Blue Moon rising

A Manchester City goal against arch rivals Manchester United just before the break at the Etihad sent the Blues to the top of the Premier League on goal difference with only 2 matches remaining while 3^rd place Arsenal dropped points in a 1-1 draw at Stoke, and Chelsea hammered Queens Park Rangers 6-1 with Torres scoring a hat-trick for the home side. The shock of the week came at Wigan who took Newcastle apart 4-0 with 2 goals from Victor Moses, but the Magpies bounced back in midweek to stun Chelsea with 2 superb goals from Papiss Cisse at the Bridge. Relegated Wolves came from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 at Swansea while 2 goals from Jelavic helped Everton to a 4-0 home win over Fulham and Liverpool defeated the Canaries 3-0 in Norwich with a Suarez hat-trick that included a goal from the half-way line. Kevin Davies scored both goals for Bolton who picked up a point at Sunderland while Aston Villa played a goalless match at West Brom and Blackburn lost 2-0 at Tottenham. In other midweek matches, Everton drew 1-1 at Stoke while Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Fulham and Tottenham returned from Bolton with a 4-1 victory thanks to a double from Adebayor. In the Championship, after a 4-0 home win over Coventry, Southampton became the 2^nd team to gain automatic promotion to the Premier League.

In Spain Barcelona demolished hosts Rayo Vallecano 7-0 before returning home to defeat Malaga 4-1 with a Messi hat-trick in midweek, while Real Madrid beat their visitors from Savilla 3-0 with a brace from Karim Benzema before their 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday that secured Jose Mourinho’s men the Spanish title.