Trump's election helping his Criminal Cases

 

Now that the final international break of 2023 has officially passed, league action is resumed around Europe, with major leagues showcasing tantalizing performances and unexpected outcomes.

In England, we witnessed Kai Havertz steal the show as Arsenal defeated Brentford 1-0 to take the lead in the Premier League, while Manchester City was unable to increase their lead against Liverpool in a 1-1 tie.

The PSG team easily defeated AS Monaco 5-2 in France to maintain their position atop Ligue 1. In a 1-1 tie with Rayo Vallecano in Spain, Barcelona was unable to earn all three points, which prevented them from closing the gap with the three clubs above them in LaLiga. And lastly, in Germany, after Bayern Munich defeated Cologne 1-0, Harry Kane kept making history. 

The lead: Man City loses their advantage in the Premier League

Although Jurgen Klopp claims he won't discuss Liverpool's chances of winning the title until the final few months of the campaign, it may not be possible for him to remain silent for very long. Despite all the preseason chatter about Arsenal being Manchester City's primary rival, Liverpool has quietly won all 13 of their games so far, including one at Tottenham that had one of the worst VAR mishaps.

Even though Trent Alexander-Arnold's late equalizer in the second half gave them a point at the Etihad Stadium, they should have won more had Alisson had a better game. The Brazilian goalkeeper was culpable for City's goal twice: first, when Nathan Aké was straight-upended by his poor kickout, and second, when Erling Haaland's effort slid through his hands. It was also fortunate for him that Chris Kavanagh determined that Manuel Akanji had shoved him as he threw a cross at Rúben Dias' feet to put it in the net. VAR Although Stuart Attwell agreed with Kavanagh, it appeared mushy.

There wasn't much separating the two sides despite Allison's anxious afternoon, and whether Klopp wants to acknowledge it or not, it should give Liverpool hope that they can compete with City all season long. Although Klopp's team lacks Guardiola's depth in the lineup, Liverpool should still be in the running for the title in April and May if he can keep everyone healthy and manage the Europa League distraction. Then perhaps Klopp will even bring it up. -- Rob Dawson 

Havertz's game-winning goal puts Arsenal atop the Premier League

On a night when many were expecting Aaron Ramsdale to make a comeback to goal, Kai Havertz—another criticised Arsenal player—took the team to the top of the Premier League.

Havertz's header in the 89th minute from a brilliant Bukayo Saka cross gave Mikel Arteta's team a 1-0 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium. It was Havertz's sole goal since he signed a contract worth £67.5 million from Chelsea last summer. Germany used the 24-year-old at left-back and left wing-back during this month's international break, demonstrating the extent to which the quest for Havertz's ideal position has spread to international football.

He has alternated between playing as a No. 8, a false nine, and out wide for Arsenal at times, but he has never shown much consistency in his play. Because of this, Arteta did not start Havertz against Brentford, opting instead to try something new with Leandro Trossard playing as a No. 8 alongside captain Martin Ødegaard, who is back.

Just before halftime, Trossard's goal was disqualified for offside following a VAR review, but overall, the visitors played a fragmented game and lacked the flair to pose a serious threat to Brentford. 

Actually, Ramsdale came dangerously close to capping his comeback when, on minute 13, he froze in possession inside his own area, giving Brentford the opportunity to take the lead. Maximum damage was only avoided by Declan Rice's outstanding goal line clearance to deny Bryan Mbeumo.

Ramsdale, who was forced to be brought back because of Arsenal's new first-choice center David Raya, was not allowed to play because he is on loan from Brentford. He also avoided punishment when he threw the ball into the ground while attempting to distribute.

However, he regained his composure in the second half, even if he had to thank Oleksandr Zinchenko for another incredible save to preserve his clean sheet. Zinchenko had blocked Neal Maupay's header in the 77th minute. Havertz got the last word when he was pulled to the far end by Arteta at the end of regulation time, an attempt to instill some confidence in a man whose high-priced signing was meant to get Arsenal closer to winning the Premier League. The Gunners took advantage of their opportunity with a hard-fought victory that seems like a modest step toward that goal after Manchester City and Liverpool drew earlier in the day. The Olley James 

In La Liga, Barcelona is unable to reduce the deficit

Xavi Hernández, the manager, believes Barcelona needs a mental shift following their laborious 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Unai López's incredible opening goal was cancelled out by Florian Lejeune's own goal in the second half, salvaging a point for Barça, who have now won just two of their previous five games in all competitions. 

The outcome won't go far in mitigating the team's negative atmosphere, which Xavi claimed was having an impact on his players prior to the international break. He lamented the team's mindset against Rayo in the first half, speculating that it had possibly "subconsciously dropped" since winning LaLiga the previous year. The choice to not award a late penalty for Alfonso Espino's challenge on Raphinha was again criticized by the Barça coach.

Xavi acknowledges that there will be more criticism, but he also supports his squad to make things better. With three important home games coming up over the next two weeks, they will need to act swiftly. They must first get a result in the Champions League against Porto on Tuesday, having lost their previous match against Shakhtar Donetsk. Next, in La Liga, they welcome Atletico Madrid and take a surprise on leaders Girona. Girona and Real Madrid, who started this weekend four and two points ahead of them, respectively, could begin to close the gap on them if they surrender any more points.

After losing Gavi to injury this week, Barça wore shirts bearing the words, "We are with you, Gavi," before kickoff against Rayo. On the field, though, they could have done without him as Vallecas struggled to get going. Xavi claimed that the mindset to "really go for the game and be aggressive" was lacking, but Gavi—whom his coach has described as the team's heart and soul—had plenty of it. 

Rayo took the lead at halftime thanks to a well-executed long-range goal from López that caught goalkeeper Iñaki Peña off guard. Barça felt that the goal may have been disallowed because Sergio Camello was in an offside position. Barça did do better after the interval. Prior to Lejeune's goal in the 82nd minute, Alejandro Balde's cross was headed attempts by Ferran Torres, Pedri, and Iñigo Martínez.

The tense conclusion was set up by that, and it culminated with Espino challenging Raphinha. According to Xavi, it was a "clear penalty." Francisco, the coach of Rayo, who's team drew with Real Madrid a few weeks ago, claimed not to have seen it. Xavi warned his players that the referee and the VAR would not grant him a mentality change is necessary if they want to challenge for trophies again this season. -- Samuel Marsden 

Dembélé shines in a thrilling match at the top of Ligue 1

Nothing better than this intriguing PSG vs. AS Monaco match on Friday night under the lights at the Parc des Princes to kick off Ligue 1 following the November international break. Even without players like Youssouf Fofana for the visitors and Warren Zaïre-Emery and an injured Marquinhos for the Paris team, it didn't let us down. The match between the league leaders Parisians and the third-place Monégasques was a fierce, transparent, and visually stunning top-of-the-table contest.

PSG prevailed 5-2, a result that was perhaps a little harsh given how well Monaco still played, but it provided excellent exposure for Ligue 1. At moments, PSG's ball handling skills were exceptional, and Ousmane Dembélé was without a doubt the greatest player of the evening. After a superb first touch, the French international scored his first goal for PSG with an extremely tight finish.

His dribbling, quickness, and combination with Achraf Hakimi caused havoc on his right wing the whole evening. He had zero effective crosses and, as usual, made poor judgments, but he was invaluable, especially in the build-up play. He is now an essential component of Luis Enrique's plans and cannot be replaced. Even more so than Nice, PSG leads Monaco by six points, who are perhaps their most formidable opponents for the league title this year.

Adi Hutter's team will be disappointed with the opportunities they lost, but they also had some pretty strong plays at times, and Folarin Balogun and Aleksandr Golovin have both shown incredible talent. However, they fell barely short of the defending champs on Friday night. -- Laurens Julien 

Americans Abroad: USMNT players have a rough day due to Balogun strikes

As Monaco lost 5-2 at the Parc des Princes in France, they were unable to get closer to league leaders PSG. Although Balogun's fourth goal of the season wasn't enough for Monaco on Friday, it marked the striker's comeback after he was unable to score in either of the two Concacaf Nations League games against Trinidad and Tobago last week. As the hosts attempted to maintain their dominance in the Bundesliga race, we witnessed an all-American match between Giovanni Reyna's Borussia Dortmund and Joe Scally's Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany. After going down 2-0 in the opening 28 minutes, Edin Terzic's team rallied for a 4-2 victory to move to fourth place in the standings, 10 points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen. Scally played the entire 90 minutes, with Reyna entering the game after halftime. It was Reyna who had the final laugh.

AC Milan defeated Fiorentina 1-0 in Italy on a night that saw Francesco Camarda become the youngest player to play in a Serie A game. Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic both started as Stefano Pioli's side remain in the Serie A title race and remain third, six points behind league leaders Inter. 

Three Americans played in the Netherlands, where PSV defeated FC Twente 3-0. Ricardo Pepi, Sergiño Dest, and Malik Tillman all contributed, with Tilman receiving an assist from Johan Bakayoko for the game's winning goal. PSV also maintained their top spot in the Eredivisie. -- Roberto Rojas 

Today's news

Erling Haaland of Manchester City is breaking records once again. He surpassed Andrew Cole's previous mark of 65 games to become the fastest player in Premier League history to reach 50 goals. Trent Alexander-Arnold's equalizer in the second half of the encounter against Liverpool resulted in a 1-1 tie, with him scoring the game's first goal. 

The 4-1 loss to Newcastle United left Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino "very angry" and unhappy, and he blasted his team's performance, calling it their worst of the season. We were weak in each and every task. We refrained from competing. According to Pochettino, "we did not show we were playing for something important." It was hard to watch from the stands. Since we did not watch the entire game, we are unable to express dissatisfaction with the outcome. 

And lastly, this past Saturday...

Harry Kane is still changing German history. As he continues to light up the Bavarians in just his first season, Kane broke a number of records after scoring the game's only goal in Bayern Munich's 1-0 victory over Cologne. The striker's accomplishments include smashing Jadon Sancho's record of 17 goals to become the highest-scoring Englishman in a single Bundesliga season and being the first Bundesliga player to score 18 goals in the first 12 matchdays.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that Robert Lewandowski had only scored 15 goals after 12 games, breaking the single-season record of 41 goals in a Bundesliga season. If Kane continues on his current trajectory, he might beat the record set by Polish striker Lewandowski, who shattered it in the end. Kane has already scored three more goals at the same time that Lewandowski did.

With 22 goals in all competitions, the former Tottenham striker leads all other players in Europe's top five leagues and is in excellent form. Nevertheless, despite their perfect record in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich is still solidly in second position, behind only league leaders Bayer Leverkusen by two points.

It will all depend on Kane's ability to maintain his excellent form for Thomas Tuchel's team and ultimately deliver much-needed hardware to one of the greatest strikers of his time if Bayern are to pursue an incredible 12th consecutive league title. -- Rojas