In the top clash between Chelsea and Manchester City, Fernando Torres was the unlikely hero assisting one and scoring the late winner, after a mix-up between Joe Hart and Matija Nastasic. Chelsea won 2-1.

Arsenal remain top after a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace as Mikel Arteta scored a penalty and later saw red in a reasonably simple three points for the Gunners.

Liverpool’s Luis Suarez was the hat-trick hero, although Daniel Sturridge scored a truly amazing chipped goal as the striking duo, now dubbed ‘SAS’ (Suarez and Sturridge), dismantled West Brom 4-1.

Man Utd 3 – 2 Stoke City

Sunderland 2 – 1 Newcastle

Tottenham 1 – 0 Hull City

Barca win ‘El Clasico’

In the meeting of two of the world’s premier teams, Barcelona emerged victorious as Neymar opened the scoring and Alexis Sanchez secured the win with a chipped shot past Diego Lopez.

Gareth Bale was largely underwhelming in the match which ended 2-1 after a late Madrid consolation.

Atletico Madrid, however, were quite impressive in their 5-0 thrashing of Betis as David Villa scored twice and assisted another.

Meanwhile, Villareal further asserted their status as contenders for a Champions’ League place with a 4-1 rout of Valencia as Giovanni Dos Santos netted a brace.

Malaga 0 – 5 Celta

Sevilla 2 – 1 Osasuna

Sociedad 3 – 0 Almeria

Higuain stars for Napoli

Gonzalo Higuain scored both goals, albeit from the penalty spot, for Rafa Benitez’s team as Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to remain second in the league.

Juventus were also 2-0 winners, thanks to goals from Carlos Tevez and an Arturo Vidal penalty against Genoa. Inter Milan, meanwhile, took a couple notches of high-flying promoted side Hellas Verona in a riveting 4-2 clash won by the now fourth-placed Inter.

The flawless league leaders Roma, despite going down to 10 men, were 1-0 winners at Udinese. Substitute Michael Bradley had the winner in what proved to be a stroke of genius by Rudi Garcia.

Chievo 1 – 2 Fiorentina

Parma 3 – 2 AC Milan

Lazio 2 – 0 Cagliari

BvB take Ruhr derby

In Germany’s second-biggest derby, Borussia Dortmund, ran out 3-1 winners over Schalke as summer-signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan starred, assisting two of the three goals.

Meanwhile, Bayern remain one point above Dortmund, after a 3-2 win over Hertha Berlin. Mario Mandzukic had a brace, while Mario Gotze had the winner.

Third-placed Leverkusen were 2-1 winners in a pretty standard affair with Augsburg. Young midfield starlet Emre Can scored his first goal for Bayer.

Freiburg 0 – 3 Hamburg

Hannover 1 – 4 Hoffenheim

Wolfsburg 3 – 0 Bremen