund also lost at home, 1-0 to Augsburg, while Union Berlin won 2-1 at fourth-placed Frankfurt. Down in Bundesliga 2, the biggest crowd of the round was the 70,000 that saw Hertha Berlin lose 2-1 to Schalke. Hamburg, the leaders, were watched by 57,000 as they beat Düsseldorf 4-1.
**Serie A: Atalanta on fire in Turin**
WHILE the smart money is on either Inter Milan or Napoli to win the scudetto this season, Atalanta continue to surprise people. They won 4-0 away to Juventus to send _I Bianconeri_ to their first Serie A home defeat of the campaign. The Turin crowd were jeering their team at the end of the game. Atalanta, however, have the best away record in the league. They went ahead from the penalty spot through Mateo Retegui and added goals from Marten de Roon, Davide Zappacosta and Ademola Lookman. It was the first four-goal defeat at home by Juve since 1967. Inter came back from a two-goal deficit at home to Monza to win 3-2 at the San Siro, while Napoli ended a five-game winless run to beat Fiorentina 2-1 with Romelu Lukaku scoring one and creating another. AC Milan were two-down at Lecce but two goals from Christian Pulišić helped them to a 3-2 win.
**Attendances**
**League**
**Home team**
**Away team**
**Attendance**
Germany
Borussia Dortmund
Augsburg
81,365
Germany
Bayern Munich
Bochum
75,000
Spain
Real Madrid
Rayo Vallecano
74,170
England
Manchester United
Arsenal
74,170
Italy
Inter Milan
Monza
66,344
France
Olympique Marseille
Lens
64,942
**La Liga: Tragedy in Barcelona**
BARCELONA remain top of La Liga even though they didn’t play due to the sad death of club doctor Carles Minarro Garcia before their game with Osasuna. The match was postponed 20 minutes before kick-off. Real Madrid drew level on points with Barca after beating Rayo Vallecano 2-1 with two first half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Vinicius. Atlético suffered a careless 2-1 derby defeat at Getafe after taking the lead in the 75th minute with a penalty Alexander Sørloth. Getafe scored twice in the game’s finale after Atléti had Ángel Correa sent off. Both of the home team’s goals came from Mauro Arambarri.
At the other end of the La Liga table, Valencia continued their improvement with a 2-1 against Valladolid.
**Ligue 1: PSG bounce back**
AFTER their devastating defeat in midweek in the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain got back to business in Ligue 1 with a 4-1 victory at Rennes. Man of the moment Ousmane Dembélé scored twice in added time to seal the victory. PSG are 16 points clear of Olympique Marseille who lost 1-0 at home to Lens thanks to an added time goal by the visitors. OM completely dominated with 75% possession and had 15 shots to Lens’ three. PSG can still win the double this year, they face Dunkerque in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. In Ligue 2, the top two met at the weekend with Paris FC beating leaders Lorient 3-2 and drawing level with them on 52 points.
**20+ goals in league football**
**Goals**
**Player**
**Club**
27
Mohammed Salah
Liverpool
Viktor Gyökeres
Sporting
22
Mateo Retegui
Atalanta
21
Robert Lewandowski
Barcelona
Harry Kane
Bayern Munich
20
Erling Haaland
Manchester City
Ousmane Dembélé
Paris Saint-Germain
Sam Steijn
Twente
**Czech Republic: Sparta win the derby**
THE 313rd Prague derby between Sparta and Slavia ended with the home side beating the runaway league leaders 2-0 at the Letná stadium. This is one of Europe’s oldest derbies and it is normally accompanied by passionate, raucous supporters. After a goalless first half , Sparta scored twice in an eight minute spell. In the 51st, a powerful, far post header from Jaroslav Zeleńy gave them the lead. Seven minutes later, a defensive mistake allowed Sparta’s Lukás Haraslin the chance to shoot home the second Sparta goal. Slavia’s defeat was only their second of the season in the Czech First League, but they are still 10 point clear of Sparta at the top.
**Coming next weekend
**
A cluster of big derbies and major clashes: Arsenal v Chelsea, Celtic v Rangers, Dundee United v Dundee, Sheffield Wednesday v Sheffield United, Atlético Madrid v Barcelona, Atalanta v Inter and PSG v Marseille. EFL Cup final, Liverpool v Newcastle.
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/)