EPL - There was a strong sense of deja vu about this weeks proceedings, with Manchester United again topping their cross town rivals, Arsenal and Tottenham both suffering bad losses, and Arsenal having yet another player red-carded. After comfortable 3-1 home wins on Saturday for Chelsea and Liverpool, it was up to the Manchester sides to respond if they wanted to return to the top of the table, and respond they did. City were up first in London, and with debutant Samir Nasri having an immediate impact they put Tottenham to the sword. Edin Dzeko did most of the scoring, notching a hat-trick in 55 minutes, before adding a fourth with the last kick of the game. Sergio Agüero had earlier made it 4-0 before Defoe pulled one back for Spurs. Harry Redknapp may well have wished the game ended then as Tottenham were reduced to 10 men when Van der Vaart went off injured and Dzeko's lovely curler finished things at 5-1.
If United felt any pressure from City's increasingly impressive and threatening results, they didn't show it. After taking the lead after 22 minutes through Danny Welbeck (off injured 15 minutes later), a penalty to Arsenal gave the Gunners the chance to equalise before 30 minutes were up. Instead, Van Persie's penalty was saved by De Gea, and united went up the other end to make it 2-0 through Ashley Young. Rooney added a third before Theo Walcott pulled one back on the stroke of half-time to give Wenger's men some hope. However, the second half saw Arsenal's defence repeatedly ripped to shreds, and by the time Van Persie atoned for his earlier miss, United were up to six. The last 15 minutes provided more agony for Wenger, as Carl Jenkinson became the third Gunner to be sent off in as many league games, Rooney completed his hat-trick and Young scored a sublime second to end proceedings at 8-2. The last time Arsenal conceded eight goals was 1896. Wenger was defiant afterwards in the press conference, ruling out quitting. However, the main pressure will be on the manager to bolster his squad in the next three days before the transfer window closes.
AFL - the penultimate AFL round saw the make-up of the final eight largely decided, although the last week will still see a couple of teams with much at stake. Collingwood clinched the minor premiership with another belting - this time winning at Fremantle by 80 points to end the Dockers' final hopes, although it took a surprise Sydney win at Geelong to make the premiership official. However, with Collingwood's massive percentage (181.75), Geelong couldn't realistically have caught the Magpies anyway. The Swans rallied in support of their co-captain Jarrod McVeigh who was absent following the death of his newborn daughter earlier in the week. Geelong's 13-point loss was their first at home in 30 matches, dating back to round 21 in 2007 when Port Power won there. Port will have something to play for next week as a stunning comeback from Essendon denied them the victory that would have lifted them out of the wooden spoon position. Port led by 34 points early in the last quarter before the Bombers kicked the next seven goals and held on for a seven point win.
West Coast made sure of fourth spot, with a hard fought win in Bisbane, although there reward will be a match-up with the Magpies in the first week of the finals. Hawthorn will finish third after a comfortable win over the Bulldogs. St Kilda joined the Swans and Essendon in clinching a finals spot after easily accounting for North Melbourne. Carlton and Essendon will meet in one elimination final, while St Kilda and Sydney will meet in the other. St Kilda are in pole position to host that, although that would be reversed if the Saints lose to Carlton and the Swans win at home to Brisbane.
Rugby - Australia won the Tri Nations tournament with a 25-20 victory at home over New Zealand. The Australians dominated the first half to take a 20-3 lead at the break, before a predictable All Black fightback saw the game levelled at 20-20 after an hour. However, the Wallabies rebounded to score the match winning try a few minutes later through Kurtley Beale and held on to give them a big confidence boost heading into the World Cup.
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