The Week In Football, October 1-7

Premier League

In England's top league, the only action worth mentioning happened on Saturday. Just accept this. Sunday never happened.

Chelsea, despite Manchester United's win on that non-existent day, maintained a four point lead at the top of the table with their 4-1 victory over Norwich. Manchester City keeps up as well, ending Sunderland's unbeaten run with a 3-0 win. Everton are slacking, though, having dropped points in a 2-2 draw against, of all sides, Wigan.

Down at the bottom, it's Reading, Norwich and Queens Park Rangers. Think it will stay that way?

La Liga

So...did anything happen in Spain this weekend? I mean besides El Classico, of course. And wow, what a match. Some think the Classico is over-hyped, and I have to say, last season it got rather dull. But you'd be hard-pressed to find a better match this season. The two best players in the world, each scoring a brace for their side...oh, and this draw with Real Madrid was the first time Barcelona dropped points this season.

Bundesliga

Ay, Dortmund, what has happened? Last year's champs are currently nine points off the pace, with perfect Bayern Munich sitting on 21. After an exhausting draw with Manchester City midweek, Dortmund were only able to pick up a point against Hannover, lingering a point behind, in fifth.

SpVgg Greuther Fürth sits bottom, which is too bad because what a name.

Serie A

Inter and AC Milan met for the first Derby della Madonnina on Sunday, and the nerazzurri just might have put the final nail in Max Allegri's coffin (yet, I keep thinking that, and somehow he clings to the earth). Inter took the lead in the fourth minute and, despite going down to ten men at the beginning of the second half, held on to win 1-0. That result speaks more to Milan's deficiencies than Inter's abilities.

Juventus and Napoli remain joint top.

Ligue 1

It's still Marseille on top. They came back from their humilating loss at Valenciennes by hammering Cyproit side AEL in the Europa League, but couldn't manage a win against rivals Paris Saint-Germain, in what is apparently a French version of El Classico. And, just like the one in Spain, it was two braces apiece: Andre-Pierre Gignac for Marseille and Zlatan Ibrahimovic for PSG.

Eredivisie

Yep, you guessed it, it's still Twente up top, with a 3-0 win over AZ Alkmaar this weekend. But PSV are inching closer, establishing their dominance by beating VVV Venlo 6-0 last weekend, and Breda 4-0 this time around. And Napoli in between :(

Elsewhere

A-League started this week. There's no way I'd know this if all of Twitter hadn't been aflutter over Alessandro Del Piero at Sydney FC. His new side lost 2-0 to Wellington Phoenix. Newcastle Jets also lost, 2-0 to Adelaide, despite having Emile Heskey in the starting XI. The new striker looked "sluggish at times." Huh.

Speaking of derbies, the biggest in Major League soccer played out on Sunday evening. For such an important match, with a trophy hanging in the balance, you'd think Portland Timbers would have remembered to bring their defenders. Or to tell them not to put the ball in the back of their own net. It was a 3-0 Seattle Sounders victory.

PS -- I'll add special Champions League updates when we've passed the halfway mark of the group stages. Right now, seems a bit confuddled.