Spurs strike nine

Jermain Defoe scored 5 times as Tottenham humiliated Wigan 9-1, while their north London rivals, Arsenal, lost 1-0 at Sunderland. Leaders Chelsea devoured Wovles 4-0, and Manchester United eased past Everton 3-0 while Manchester City earned a 2-2 draw at Liverpool. In Europe Liverpool failed to reach the next round of the Champions League despite winning 1-0 away to Debreceni of Hungary whereas Manchester United suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Besiktas but topped their group with a game in hand. Other teams to have already qualified for the knockout stages are Bordeaux, Chelsea, Porto, Fiorentina, Olympique Lyonnais, Sevilla and Arsenal.

Swiss boys on a roll

Switzerland won the under 17 World Cup with a 1-0 victory against hosts Nigeria in the final. The Swiss began the tournament with what seemed to be a surprising 2-0 win over Mexico and added another 3 points by defeating Japan 4-3 in their 2nd match before upsetting Brazil 1-0 to top their group.
Nigeria were trailing by three goals to nil when Germany were reduced to 10 men in the 53rd minute, and within 7 minutes the hosts had resorted parity and went on to claim a point from their first match. A single goal against Honduras in their next match and a 2-1 victory against Argentina in their final group match saw them progress to the next round where they hammered 10-man New Zealand 5-0. Switzerland had a much tougher test in this round, needing extra time to overcome Germany 4-3 and reach the quarter finals.
Switzerland added another big name to their list when they defeated Italy 2-1 while Nigeria continued their path brushing South Korea aside 3-1 to join Colombia and Spain in the semi finals.
Switzerland eased into the final hammering Colombia 4-0 after the South Americans had suffered a dismissal as early as the 13th minute. Sani Emmanuel scored twice as Nigeria reached the final with a 3-1 win over Spain.
A day after the Nigerian senior side had qualified for the World Cup finals, the country prepared for a double celebration, but Haris Seferovic popped up in the 63rd minute to meet a corner kick and head the ball into the Nigeria net giving Switzerland their first ever world trophy at any level.

United fall at the Bridge

A 4-1 win at Wolves moved Arsenal up into 2nd place ahead of Manchester United who lost the top of the table clash 1-0 at Chelsea. Manchester City dropped another 2 points at home after coming from 2 down to take the lead against Burnley only to concede an equaliser 3 minutes from time. Troubled Hull City gained a 2-1 home win against Stoke while West Ham lost by the same result at home to Everton. Aston Villa enjoyed the biggest win of the week thumping Bolton 5-1 while Liverpool needed a Steven Gerard penalty to draw 2-2 at home to Birmingham. In Spain the top teams both won with Real Madrid coming up on top 3-2 in the Madrid derby at Atletico and Barcelona beating Real Mallorca 4-2 at the Camp Nou.

Liverpool in the red

Liverpool’s troubles continued when they lost 3-1 at Fulham having been reduced to 9 men in a weekend that saw a record 9 players sent off in the premier league. Chelsea put on another powerful performance to win 4-0 at Bolton and remain at the top of the league while Manchester United kept on the pressure winning 2-0 at home to Blackburn, and Arsenal proved too strong for Tottenham winning 3-0 at the Emirates. In the Netherlands Feyenoord ended the match with 9 players as they were thumped 5-1 at Ajax while in Germany Hamburg suffered a shock 3-2 defeat to Borussia Munchen Gladbach. Barcelona who were held to a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in the league fired blanks in their midweek European match away to Rubin Kazan while Manchester United needed 2 late goals to avoid a home defeat and draw 3-3 with CSKA Moscow. Bayern Munich lost 2-0 at home to Bordeaux and Real Madrid drew 1-1 away to Milan while in France Olympique Lyonnais scored a last gasp goal to cancel out a Ryan Babel rocket for Liverpool.