Best of… January’s last weekend

1. Manchester United made a huge statement of intent to hold on to their Premier League title with a 3-1 thrashing of Arsenal. It was a terrible afternoon for Arsene Wenger’s squad as Wayne Rooney, Nani, and Park Ji-Sung rose a class above the North Londoners on the day. It should be noted that Wayne Rooney has now scored 100 goals in the Premier League. Facing Chelsea and then Liverpool in the next two matches, Arsenal will need to compose themselves from this defeat to have any hopes of fighting for the title.

2. Egypt (yes, the Egypt that will not be in the World Cup) has won its third consecutive Africa Cup of Nations as substitute Mohamed Nagy, or “Gedo” propelled the Pharoahs to 1-0 victory over the Ghanaians thanks to his 85th minute goal. This is Egypt’s seventh Africa Cup of Nations, but it is tough to see such a talented and flamboyant side miss out on the big show in Africa this June.

3. A Ronaldo-less Real Madrid outclassed the in-form Deportivo La Coruna as the Galacticos travelled to El Riazor to claim a 3-1 victory. Karim Benzema scored twice, and Esteban Granero also had one. But the true spotlight fell on Guti, who masterfully set up Benzema’s first goal with what is being called, “The Golden Backheel”. How good was it? Well Deportivo coach Miguel Angel Lotina said, "After what I saw, Guti should take part in the World Cup.“ Barcelona also won 1-0 as they travelled to Sporting Gijon, and sit five points above Madrid atop the La Liga table.

4.  Speaking of being top-of-the-league, Chelsea continue to push forward atop the Premier League table as they clinched three points in a hard-fought 2-1 away win against Burnley at Turf Moor. Nicolas Anelka put Chelsea ahead before Steven Fletcher scored a world-class equalizer in one of Burnley’s only true chances. But it was John Terry who scored the winner for the Blues with a wonderful header with less than 10 minutes left in regulation.

5. Roma defeated Siena 2-1 to move into second place with AC Milan on 41 points in Serie A thanks to a Stefano Okaka’s cheeky backheel with two minutes left to play. AC Milan failed to capitalize once again as they could only manage to draw Livorno 1-1 at the San Siro despite having nearly 70% of possession throughout the match.

Highlights from today’s matches are/will be posted after the jump.