Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson won plaudits across English football for his largely successful 25-year reign at the club, but in the race for the title neighbours City remain in the driving seat.
Roberto Mancini's men beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 to maintain their five-point lead over United, with high-flying Newcastle in third just a further point adrift.
ENGLAND
Manchester United celebrated the 25th anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson's appointment with a 1-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday but Manchester City maintained their five-point lead with a 3-2 win over QPR.
Sunderland's United old boy Wes Brown gifted victory to his former manager, heading in an own goal on 45 minutes to settle a lacklustre Premier League encounter.
Ferguson had earlier been given a guard of honour by both teams as he walked out onto the pitch before club officials revealed the north stand had been renamed in his honour.
United have registered four consecutive clean sheets since their 6-1 derby thrashing by City last month, but their city neighbours later took the gloss off celebrations at Old Trafford with a battling victory over newly-promoted QPR at Loftus Road.
Goals from Edin Dzeko, David Silva and Yaya Toure secured all three points for Roberto Mancini's men, who remain unbeaten in the league and have now reeled off eight straight wins in all competitions.
Newcastle maintained their superb unbeaten start with a 2-1 victory over Everton at St James Park while Chelsea ended their mini-slump with a first victory in three league games in a 1-0 win against Blackburn.
Arsenal's recent revival continued with a 3-0 home win against West Bromwich Albion while Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw by newly promoted Swansea at Anfield.
On Sunday Tottenham gave recuperating manager Harry Redknapp the perfect tonic after his heart surgery with a 3-1 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage, which moved the north London club into fifth place level on points with fourth placed Chelsea and with a game in hand.
SPAIN
A Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick was the centrepiece of Real Madrid's 7-1 thrashing of helpless Osasuna, which gave Jose Mourinho's side a three-point lead over arch rivals and reigning champions Barcelona.
Barca looked to be heading for their first league defeat of the season but their blushes were saved in the rainy Basque country by Lionel Messi, who pounced on a defensive mistake in injury time to give them a point from a 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao.
Dropping two points to Athletic, however, allowed Real to stretch their lead at the top of the Primera Liga to three points.
Real's drubbing of Osasuna made it ten straight wins for Mourinho's side, with Gonzalo Higuain, Pepe and two from substitute Karim Benzema adding to a hat-trick from Ronaldo.
Osasuna had levelled through Ibrahima Balde early in the match but had Eneko Satrustegui sent off for a second yellow card in the 54th minute with the score already at 5-1.
Mourinho, speaking before Barca's result, said: "We have deserved these 10 victories."
On Saturday, Valencia beat city rivals Levante 2-0 away from home to leapfrog their neighbours into third place. A Javi Venta own-goal and a Tino Costa free-kick were enough for Valencia to edge a typically bruising derby match.
Getafe meanwhile moved off the bottom of the table thanks to a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid.
GERMANY
Ten-man Bayern Munich went five points clear as striker Mario Gomez scored his 20th goal of the season in a 2-1 win at bottom side Augsburg.
After a Champions League hat-trick against Napoli in midweek, Gomez headed home on 16 minutes for his 13th Bundesliga goal of the season -- his 20th in 18 games in all competitions -- to go top of the league's scoring charts.
After Gomez put the guests ahead, France winger Franck Ribery doubled Bayern's lead when he fired home on 28 minutes. Bayern conceded only their fourth league goal this season when Japan's Hajime Hosogai managed to fire his shot over the line in the 59th minute.
Bayern held on to claim the three points and re-establish their lead after the chasing pack of Dortmund, Bremen and Moenchengladbach had all won Saturday.
FRANCE
Paris Saint Germain missed a chance to go five points clear by drawing 1-1 away to struggling Bordeaux, but the big-spending Parisians remain in control in France.
Antoine Kombouare's side had been bidding for a club record seventh straight league victory which would have given them a five-point lead on second-placed Montpellier, who were held 1-1 at Saint Etienne.
Instead they had to settle for a share of the spoils at Bordeaux, and a three-point lead on Montpellier with reigning champions Lille third after a 1-1 home draw against promoted Evian.
Lyon's hopes of ending a three-year barren run in the title race took a knock after they went down 2-1 at Sochaux to leave the easterners seven points off PSG in fourth.
Marseille are slowly shrugging off their sluggish start to the campaign as the only French side to win the European Cup made it three wins on the bounce, 2-0 at home to Nice, to move up to eighth, 12 points behind PSG.
HOLLAND
AZ Alkmaar maintained their impressive charge towards the Dutch league title with a 3-0 home win over ADO The Hague, but the most eye-catching result of the weekend was the 10-goal thriller in Utrecht, with legendary Ajax on the losing end.
Utrecht are languishing in the lower reaches of the table, but found enough motivation to send champioins Ajax packing with a 6-4 reverse between their tails.
PSV Eindhoven, who are six points off the leading pace in second, kept up the challenge with a 4-1 home win over Heracles, with 2010 champions FC Twente in third, also on 22 points, following a 4-0 home rout of De Graafschap.
SCOTLAND
Champions Rangers continued their charge towards the Scottish Premier League title, frustrating stuttering arch-rivals Celtic on the way with a clinical 3-1 win over Dundee United at Ibrox.
Nikica Jelavic scored a double as ten-man Rangers extended their lead to 12 points and maintained their unbeaten start to Ally McCoist's first season in charge.
Celtic moved up to second place at the expense of Motherwell but had Gary Hooper's late goal to thank for their 2-1 win over Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday.
League strugglers Hibernian meanwhile sacked manager Colin Calderwood Sunday after the team's miserable start to the season.
Calderwood has only been in charge at Easter Road for 12 months but a poor run of results, culminating in Saturday's 1-0 home defeat against Dunfermline, and pressure from angry fans forced the board to act.
Source: AFP
