Winners
Erling Haaland
At just 19, Erling Haaland is the hottest thing in world football – scoring a 23-minute hattrick as Borussia Dortmund rectified a two-goal deficit to record an emphatic win.
The Norwegian striker was recently recruited from Red Bull Salzburg – despite interest from Manchester United – and has wasted little time in making an impact.
Haaland scored his debut goal three minutes after coming on in the 56th minute, before completing his hat-trick with 11 minutes to play – with his third goal sealing an important win for Dortmund, who now climb to fourth on the table.
Chelsea
Only one-point separates first placed Manchester City from Chelsea in third in the Women’s Super League, after the Blues recorded a thumping 4-1 win against Joe Montemurro’s Arsenal at the weekend.
Chelsea humbled the reigning champions by scoring three first half goals, with Matildas captain Sam Kerr putting away her maiden WSL goal in the 13th minute.
AC Milan
The Rossoneri are back in business.
Three wins in a row has seen them climb to eighth, where sit within touching distance of Calgiari in sixth.
Milan were forced to come from behind in their five-goal thriller with Udinese, as the much-maligned Ante Rebic stood up at the right moment to score the winner in the 93rd minute to send the San Siro into meltdown.
Western United
Western United were at their ruthless best as they showed zero signs of complacency after last week’s bye.
An early Besart Berisha brace and an own goal to Kye Rowles saw Mark Rudan’s side jump out to a three goal inside the first 20 minutes, as they ended a two match win-less and consolidate their place inside the top six.
The win, however, was soured by an injury to captain and Italian international Alessandro Diamanti, who could be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after coming off 30 minutes in with an ankle injury.
Losers
Kye Rowles
Three of the last four goals conceded by the Central Coast Mariners have come off the shin of one Kye Rowles.
It’s been a rollercoaster seven days for the Mariners defender, who last week thought he had scored the winner – only for it be ruled offside – before turning in Adama Traore’s cross to give Victory the lead.
The Mariners did end up winning the match, but Rowles was not so fortunate this week when two of Western United’s three goals deflected off him in their big win at GMHBA Stadium.
Napoli
It’s been a tumultuous season at Napoli.
Those in charge have this season more like a Zimbardo prison experiment than anything else and it appears the appointment of Gennaro Gattuso is not doing much to help.
Napoli slumped to its eighth defeat of the season – going down two-nil to fellow battlers Fiorentina – and now sit six points behind Calgiari in sixth place.
Gattuso has only been in the job for 35 days but is allegedly considering resigning, according to reports out of Italy, with Napoli in desperate need of someone to steady the ship – or better yet undertake a significant internal review.
Sampdoria
The Doria got a taste of their medicine this week, going down 5-1 to Lazio after dishing out the same result to Brescia last weekend.
A Ciro Immoble hattrick ensured Lazio would record its eleventh consecutive win as they look to lift their first league title since 2000, while Sampdoria remains just four points above the drop zone.
Featured Image: Getty Images
