Villas-Boas up and up

André Villas-Boas has turned things around at Tottenham Hotspur FC in the English Premier League, recovering from a shaky start to a steady fourth place. Chelsea sees Manchester United pull up to within a point (also City) after going down at home to their northern rival 2-3.

 Premier League 9 games

Chelsea (22 points) was beaten at home by Manchester United (21) for the first time in a decade (2-3); Manchester City, third, with 21 points, beat Swansea City 1-0 (Carlos Tevez) and fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur (17 points) went to Southampton and came away with a 2-1 win.

La Liga 9 games

Both Barça (25 points) and Real Madrid (17 points) scored 5-0 victories away from home, the leaders at Rayo Vallecano and Real (fourth place) at Mallorca. Atlético de Madrid (25) received and beat Osasuna 3-1 and third-placed Málaga (18) drew away with Espanyol.

Serie A 9 games

Juventus leads with 25 points, second is Napoli with 22 and Inter Milan in third place with 21. Juve won 1-0 at Catania, Napoli beat Chievo 1-0, Inter came away from Bologna with a 3-1 victory.

Bundesliga 9 games

1,2,3 in Germany goes to Bayern Munchen on 24 points, Schalke 04 (20) and Eintracht Frankfurt (19). Bayern went down 1-2 at home to Bayer Leverkusen; Schalke beat Nurnberg 1-0; Eintracht went down 2-1 at Stuttgart.

Ligue 1 10 games

PSG in top spot with 22 points, three ahead of Toulouse FC and Olympique de Marseille (one game in hand). PSG won 1-0 at Nancy (Ibrahomovic), Toulouse beat Brest 3-1 and Marseille's game at home with Lyon was postponed.

Russian Premier League 13 games

CSKA and Anzhi swap places at the top, the Moscow side now one point ahead on 30 points, and behind Anzhi in third is FC Zenit St. Petersburg (27). Anzhi Makhachkala went down 2-1 at Rubin, CSKA came away from Terek Grozny 2-1 winners, Zenit beat Alania 3-2 in Vladikavkaz.

 Portuguese Premier League 7 games

It's Benfica and FC Porto in top spot on 17 points apiece, with SC Braga third, three points behind. Benfica won 3-0 at Gil Vicente (Barcelos) claiming advantage on goal difference; FC Porto won 2-1 turning the result around at Estoril and Braga won 2-0 in a difficult away game at Marítimo (Madeira).

To note: Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), 13 games, 13 victories, 39 points.

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru