The English Premier League took a dramatic twist over the weekend with Arsenal’s position at the top of the ladder looking slightly vulnerable for the first time this season and Manchester United and Liverpool the big winners. United’s slow start to the year is now officially a distant memory after they downed the Gunners 1-0 at Old Trafford overnight. It was a double twist of the knife for the visitors too who saw former Arsenal man Robin van Persie net the winner as United moved up to fifth spot just five points behind the league leaders.
Liverpool also enjoyed a great weekend as they routed Fulham 4-0 to move back to outright second. Luis Suarez was again brilliant with two fine goals in a perfect warm-up ahead of their next outing against cross-town rivals Everton. Even more pleasing for both Liverpool and United was the fact that so many of their main title rivals stumbled. Aside from Arsenal’s second loss of the EPL season, Tottenham and Manchester City both fell 1-0 while Chelsea was lucky to scramble a last minute draw against West Brom.
The MotoGP season wrapped up with Marc Marquez holding on to become the youngest man ever to win the championship in the premier class. Marquez only needed a top four finish to secure the title from main rival Jorge Lorenzo and was happy to settle into third as Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa finished ahead of him in Valencia.
There were no surprises in the tennis with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic set to fight it out in the final of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. In a fitting end to the year, Nadal easily beat former world No.1 Roger Federer while Djokovic downed the other big-hitting Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka to book tonight’s meeting.
And Australia’s world No.2 Adam Scott has thrown down the gauntlet to top ranked Tiger Woods, claiming he is keen to grab the top spot next year after he produced a stunning finish to win the Australian PGA yesterday for the first time. Scott’s victory was his fourth title of a year which included his first major at the US Masters and if he can take this form into 2014 he could well give Woods a run for his money.
