Arsenal Starts On A Good Note in Week 4 Encounter
By Tanko Bauka
Arsenal FC on Saturday put their title credentials to the test by defeating one of their arch-rivals in one of the world’s fiercest derbies.
The solitary goal of the North London derby came via a corner kick by Bukayo Saka and was headed into the goal by Gabriel, a win which took the Gunners to ten points and second behind the defending champion, Manchester City, the only team with one hundred percent record, winning all of their four matches so far where Erling Haaland scored two goals to take his tally to 9 in four matches.
Other teams which picked up three points in the week four encounter include Manchester United, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Newcastle United, while Liverpool lost to Nottingham Forest by one goal, which ended their unbeaten run in the league.
In Spain, Barcelona continued their fine form as they hammered Girona by four goals to one to maintain their lead on the La Liga table with 15 points, closely followed by their arch-rival, Real Madrid, which also defeated Real Betis 2 nil with 11 points.
In the Italian Serie A, Napoli continued their resurgence with a comfortable 4 zero win over Cagliari while AC Milan also put 4 past the newly promoted Venezia and in the German Bundesliga, Bayern Munich has continued to set the pace to reclaim the league title they lost to Bayern Leverkusen in the 2023-2024 season as they ran rampage against Holstein Kiel with 6 goals to one.
Results across Europe
Barclay English Premier League.
Southampton 0- Man United 3
Brighton 0- Ipswich Town 0
Crystal Palace 2- Leicester 2
Fulham 1- West Ham 1
Liverpool 0- Nothingham Forest 1
Machester City 2- Brentford 1
Aston Villa 3- Everton 2
AFC Bournemouth 0- Chelsea 1
Tottenham Hotspur 0- Arsenal 1
Wolves 1- Newcastle 2
Spanish LA Liga
Real Betis 2- Laganes 0
Mallorca 1- Villarreal 2
Espanyol 3- Deportivo Alaves 2
Sevilla 3- Gatafe 0
Real Betis 0- Real Madrid 2
Celta Vigo 3- Real Valladolid 1
Girona 1- Barcelona 4
Las Palmas 2- Athletic Bilbao 3
Atlectico Madrid 3- Valencia 0
Italian Serie A
Como 2- Bologna 2
Empoli 0- Juventus 0
Cagliari 0- Napoli 4
Genoa 1- AS Roma 1
Atalanta 3- Fiorentina 2
Torino 0- Lacce 0
AC Monza 1- Inter Milan 1
German Bundesliga
Dortmund 4- Heidenheim 2
RB Leipzig 0- Union Berlin 0
Hoffenheim 1- Leverkusen 4
SC Freiburg 2- VFL Bochum 1
Wolfsburg 1- Eintrach Frankfurt 2
Monchenglabach 1- Stuttgart 3
Holstein Kiel 1- Bayern Munich 6
FC Augsburg 3- FC ST Pauli 1
Mainz 05 1- Werder Bremen 2
In a related development, the most prestigious and glamorous football tournament in the world, the UEFA Champions League, is making a comeback this Tuesday.
The tournament format has been changed to a league format as against the group format, and the 32 teams will play 144 matches as each team will play 8 games in the new phase of the Champions League.
The top 8 teams in the league phase will qualify for the round of 16 automatically with the teams that finish in positions 9-24 will qualify for knock out stage while the rest will be eliminated from the Champions League and will not be eligible to play in any other European competition for the rest of the 2024-2025 season unlike before where some teams fall into the Europa League.
All the teams that qualified were grouped into 8 teams, and each team will play four matches on home and away bases in the league format.
Fixtures for the UEFA Champions League
Tuesday
Juventus vs PSV
Young Boys vs Aston Villa
AC Milan vs Liverpool
Bayern Munich vs Dinamo Zagreb
Real Madrid vs Stuttgart
Sporting CP vs Lille
Wednesday
Bologna vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Sparta Prague vs Salzburg
Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava
Club Brugge vs Dortmund
Manchester City vs Inter Milan
PSG vs Girona
Thursday
Crvena Zvezaa vs Benfica
Feyenoord vs Bayern Leverkusen
Atalanta vs Arsenal
Atlectico Madrid vs RB Leipzig
Stade Bretois vs Sturm Graz
Monaco vs Barcelona.
