The List | 10 Things We Learnt From This Weekend's Football - 11/11/2013 - Football News

It was another great weekend of football; not only did the majestic Ibrahimovic score another hat-trick, but so did Cristiano Ronaldo. Title races are hotting up, with some sides pulling away at the top and other leagues being blown wide open.

The Premier League is more exciting than ever with points being dropped on a weekly basis where we would never have expected, not to mention the fact that with Arsenal’s loss, the race for the top is stronger than ever. With that in mind, here are the top ten things we learnt this weekend.



Out of the title race? No chance – When the odds for Manchester United to win the title stood at 8/1, whoever put money on that must now be laughing. The club look back in it, if they were ever out of it, and are putting together a cracking run. Now it seems that the doubters may have to reconsider their comments, with the club traditionally being far stronger after January.  

Chelsea need a special player – The Chelsea of old had Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard who could always be relied on to score a goal when needed most. The latter seems to be no longer able to do that and the former is no longer at the club. Hazard and Oscar are not stepping up enough and lets not even mention the forwards. Time for a formerly special Juan to be brought back into the fold?



The power of Mourinho prevails – The manager came so close to losing his unbeaten home record, but referee Andre Marriner, perhaps mindful of his earlier error which led to the West Brom goal, had other plans. After Ramires conned the referee with his finest Ashley Young impression in the dying seconds of the game, Eden Hazard stepped up to the penalty spot to rescue a point for Chelsea against West Brom.



City’s away blues continue – The club have big problems away from home and are dropping far too many points on the road. That is hampering their title hopes majorly at the minute, and unless they get it sorted, they will be looking at top four at best. No matter how good their forwards are, unless they can keep goals out at the back, City will not get three points.



Spurs are eleven individuals, not a team – AVB has come under fire for his decision to allow Hugo Lloris to carry on playing after a head injury, but the bigger issue has to be the way he allows his side to function as star players and not a team. Again they have dropped points and look devoid of ideas as a collective.



Wenger needs to get over his Old Trafford hoodoo – Wenger’s issues against Mourinho have been much publicised, but the fact that his title challenges often get derailed at Old Trafford goes somewhat unnoticed. The club predictably lost this weekend and threw the title race wide open, when they could have gone eleven points ahead of David Moyes's side. 



Ronaldo is a machine – The forward now has 24 goals this term. He has also netted 23 hat-tricks in Real Madrid colours. Anyone who doubts the forward’s talent is simply blind. Ronaldo is the man on form at the minute and is leaving all others trailing in his wake. Could it be his Ballon d’Or year? If this doesn’t do it, God knows what will.



Juventus are not letting their title go without a fight – A 3-0 victory over Napoli is a pretty big statement and that is what Antonio Conte’s side delivered this weekend. Couple this with title rivals Roma dropping points again and you have to consider Juventus look like they are about to march towards another domestic title. Especially as they won’t have to worry about the Champions League for much longer.



Bayern Munich are sensational – The club have now gone 37 games unbeaten and broken a previous league record of 36 games. The club actually look like they have improved under Pep Guardiola and took control of the Bundesliga in a weekend where BVB also dropped points. If ever a club looked like retaining the Champions League, the Bavarian giants are it.



Anyone can beat anyone – The Premier League is more unpredictable than ever. Newcastle and Sunderland both had sensational weekends, and showed that no matter who you are, defeat can occur. We have already seen examples of this so far this term, and it looks like continuing. The Premier League looks more exciting than ever and we love it.

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