Xabi Alonso needs to turn Real Madrid around fast! Weekend winners and losers as PSG also surrender top spot while Liverpool's mega-money signings belatedly prove their worth

The big game of the Premier League weekend saw leaders Arsenal travel across London to take on Chelsea, who kicked off the weekend in second place and were in buoyant mood following their midweek win over Barcelona. Much of the pre-match chat focused on the midfield battle, where Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo were set to collide in a battle of the English top-flight's best central players.

And while Rice produced a solid if unspectacular performance during Sunday's 1-1 draw, Caicedo made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Ecuador international was clearly keen to make his mark on the game as he showcased his usual energy in harassing the visitors in possession, but he overstepped the mark seven minutes before half-time when he lunged in on Mikel Merino, catching the Arsenal man above the ankle to deservedly be sent off.

Despite his protestations, Caicedo could have no complaints, and he must have wondered what might have been as he watched on while his team-mates dug deep to first take the lead shortly after half-time before being well worth a point despite being at such a disadvantage against Europe's most in-form team. Had Caicedo remained on the pitch, the Blues may well have had enough to go on and win, but he is instead now contemplating a three-match ban that will rule him out of league action until the weekend before Christmas. The impact his absence could have on Chelsea's title bid has the potential to be huge.

Across the capital, Liverpool travelled to West Ham knowing that their own bid to defend the title they won last season is already well over following a run of six defeats in seven that has seen Arne Slot's position as manager come under increased scrutiny. And while beating the struggling Irons shouldn't signal the return of the Reds to their best form, it was encouraging for supporters that the club's two mega-money summer signings both finally showed what they are all about.

In truth, Alexander Isak was again on the periphery of things for long periods at the London Stadium, but when Liverpool needed him most, the £125 million ($169m) striker produced a fine finish to break the deadlock and secure his first league goal since swapping Tyneside for Merseyside.

It was Florian Wirtz, however, who was the star of the show for Slot's side. Given the freedom to roam from the No.10 position, the Germany international proved elusive for the West Ham defence as he picked up pockets of space and drove Liverpool forward. If not for a couple of poor touches in the box from team-mates he might have finished the game with an assist or two, but this was the kind of display many expected from the £116m ($156m) man when he arrived from Bayer Leverkusen.

Wirtz was able to express himself in such a way in part due to Dominik Szoboszlai being switched to the right-hand side of Liverpool's front three as Slot chose to leave Mohamed Salah on the bench for the duration of the afternoon. Szoboszlai's work-rate and selflessness allowed Wirtz additional space to thrive in, and if the Reds' performances continue to improve, this weekend could mark the beginning of the end of 'the Egyptian King's' Liverpool career.

Slot was able to ease the pressure on himself somewhat, but the same could not be said for Thomas Frank after yet another game to forget for the Tottenham boss. The Dane had restored some pride following last week's north London derby embarrassment after his side showed some fight in losing 5-3 to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, but Saturday's loss to Fulham was a new low for the Spurs manager as his side fell into the bottom half of the Premier League table.

Tottenham were two goals down inside eight minutes as goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario again made a huge error leading to a goal, and though Mohammed Kudus pulled one back after the break for the home side, their rotten run of form at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium shows few signs of stopping. Spurs have now lost 10 home Premier League matches in 2025 as Fulham joined Bournemouth in securing their thus far only away win of the campaign in north London. Bottom side Wolves, meanwhile, scored their only away goal on their way to earning their only away point at Tottenham back in September.

Frank did little to appease supporters post-match as he claimed those who booed Vicario following his error were "not true Tottenham fans", and there are plenty who have now turned against the ex-Brentford boss ahead of Tuesday's crucial trip to Newcastle. Anything less than a win at St. James' Park could spell the end for one of the English top-flight's most likable coaches.

Frank is not the only newly-appointed manager to be feeling the heat around Europe, though. Over in Spain, pressure is beginning to build around Xabi Alonso. The former Blancos midfielder arrived in the dugout to great fanfare over the summer given his successes at Leverkusen, and through the first three months of the season things seemed to going perfectly. Madrid were clear at the top of La Liga after beating Barcelona in Alonso's first Clasico while they had won each of their opening three Champions League matches.

November, though, proved to be a month to forget for Alonso and Madrid. Defeat at Liverpool sparked a run of five games during which Los Blancos have won just once, and they needed four goals from Kylian Mbappe to seal that win over Olympiacos. Three successive draws in La Liga, capped by Sunday's stalemate at relegation-threatened Girona, have seen them surrender top spot domestically back to Barca, with there growing concerns over Alonso's tactics in the Spanish capital.

That scrutiny has been intensified by reports of dressing room rifts within the Bernabeu dressing room. Vinicius Jr is refusing to enter negotiations over a new contract due to his poor relationship with Alonso, while it has been claimed that many of Madrid's players who thrived under the flexibility of Carlo Ancelotti are unhappy with the rigidity required by his successor.

Florentino Perez is unlikely to dispense with his manager so quickly after hiring him, but these are still worrying times for Alonso as he tries to keep Madrid's season from going completely off the rails in the coming weeks.

The biggest beneficiaries of Madrid's poor form have been Barcelona, who moved a point clear at the top of the table thanks to Saturday's 3-1 win over Alaves. Lamine Yamal led the way for the Blaugrana as he bounced back impressively from his individual no-show at Stamford Bridge to score the equaliser after Alaves took a first-minute lead at Camp Nou before providing the assist for Dani Olmo's stoppage-time strike that sealed the points.

Barca boss Hansi Flick had challenged teenage wonderkid Yamal to put his disappointing night against Chelsea behind him in Catalunya, and he did just that, showing exactly why he is expected to become the first player to win the Ballon d'Or before their 21st birthday with a fine display of dribbling and trickery down the right-hand side.

Yamal will need to be at his best again on Tuesday when Barca host in-form Atletico Madrid, who themselves have fought their way back into the title race and sit just three points off the summit in fourth after six straight league victories.

While the top four in La Liga are separated by just three points, the title race in Serie A is even tighter, with just a solitary point separating the teams currently making up the Champions League qualification places. Defending champions Napoli are sat in second, level on points with leaders AC Milan, after they travelled to Stadio Olimpico and came away with a 1-0 win over previous table-toppers Roma.

Antonio Conte again deployed the 3-4-3 formation that he introduced following the November international break, and it continues to bear fruit as winger David Neres made it three goals in two league games after being brought into the side as part of the switch in system.

“Coming to the Stadio Olimpico and playing with the kind of authority we did, pushing forward constantly, that is not easy,” Conte told DAZN post-match. "Roma were coming off a run of positive results, they were ahead of us in the table, and are a very good team. I am pleased, as I saw a performance of character from the lads, we looked them in the eye from the start.

"These lads are proving their enthusiasm, hunger and determination every day, it is what allowed us to win the Scudetto last season, something incredible. We will try our best to defend it this term, hoping there are no more long-term injuries.”

While it was a good weekend for the defending champions in Spain and Italy, the same cannot be said in France as PSG suffered just their second Ligue 1 defeat of the campaign in a 1-0 reversal at Monaco on Saturday. Luis Enrique opted to leave Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola and Goncalo Ramos on the bench despite Desire Doue being out injured and the European champions lacked teeth in attack as a result as they produced just two shots on target.

"It's hard to maintain consistency when you make individual errors. It was our worst match of the season," Luis Enrique said following the clash at the Stade Louis II. "They deserved it more than we did. It was a bad night for us, a very bad night."

PSG could still yet run away with the Ligue 1 title in the coming weeks given their immense strength in comparison to their rivals, but they will have to improve after a domestic campaign that is yet to truly catch fire following last season's travails.

PSG's loss opened the door for one of their challengers to take top spot, and while Marseille spurned their opportunity after conceding a stoppage-time equaliser to Toulouse on Saturday, Lens weren't about to make the same mistake a day later as they ran out 2-1 winners at Angers to move a point clear at the summit.

Having only been promoted back to Ligue 1 in 2020, Lens have subsequently established themselves as one of the most consistent teams in the French top-flight, and even secured Champions League qualification for the 2023-24 season. They subsequently finished seventh and eighth in the previous two campaigns, but new manager Pierre Sage has lifted the club to heights it hasn't known for 21 years, when they last sat atop the standings.

It was poetic that Florian Thauvin scored the brace that sent them to the top of the table, given the form he has shown since returning to France after spells in Mexico and Italy following his departure from Marseille in 2021. Now 32, Thauvin has been one of the standout performers of the Ligue 1 season thus far, with his form having earned him a recall to the France squad and opened the door to him earning a place in Didier Deschamps' squad for the World Cup. Certainly, if he can help maintain Lens' title challenge, then he will have a chance of travelling to North America next summer.

Bayern Munich continue to run away with the Bundesliga title race after stretching their lead to eight points over second-placed RB Leipzig. They left it late to beat struggling St. Pauli, however, as Vincent Kompany's side needed two stoppage-time goals to avoid dropping points for just the second time all season.

It was Luis Diaz who eventually gave the Bavarians the lead in the 92nd minute as the Colombian again showcased his worth to Bayern following his summer move from Liverpool. Diaz missed the midweek defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League due to being suspended for the red card he picked up against PSG on the previous matchday, and his incision and guile was certainly missed as Bayern suffered their first loss of the campaign at the Emirates Stadium.

"Lucho has got a kind of ‘chaotic creativity’," Kompany explained in his post-match press conference. "He can always do something in chaos. As a defender, I always found it uncomfortable to play against such players because you never know whether you have the ball under control or he has it." Certainly there are few defenders in Germany who are enjoying trying to stop Diaz, who now has 12 combined goals and assists in the Bundesliga this term.

Finally to the Netherlands, where things continue to get worse for Ajax. Not content with throwing away last season's Eredivisie title thanks to an outrageous late-season collapse, the Dutch giants have now started the new season in miserable form, leading to the sacking of manager Johnny Heitinga after just three months in charge.

Things haven't improved since Heitinga's departure, however, with Ajax in the midst of a run that has seen them win just two of their last 13 games in all competitions, including four successive defeats to drop towards mid-table in the Eredivisie, while they are the only team not to have picked up a point through the first five rounds of Champions League fixtures.

Things hit breaking point on Sunday as they hosted Groningen in Amsterdam, with the match having to be abandoned after just five minutes as supporters threw fireworks onto the pitch at the Johan Cruyff ArenA. 

"Ajax considers what happened in the stadium this evening to be utterly outrageous," a club statement read. "We offer our apologies to everyone who has been affected in any way. The safety of spectators and players has been put at risk. That is unacceptable. We emphatically distance ourselves from this misconduct. Fireworks do not belong in the stadium."

The game will now be played behind closed doors on Tuesday, with a disciplinary investigation already underway.