By ADAM TROXTELL

In a match-up of beleaguered managers, Arsene Wenger’s Gunners fired past Newcastle to provide some much needed relief.

The 4-1 win over Newcastle caps a fine week for Arsenal and gives them the edge in the fight for Champions League spots after both teams entered the match on 23 points. Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud finished with two goals each to leave Arsenal two points away from fourth place.

Newcastle and Arsenal have both been accused of some sloppy defending this season, but it was the Gunners, and Alexis Sanchez in particular, who took advantage of that the most. The Chilean provided the cross for Arsenal’s opener just 15 minutes into the game, finding Giroud steaming forward in the middle of the box as he powered the header into the right side of the net. Sanchez once again provided the pass for Cazorla to dispatch a similar goal just 10 minutes into the second half before Cazorla sealed it with a penalty kick.

One goal is all Barcelona needed to keep pace with Real Madrid, but they couldn’t find it against Getafe.

Some heroics from goalkeeper Vicente Guaita produced a 0-0 draw that sees Barcelona drop to four points off their El Clasico rivals at the top of the Primera Division.

The big day in Italy comes Sunday, but Lazio did their best to crash the party with a 3-0 win over Atalanta. The win takes them into 3rd place ahead of some top-of-the-table clashes in Serie A. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich are still full-steam-ahead in the Bundesliga with a 4-0 thrashing of Augsburg.

Here’s all the action from Europe’s top leagues on Saturday:

ENGLAND

Fans that were videoed shouting abuse at Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger following the club’s 3-2 defeat to Stoke last weekend might have been singing a different tune at the stadium on Saturday.

The Gunners looked assured in attack against a Newcastle defense that wilted when faced with the dual-striker threat of Giroud and Welbeck. Of Arsenal’s six shots on target, four found the back of the net.

But at their own defensive end, they still needed to be saved. Newcastle’s first chance to get back in the game came after 30 minutes when Wojciech Szczesny saved Mike Williamson’s header and parried away Papiss Cisse’s shot off the rebound.

The makeshift central defensive pair of right-back and former Newcastle man Mathieu Debuchy and Per Mertesacker saw Arsenal through, though not without one lapse. Spanish youngster Ayoze was free to score Newcastle’s lone goal off a free kick with a glancing header into the far post.

Elsewhere in England, Frank Lampard looked to fire Manchester City closer to the top with a winning goal in the 40th minute against Leicester City. However, his old club Chelsea maintained the three-point gap with a 2-0 win at home against Hull City.

Burnley won their first ever December game in the Premier League with a 1-0 result against Southampton. After their hot start, Saints have how slumped to four straight defeats.

Here’s all the scores from the Premier League:

Burnley 1, Southampton 0

Chelsea 2, Hull 0

Crystal Palace 1, Stoke City 1

Leicester City 0, Manchester City 1

Sunderland 1, West Ham 1

West Brom 1, Aston Villa 0

SPAIN

Getafe were a final whistle away from a surprise result against Barcelona.

Substitute striker Alvaro Vazquez was clean through on goal when the referee ended the game, frustrating Getafe players and fans but only saving a 0-0 draw. Perhaps it was the rain, or a lack of Neymar, but Barcelona simply could not score.

They had plenty of chances. Lionel Messi saw a second-half free kick cannon off the cross bar. But out of 15 total shots, just two of them were on target. Getafe managed three shots on target from just 24 percent possession.

The rest of the time, Getafe stifled the Catalans with 24 fouls compared to eight on their opponents. It did the job and took them six points clear of the bottom three.

Valencia climbed closer to fourth place with a 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano. A brace for Sofiane Feghouli and a third from Pablo Piatti had Valencia well up by halftime, which helped cushion the blow of losing Andre Gomes in the 71st minute to a second yellow card.

Here’s a full list of results from La Liga:

Getafe 0, Barcelona 0

Valencia 3, Rayo Vallecano 0

Cordoba 0, Levante 0

Malaga 1, Celta Vigo 0

ITALY

Stefano Mauri scored twice for Lazio to help them into third place with a 3-0 win over Atalanta.

The Italian midfielder dispatched Felipe Anderson’s pass across goal into an empty net at the back post before curling one in from the top of the box. Senad Lulic’s third in the 81st minute sealed all three points, although Atalanta never seriously threatened at the other end.

With Juventus playing Sampdoria and Genoa hosting Roma on Sunday, Lazio put themselves in position to take advantage of any dropped points.

Palermo came out of a frantic ending against Sassuolo unscathed to win 2-1 at home. Luca Rigoni’s header put them ahead before Andrea Consigli was sent off for the visitors on 61 minutes.

Despite being a man down, Leonardo Pavoletti equalized five minutes from the end. A goal from Andrea Belotti sealed the win for Palermo, but Paolo Cannavaro became the second Sassuolo player sent off in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

GERMANY

On this form it looks like no one will catch Bayern Munich, who went 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with a 4-0 victory over third-placed Augsburg.

Arjen Robben scored twice while Mehdi Benatia and Robert Lewandowski added one each to extend Bayern’s lead at the top of the table. That makes it nine straight Bundesliga victories for the defending champions who have yet to lose in this campaign.

Former champions Borussia Dortmund had a chance to gain valuable points over fellow relegation strugglers Hertha Berlin, but failed to do so in a 1-0 loss. Julian Schieber’s 40th minute strike condemned Dortmund to at least another week in the bottom three.

Here’s all the scores from the Bundesliga:

Augsburg 0, Bayern Munich 4

Frieberg 0, Hamburg 0

Hertha Berlin 1, Borrussia Dortmund 0

Schalke 1, Koln 2

Werder Bremen 3, Hannover 3

Mainz 1, Stuttgart 1

FRANCE

A pair of unexpected results highlighted Saturday’s action in France. First an own goal by Bordeaux’s substitute goalkeeper Azbe Jug in which the ball ricocheted off the bar, then off his head and into the net sealed a 2-1 win for Nantes.

American Alejandro Bedoya provided the assist for Nantes’ opener in the 23rd minute, scored by Jordan Veretout.

Later Bastia upset sixth-placed Rennes 2-0 to climb up to 18th. Fallou Diagne was sent off for Rennes in just the 26th minute.

Here’s all the scores from France:

Nantes 2, Bordeaux 1

Bastia 2, Rennes 0

Lorient 3, Metz 1

Montpellier 3, Lens 3

Reims 3, Evian 2