By JOHN BOSCHINI
Manchester United showed why they're still a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League title race with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Tottenham on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring in the 45th minute and Ashley Young scored a stunning double to give the defending champions all three points. Jermain Defoe scored in the 87th minute in what amounted to nothing more than a consolation goal. Tottenham have now lost two straight and are only four points ahead Arsenal in fourth.
Real Madrid maintained their impressive run of form in La Liga with a 5-0 victory over Espanyol. Gonzalo Higuain scored twice and Cristiano Ronaldo added his 30th goal of the La Liga season.
In Italy, Lazio won the Rome Derby, knocking off Roma, 2-1, to move into third place in Serie A. An early red card to Roma goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg helped Lazio jump all over their rivals in a match that remained competitive despite the man advantage.
Here are the results from around Europe:
ENGLAND
Robin van Persie came to Arsenal's rescue once again as a stoppage-time goal gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory at Anfield over Liverpool. Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny turned the ball into his own net but the van Persie equalized on the half-hour. The Dutchman completed the comeback with a stunning one-timed goal in stoppage time.
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE SCOREBOARD
Liverpool 1, Arsenal 2
Blackburn Rovers 1, Aston Villa 1
Manchester City 2, Bolton Wanderers 0
Queens Park Rangers 1, Everton 1
Stoke City 1, Norwich City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1, Chelsea 0
Wigan Athletic 0, Swansea City 2
Newcastle United 1, Sunderland 1
Fulham 5, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1, Manchester United 3
SPAIN
Lionel Messi was missed this weekend as 10-men Barcelona struggled to a 3-1 victory over Sporting Gijon. Gerard Pique was sent off in the early stages of the second half and Gijon dramatically equalized. Eventually, the champions found the breakthrough with late goals from Seydou Keita and Xavi.
Athletic Bilbao and Malaga remain knotted in fourth place as both rolled to two-goal victories. Bilbao clings to the final Champions League spot with a 10-goal differential advantage
LA LIGA SCOREBOARD
Getafe 1, Malaga 3
Mallorca 1, Osasuna 1
Rayo Vallecano 4, Racing Santander 2
Barcelona 3, Sporting Gijon 1
Sevilla FC 1, Atletico Madrid 1
Real Zaragoza 2, Villarreal 1
Athletic Bilbao 2, Real Sociedad 0
Granada 0, Valencia 1
Real Madrid 5, Espanyol 0
GERMANY
It was a good weekend in Germany for Borussia Dortmund as their three main rivals for the Bundesliga title suffered costly defeats. The league leaders, for their part, dispatched Mainz with a 2-1 victory. Bayern Munich were abject in a 2-0 road loss to Bayer Leverkusen. Borussia Moenchengladbach conceded a late goal to lose at Nurnberg and Schalke couldn't earn a point at Freiburg.
BUNDESLIGA SCOREBOARD
Bayer Leverkusen 2, Bayern Munich 0
Hamburg SV 0, VfB Stuttgart 4
Hannover 96 2, FC Augsburg 2
Hertha Berlin 1, Werder Bremen 0
Kaiserslautern 0, VfL Wolfsburg 0
SC Freiburg 2, Schalke 04 1
Borussia Dortmund 2, Mainz 1
Nurnberg 1, Borussia Monchengladbach 0
TSG Hoffenheim 1, FC Cologne 0
ITALY
Being the only unbeaten team in a top European league is becoming an increasingly hollow title as Juventus slumped to a 1-1 home draw with Chievo Verona. Boukary Drame scored in the final 15 minutes to give the visitors a well-deserved point.
AC Milan increased their lead to three points with a 4-0 thrashing of Palermo. Zlatan Ibrahimovic fired home a hat trick and AC Milan increased their goal differential advantage over Juve to nine, effectively nullifying Juventus' game in hand.
SERIE A SCOREBOARD
Palermo 0, AC Milan 4
Juventus 1, Chievo Verona 1
Parma 1, Napoli 2
AS Roma 1, Lazio 2
Bologna 1, Novara 0
Fiorentina 2, Cesena 0
Lecce 2, Genoa 2
Siena 3, Cagliari 0
Udinese 0, Atalanta 0
Inter Milan 2, Catania 2
FRANCE
Paris Saint-Germain is back atop the Ligue 1 standings with a 4-1 thrashing of AC Ajaccio. Montpellier earned a point with a late equalizer against Dijon but slipped a point behind PSG with a draw. St Etienne had their momentum stopped with a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Evian Thonon Gaillard.
LIGUE 1 SCOREBOARD
AS Nancy Lorraine 2, Lyon 0
Dijon FCO 1, Montpellier 1
Lille 2, AJ Auxerre 2
Marseille 0, Toulouse 1
Sochaux 1, Valenciennes 1
St Etienne 0, Evian Thonon Gaillard 2
Bordeaux 1, Nice 2
Caen 0, Brest 0
Paris Saint-Germain 4, AC Ajaccio 1
Lorient 1, Stade Rennes 1
NETHERLANDS
FC Twente is charging up the table on the back of an explosion of offense that's unusual even for the goal-happy Dutch league. Steve McClaren's men dispatched former league-leaders PSV Eindhoven 6-2 to move into second place and only one point behind leaders AZ Alkmaar. The top of the Eredivisie table has tightened dramatically with only five points separating the top six teams.
EREDIVISIE SCOREBOARD
ADO Den Haag 0, Heerenveen 0
RKC Waalwijk 1, Excelsior 0
VVV Venlo 2, NAC Breda 1
AZ Alkmaar 3, SC Hercales Almelo 1
Vitesse Arnhem 2, De Graafschap 0
Ajax 4, Roda JC Kerkrade 1
FC Utrecht 0, NEC Nijmegen 0
Feyenoord Rotterdam 1, FC Groningen 0
PSV Eindhoven 2, FC Twente 6
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What do you think of the weekend's results? Impressed with Manchester United and Arsenal? Will Chelsea be better off without AVB? Do you predict anyone overtaking Borussia Dortmund?
Share your thoughts below.