Football: Europe's Leaders Stumble, Chelsea Extends Lead

This weekend saw all of the leaders in European leagues stumble, except for Chelsea who managed to beat title holders Leicester 3-0. 
The win put Chelsea seven points ahead of Tottenham and Liverpool, with 17 weeks left to go. The Blues have defender Marcos Alonso to thank for the win after he scored a brace. Former Barcelona winger scored the third. The win put pressure on Liverpool to beat arch-rival Manchester United, which they ultimately failed to do and drew 1-1. Tottenham won today and leapfrogged Liverpool after they won 4-0, with Harry Kane scoring a hat-trick. 
Next week will see Chelsea playing relegation-battlers Hull City. Liverpool have a relatively easy tie as well, with Swansea. Its Tottenham however who face a tricky tie, travelling away to Manchester City. City will look to bounce back next week after their humiliating defeat to Everton 0-4. 
In Spain, Real Madrid suffered their first loss of the season after losing 1-2 to Sevilla. Los Merengues have been on a historic run going for 40 matches without a loss. The run is the second-longest in the history of European football. The longest was Celtic's when they went two years unbeaten starting 1915. They played 62 matches then. 
The win also cemented Sevilla's position as a title challenger this season. They moved ahead of Barcelona to second place with 39 points, one less than Real Madrid having played a game more. Stevan Jovetic came off the bench in the second half and hit a long range drive in extra time to gift the three points to the Andalusian club.  
In Italy, it seems that the Super Cup defeat of Juventus to Milan in Doha on December 23 was a turning point for the club as their performances suffered since then. They lost again this week, this time to eighth-placed Fiorentina 1-2. Nikola Kalinic and Milan Badelj gave The Violets a two-goal lead. Juventus' star striker Gonzalo Higuain pulled one back but it wasn't enough to rescue anything for the champions. 
The loss means that Juventus are only one point ahead of challengers and rivals Roma. Although the Turin-based side has played a match less. Roma for their part had achieved a difficult 1-0 win away at Udinese. Radja Nainggolan scored the only goal of the match in the 12th minute. Edin Dzeko missed a penalty for the visitors as well. 
In France, Nice lost the lead after they drew for the second consecutive. This time it was a goalless draw against Metz. The former leaders are struggling to cope without their star striker Mario Balotelli. Monaco took advantage of the stumble and beat Marseille 4-1 to top the table on goal difference. Bernando Silva was the star of the match, scoring a brace. Radamel Falcao and Thomas Lemar scored the other two goals. 
The Bundesliga on the other side is still on winter break and will return next week. The highlight of those matches sees Werder Bremen host Borussia Dortmund. Bayern Munich are the leaders, three points ahead of this year's dark horse Leipzig.

Source: QNA