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Aaron Ramsey starred in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Liverpool with a goal and a commanding midfield display
From England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, we scouted the matches that took place across Europe’s big five leagues with a handy pair of binoculars to see who shone the brightest from the weekend’s action.
Here are the weekend’s top 10 heroes – the individuals who provided the best highlights from all of the games.
Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
The big-money signing of Mesut O?zil may have inspired the entire Arsenal team, but make no mistake, it’s Aaron Ramsey who has been the outstanding player of the season so far for the Gunners as well as in the Premier League as a whole. The Welshman bagged his 10th goal of the season when he struck a delightful volley from 20 yards out to seal the deal for Arsenal, who emerged 2-0 victors over second-placed Liverpool and went five points clear at the top of the table.
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Saido Berahino (West Brom)
Saido Berahino made it six goals in the Premier League this season
The England Under-21 star continued his rich vein of form as he opened the scoring in West Brom’s 2-0 win over struggling Crystal Palace. The 20-year-old striker showed great touch and composure in collecting the pass before striking a low powerful effort past Julian Speroni. The goal was his 6th of the season for the Baggies and 10th overall (including those for England) and his form has alerted some of the bigger clubs with Steve Clarke and West Brom keen to have the striker sign on the dotted line on a new contract. Berahino is currently on wages of £850-a-week.
Loic Remy (Newcastle United)
Loic Remy added a late goal to seal 3 points for Newcastle against Chelsea
Joining Berahino on six goals was Newcastle’s French arrangement Loic Remy. Probably the smartest piece of business that the Magpies did this summer was getting Remy on loan from relegated QPR. Whether he would make his move permanent is still unclear, but his regular goals have given Newcastle much hope especially noting the struggles of Papiss Cisse.
The Diego Costa-David Villa partnership (Atletico Madrid)
Villa and Costa have formed a formidable partnership up front for Atletico Madrid
For the third successive La Liga game in a row, both David Villa and Diego Costa got on the score sheet as Atletico kept up the pressure on Barcelona with a 2-0 home win over Athletic Bilbao. The two have forged quite a partnership that is perhaps the best forward duo in La Liga at the moment. Before yesterday, Villa scored two and set up Costa for another as Atletico thrashed Betis 5-0 and scored a penalty each for a 2-1 win away at Granada.
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Aguero had 2 assists and a goal against Norwich
Two assists and a goal for the Argentine powered Manchester City to a thumping 7-0 win over Norwich. The Argentine is amongst the premier strikers in the league and is quite a handful when in full flow as Norwich found out to their detriment. Just ask Manchester United, who he has tormented time and time again.
Steven Caulker (Cardiff City)
Steven Caulker rises highest to head home the winner for Cardiff against Swansea
The sale of Steven Caulker by Tottenham in the summer raised quite a few eyebrows. Caulker over the season, through his performances for Cardiff City, has demonstrated precisely why Tottenham fans were right to be disappointed in losing him. After a series of loan spells in three of the last four seasons, including one at Swansea in the 2011-12 term, Caulker has now firmly entrenched himself at Cardiff. He scored the game winner against his former club in the big Welsh derby last night and produced a solid performance at the back as Cardiff kept a clean sheet.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals at the weekend against Rayo Vallecano
Another week goes by and there is another Ronaldo brace to report about. Following the disappointment of the El Clasico, where he failed to score for the first time in 6 matches between the two teams, Ronaldo scored five goals in his next two games – a hat-trick against Sevilla mid-week and a brace away at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. Trouble for Ronaldo has been the Real Madrid defence, which has done its best to undo all of Ronaldo’s good work.
Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)
Ribery set up Mueller for the winner
France’s Franck Ribery put in another performance worthy of the highest praise to silence those who believe that he does not deserve to win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Bayern Munich were tested in their game away at Hoffenheim and it was Ribery who put on a masterful performance to bring them back in the game. Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Mu?ller may have scored the goals, but it was Ribery who provided the assists for both. He deservedly won the man of the match award for his outstanding display.
Robert Lewandowski and the entire Borussia Dortmund team
It was all the more important that Bayern didn’t slip up, because Borussia Dortmund had kicked off the weekend in swashbuckling fashion on Friday night, when they slammed six past Stuttgart. The visitors opened the scoring on 13 minutes, but that was to be the last bit of joy for the evening as Dortmund smashed six in reply. Lewandowski was undoubtedly the main hero with his well-taken hat-trick and an assist, but the supporting cast of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marco Reus and Nuri Sahin were exemplary too as they struck fear into the hearts of those Stuttgart defenders. Lewandowski now has 9 goals in 10 games, along with 3 assists in the Bundesliga.
Edinson Cavani (PSG)
Edinson Cavani scored a brace to become the leading scorer in Ligue 1 with 9 goals
In another country, Uruguay striker Cavani became the leading goal scorer in Ligue 1 with his brace against Lorient. It was the fourth successive game where Cavani had found the back of the net and his tally now stands at 9 goals in just 8 appearances for the French champions.
LOSC Lille
Lille beat Monaco 2-0 to go second in Ligue 1
Lille inflicted a first league defeat on AS Monaco in this year’s Ligue 1 when they won 2-0 yesterday. The win took Lille into secondplace and within two points of leaders PSG. Why the team makes it to the heroes list is not just due to the fact that they moved second, but also due to a splendid record of seven games unbeaten in the league. And what’s more, they have done so without conceding a single goal. They boast of no big names, but have a squad that is high on energy and team spirit, much of it down to former manager Rudi Garcia, who left to coach AS Roma in the summer. It is no coincidence that Roma are unbeaten and top of Serie A at the moment. Elie Baup, since taking over, has managed to keep the momentum going.
Konstantinos Mitroglou (Olympiakos)
Mitroglou already has 16 goals to his name in all competitions
The 25-year-old Greek striker is one of the hottest properties around in Europe at the moment. He scored a 90th minute winner on Saturday in the big Athens derby against Panathinaikos, dubbed ‘the Derby of Eternal Enemies’. Mitroglou has been scoring for fun since the season began and has 12 goals from just 7 appearances in the Greek Super League. Add to that 3 goals in the UEFA Champions League, thanks to a sensational hat-trick against Anderlecht, and you have a striker in red-hot form who is reportedly being tailed by both Arsenal and Liverpool.
