It has been an interesting week of football. England have shot up to 5th in the FIFA World Rankings while FIFA themselves are discussing revamping the FIFA World Club Cup. On the itch was the third round of group fixtures in the Champions League and Europa League. After having his suspension reduced to one game, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford with Juventus and left with all three points after Artem Dybala’s first-half strike sealed a 1-0 win for the old lady. Tottenham Hotspur saw red as PSV came from behind to hold them to a 2-2 draw in Eindhoven. Manchester City redeemed themselves for their 2-0 defeat in Donetsk last season by defeating Shakhtar 3-0 and Liverpool comfortably strolled past Red Star Belgrade 4-0. In the Europa League, Danny Welbeck secured three points for Arsenal as they defeated Sporting Lisbon 1-0 in Portugal while Ruben Loftus Cheek had a night to remember as his hat-trick downed BATE Borisov 3-1 at Stamford Bridge.
Last weekend was full of action. Ross Barkley preserved Maurizio Sarri’s unbeaten start at Chelsea with a late goal at the death against Man United. There were big results for Cardiff who got their first win of the season against Fulham (4-2) and Brighton who won on the road at Newcastle. Liverpool and Manchester City maintained their unbeaten starts too with wins over Huddersfield and Burnley. It was a stalemate on the south coast between Bournemouth and Southampton and Everton made it three wins on the bounce with a late win against Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, the week came to a close with Arsenal’s excellent come back win against Leicester City. However, how did the predictions fare?