Awesome Arsenal

England Premier League

There is one thing about Arsène Wenger: he can build some awesome football teams at Arsenal - the problem being it is often either side of the soccer season. This moment is one of them and had Arsenal been so consistent since September, the north London side would be up and away over the horizon and out of reach. As it stands, the Premiership is once again Sir Alex's to lose.

Sir Alex: Manchester United will hold its nerve. The Red Devils depend only upon themselves and the Premier League is theirs to lose and City's to win after a turn-around at the top of the table. Manchester City went down 1-0 at Swansea while United took advantage of a Rooney brace of goals to sink West Bromwich Albion 2-0.

Tottenham seem to be living a crisis with three straight league defeats (0-1 at Everton) depriving Spurs of nine points while Arsenal are now one point behind after a 2-1 win at Newcastle on Monday night.

And Chelsea without AVB (1-0 winner over Stoke City) is three points adrift and outside Champions League football. Liverpool went down 1-0 at Sunderland.

English Premier League after 28 games 

1. Manchester United 67  
2. Manchester City 66 
3. Tottenham  53  
4. Arsenal 52 
5. Chelsea FC 49  
6. Newcastle United 44 
7. Liverpool FC 39 (27 games)

Spain - Primera Liga 

Five of the top seven won, the difference being a jostling of places beneath Real (3-2 winner at Bétis), Barça (2-0 winner at Racing Santander) and Valencia (2-2 at home with Mallorca). Málaga beat Levante 1-0; Osasuna beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1. Mourinho is set to win his fourth championship in four different leagues as first-team coach.

Spanish Primera Liga after 26 games  
1. Real Madrid 70
2. FC Barcelona 60
3. Valencia CF 44   
4. Málaga CF 40
5. Levante UD 38
6. CA Osasuna 38 
7. Athletic Club 37

Italy - Serie A 

Has Juve blown it? One point behind with a game in hand has turned into 4 points behind with no games in hand and the Serie A looks more likely to alight in San Ciro this season. AC Milan beat Lecce 2-0 while Juventus could do no better than a 0-0 draw at Genoa. Lazio were beaten 1-3 at home by Bologna, Napoli thrashed Cagliari 6-3 and Udinese went down 1-0 at Novara. Roma came away from Palermo 1-0 winners, while Inter Milan beat Chievo away 2-0.

Italian Serie A after 27 games  
1. AC Milan 57 
2. Juventus 53
3. SS Lazio 48

4. SSC Napoli 46

5. Udinese Calcio 46
6. AS Roma 41
7. Inter Milan 40 

Germany - Bundesliga 

A goalless draw for leader Dortmund at Augsburg and a win for Bayern (7-1 thrashing of Hoffenheim) does not yet open up the title race after Borussia had stormed ahead. Moenchengladbach drew (0-0 with Freiburg), with Schalke now breathing down their necks (3-1 victors over Hamburg). Bayer Leverkusen lost 3-2 at Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen won 3-0 over Hannover.

German Bundesliga after 25 games  
1. Borussia Dortmund 56
2. FC Bayern Munchen 51

3. VfL Borussia Moenchengladbach 48 
4. FC Schalke 04 47 
5. Bayer 04 Leverkusen 40 
6. Werder Bremen 39    
7. Hannover 96 35 

France - Ligue 1 

Now it's PSG (2-1 winner at Dijon) one point ahead of Montpellier (3-0 winner over Caen). Lille lost 1-2 at Lyon, Saint-Étienne pulls up to fourth after a 2-1 win at Valenciennes while Rennes drew (1-1 with Auxerre) as did Toulouse (1-1 with Lorient).

French Ligue 1 after 27 games  
1. Paris Saint-Germain FC 58
2. Montpellier Hérault 57 
3. LOSC Lille Métropole 47
4. AS Saint-Étienne 46
5. Stade Rennais 44
6. Toulouse FC 44
7. Olympique Lyonnais 43 

Portugal - Primeira Liga 

Is FC Porto going to blow it? Watch this space. After last week's brilliant 3-2 victory over Benfica in Lisbon, a lacklustre 1-1 draw with Académica (Coimbra) and Benfica (2-1 at Paços de Ferreira) and Braga (2-1 against Leiria) one point behind. Sporting Clube de Portugal thrashed Vitória SC (Guimarães) 5-0 while Marítimo (Madeira) beat Feirense 2-1. Olhanense drew 4-4 at home with Nacional (Madeira) in the Algarve.

Primeira Liga after 22 games 
1. FC Porto 53  
2. SL Benfica 52
3. SC Braga 52 
4. SC Portugal 41   
5. CS Marítimo 41 
6. Vitória SC (Guimarães) 32 
7. SC Olhanense 27 

Russian Premier

CSKA Moskva 1 - Dinamo Moskva 1; Krasnodar 1 - Terek Grozny 3; Rubin Kazan 0 - Lokomotiv Moskva 0; Rostov 1 - Krylya Sovetov-0; Zenit 1 - Kuban 1; Tom 1- Volga 0; Spartak Nalchik 1 - Amkhar Perm 2; Anzhi Makhachkala 0 - Spartak Moskva 0.

Venue: Makhachkala

Russian Premier League - Final standings 2011-2012-03-05 (after 30 games) 
1. FC Zenit St. Petersburg 61 
2. PFC CSKA Moskva 59 
3. FC Dinamo Moskva 55 
4. FC Spartak Moskva 53 
5. FC Lokomotiv Moskva 53 
 
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey 
Pravda.Ru