Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game in charge of the Gunners ended in despair as his side was thrashed by London rivals Chelsea in a six goal drubbing at Stamford Bridge.
Olivier Giroud had the first chance to open the scoring in the 4th minute but his low strike was well saved by Petr Cech. The Blues were in front within a minute through Samuel Eto’o. Andre Schurrle found the veteran striker and he got the better of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain before curling an unstoppable shot into the far bottom corner. Arsenal were hit on the break and within minutes, they were trailing by two goals. Schurrle did the damage this time around with a low shot into the bottom corner. Things went from bad to worse less than 10 minutes later when Oxlade-Chamberlain dived to handle Eden Hazard’s shot which in truth was going wide. Worse yet, referee Andre Marriner mistook the culpable party and ended up sending off Kieran Gibbs despite Oxlade-Chamberlain’s efforts to own up. Hazard stepped up and converted the penalty to send Chelsea 3-0 up. The hosts made it four before the break when Oscar tapped in Fernando Torres’ cross. Santi Cazorla had a chance for the visitors but sent his shot from an acute angle across the face of goal for a goal kick. Oscar made it five on 65 minutes but Wojciech Szczesny could have and should have done better. Substitute Mohamed Salah completed the rout when he got in on the end of Nemanja Matic’s long ball to slot the ball past Szczesny.
Liverpool also scored six goals as they visited Cardiff City. The Reds had to come from a goal down when Jordon Mutch put the Bluebirds in front after which Luis Suarez restored parity. Fraizer Campbell gave the hosts the lead yet again but Martin Skrtel drew level before the break. Skrtel then put the visitors in front after the restart and Suarez made it four on the hour mark. Daniel Sturridge also joined the scoring with 15 minutes left to play. Jordon Mutch pulled one back in the dying minutes but Suarez completed his hat trick in added time.
Manchester City thrashed Fulham 5-0 at the Etihad with Yaya Toure scoring a hat trick. The Ivorian opened the scoring on 26 minutes from the spot. The Cottagers did well to keep the hosts at bay but lost Fernando Amorebieta to a sending off after the restart which opened the floodgates. Toure converted his second spot kick of the evening before completing his hat trick on 65 minutes. Fernandinho and Martin Demichelis added two more in the latter stages of the game.
Wayne Rooney scored an absolute beauty from 56 yards out as he helped Manchester United beat West Ham United 2-0 at Upton Park. While his first was sheer class, his second was opportunistic as he was in the right place to turn in a failed clearance.
Christian Eriksen was the saviour for Tottenham Hotspur as they came from two goals down to beat Southampton 3-2 at White Hart Lane. Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana put the Saints in front but Eriksen restored parity with a brace. He then set up Gylfi Sigurdsson for the winner in injury time.
Leighton Baines, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley scored for Everton as the Toffees beat Swansea City 3-2 at Goodison Park. Wilfried Bony and Ashley Williams scored for the Swans with the latter’s goal coming too late. Liam Rosenior headed in Nikica Jelavic’s missed penalty and Shane Long also scored as Hull City beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0 at the KC Stadium. Papiss Demba Cisse scored a late winner as Newcastle United beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at St. James’ Park. Robert Snodgrass and Alexander Tettey scored for Norwich City as they beat Sunderland 2-0 at Carrow Road. Marcos Alonso was sent off for the Black Cats. Peter Odemwingie, Peter Crouch, Steven Nzonzi and Geoff Cameron scored for Stoke City as they came from behind to beat Aston Villa 4-1 at Villa Park after Christian Benteke opened the scoring for the hosts.
Spanish La Liga
Lionel Messi scored a hat trick as Barcelona edged out archrivals Real Madrid 4-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu. Andres Iniesta put the Catalans in front but a brace from Karim Benzema put the Los Blancos in front. Messi restored parity before the break after which Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty gave the hosts the lead yet again. Messi then converted two penalties to win it for his side who trail their hosts by just a point. In doing so, the Argentine broke Alfredo Di Stefano’s El Clasico goal record. Gabi and Diego Costa scored as fellow title hopefuls Atletico Madrid beat Real Betis 2-0 away from home.
German Bundesliga
Bayern Munich need just one more win to retain the title after beating Mainz 2-0 away from home thanks to late goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gotze. Mats Hummels, Robert Lewandowski and Marco Reus scored for Borussia Dortmund as they beat Hannover 3-0 away from home. Schalke beat Eintracht Braunschweig 3-1 at home while Bayer Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by Hoffenheim.
Italian Serie A
Carlos Tevez scored the only goal as league leaders Juventus beat Catania 1-0 away from home. Gervinho and Mattia Destro scored for AS Roma as they beat Chievo Verona 2-0 away. Napoli were beaten 1-0 at home by Fiorentina while Inter Milan were beaten 2-1 at home by Atalanta and Lazio drew 1-1 at home against AC Milan.
French Ligue 1
Lorient 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Marseille 0-1 Stade Rennes
Guingamp 0-1 Lyon
AS Monaco 1-1 Lille
St Etienne 3-1 Sochaux
