LONDON, Nov 18: Champions Arsenal returned to the top of the English Premier League but their Spanish counterparts Valencia were shocked 1-0 at lowly Osasuna in European league action at the weekend.
In Italy, Juventus crushed Torino 4-0 in the Turin derby to snatch the Serie A lead from Inter Milan, who drew 2-2 away to AS Roma.
Bayern Munich put their European woes behind them to beat Wolfsburg 1-0 and stay five points clear in Germany, while French leaders Nice won 2-0 at AJ Auxerre to stay one point ahead of champions Olympique Lyon.
ENGLAND: Defending Champions Arsenal returned to the top with a clinical 3-0 home win over north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg and Sylvain Wiltord scored for Arsenal, who played against 10 men for more than an hour after Spurs had Welsh winger Simon Davies sent off.
Arsenal lead by one point from Liverpool, who were held 0-0 at home by Sunderland whose goalkeeper Juergen Macho had an inspired match and brilliantly saved a Michael Owen header.
SPAIN: Valencia fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat at struggling Osasuna, who scored early through Ivan Rosado, and slipped four points behind leaders Real Sociedad, who held Real Madrid 0-0 at the Bernabeu.
Sociedad lead by a point from Real Mallorca, who extended their club record winning streak to seven matches with a 2-1 victory at Racing Santander.
Mid-table Barcelona’s poor domestic form, in stark contrast to their perfect European Champions League record, continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Deportivo Coruna.
ITALY: Four different players — Alessandro Del Piero, Marco Di Vaio, Pavel Nedved and Edgar Davids — scored for champions Juventus in a 4-0 rout of city rivals Torino that took them to the summit in Serie A.
Inter Milan surrendered top spot after a 2-2 draw at AS Roma after their Turkish midfielder Okan Buruk headed an 89th minute equaliser.
Substitute Gabriel Batistuta appeared to have scored a fine winner for Roma in the 73rd minute, as he side-footed a volley past goalkeeper Francesco Toldo to put them 2-1 in front.
GERMANY: Bayern Munich, condemned to chase domestic glory after bowing out of Europe, marched on towards another Bundesliga crown by beating VfL Wolfsburg 1-0 with a header from Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz.
Bayern stay five points clear of second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who ended a run of three defeats in all competitions after Brazilian striker Ewerthon gave them a 1-0 win over TSV 1860 Munich.
FRANCE: Substitutes Adekanmi Olufade and Sammy Traore scored in the last two minutes to snatch a 2-0 victory for leaders Nice at AJ Auxerre and keep them one point ahead of defending champions Olympique Lyon.
Lyon scored three times in six minutes early in the second half, coming from behind to beat Girondins Bordeaux 4-2.
NETHERLANDS: PSV Eindhoven lost top spot in the Dutch first division to Ajax after a 2-1 defeat at home to Feyenoord.
Ajax, who crushed NEC Nijmegen 6-0, took a three-point lead.
RUSSIA: Moscow rivals CSKA and Lokomotiv both won to finish the season level on points and set up a playoff match for the title.
CSKA defeated Saturn Ramenskoye, 3-0 while Lokomotiv edged local rivals Dynamo 2-1 in a heated Moscow derby. Both finished with 66 points after 30 matches.
Rolan Gusev and Dmitry Kirichenko both scored for CSKA to finish as the league’s joint top scorers with 15 goals each.—Reuters
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