Reigning champions Manchester United dropped their first points in the Premier League this season after being held 1-1 by Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. Man U began the scoring in the 17th minute thanks to Nani, but were unable to double their lead. In the 51st minute, Peter Crouch scored his first goal for his new club, earning them a point. Despite dropping points, Manchester United are still on top of the table as a result of goal differential. Second in the league are Manchester United's crosstown rivals Manchester City, who have scored three goals less than United in the league this season.
Arsenal had their first solid performance of the season against Bolton, scoring 3 and keeping the clean sheet. A brace from Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie not only secured the victory for the Gunners, but gave him his 100th goal in an Arsenal shirt.
Swansea suffered their fourth league loss at the hands of Chelsea, who convincingly won 4-1. Fifty million pound man Fernando Torres had a mixed day as he scored a goal, but received a red card for a bad challenge. The other three goals came from Ramires, who scored two, and Didier Drogba.
LA LIGA
After collecting just one point from their last two La Liga matches, a home game against newly promoted side Rayo Vallecano was just what Real Madrid needed. The match started terribly for Los Blancos, however, as Vallecano scored through Cuesta after just 15 seconds, the fastest ever goal against Real Madrid in the Bernebeu Stadium! Vallecano gave a solid performance following their goal, but could not prevent Real Madrid, who were hammering away at goal, from scoring. Madrid found the back of the net through Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain toward the end of the first half, going into the second half with a 2-1 lead. Early in the 2nd half, Ronaldo scored his second of the night via a perfect penalty kick which was both powerful and accurate. Vallecano managed to pull one goal back in the 55th minute thanks to Cuesta, but could not break Real Madrid down despite having a numerical advantage for the rest of the game (Di Maria was given a 2nd yellow card in the 56th minute). In the 67th and 73rd minutes, respectively, youngster Raphael Varane and substitute Karim Benzema added to the scoreline, while Cristiano Ronaldo finished his hat trick with another penalty kick in the 84th minute. Madrid won the game 6-2, a scoreline which does not properly illustrate Valecano's efforts.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
Tuesday, September 27th
Real Madrid vs. Ajax Amsterdam
Bayern Munich vs. Manchester City
Manchester United vs. FC Basel
Napoli vs. Villareal
Lyon vs. Dinamo Zagreb
Wednesday, September 28th
Valencia vs. Chelsea
Arsenal vs. Olympiakos
AC Milan vs. Viktoria Plzen
BATE Borisov vs. FC Barcelona
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. FC Porto
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