Winners and losers of the weekend's football: Raphinha boosts Barcelona's title bid while Inter take advantage of Serie A slip-ups – but Nick Woltemade and Newcastle endure a derby day to forget

Things are really heating up in the run-up to Christmas across Europe's top leagues, with Inter reclaiming top spot in Serie A, Lens surprisingly leading the way in Ligue 1 and Barcelona continuing to pile pressure on Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid. Over in Germany, though, it seems that nobody is really capable of dethroning Bayern Munich, but Premier League leaders Arsenal are looking more and more nervous with each passing week.

So, who were the big winners and losers of the latest round of action across the continent? GOAL runs through all of the major talking points below, including a massive 'cupset' in Edinburgh and more supporter unrest in Florence…

Getty Images SportWINNER: Arne Slot

Arne Slot admitted Liverpool benefited from "a bit of luck" in Saturday's 2-0 win over Brighton, but felt like they were due some good fortune in light of the "injuries and other things" they've had to deal with in recent weeks. One of those "other things" was obviously Mohamed Salah's quite remarkable attempt to undermine the Dutchman's authority after the 3-3 draw with Leeds United last Saturday week.

Such a shocking show of insubordination would have probably sparked civil war under a more combustible coach, but Slot is as cool as they come and the Dutchman deserves immense credit for following up a hard-fought win at Inter in the Champions League with a morale-boosting win over Brighton, during which he looked like the bigger man by not only welcoming Salah back into his squad, but also bringing him on when the unfortunate Joe Gomez went off injured in the first half.

The Egyptian even contributed an assist for Hugo Ekitike's killer second goal before bidding farewell to all four corners of Anfield ahead of his flight to Morocco to link up with his national team for their Africa Cup of Nations campaign. Whether the winger returns to Merseyside after the tournament concludes is not yet clear, as it was hard to believe Slot when he said that there is no longer any issue to resolve with his star player. However, the manager has undeniably done well to take a significant amount of the tension out of the situation – even if it's only for a few weeks…

AdvertisementGetty Images SportLOSER: Arsenal fans' nerves

Just over a month ago, there was talk of Arsenal running away with this season's Premier League. They'd won five games in a row while defending champions Liverpool had gone into freefall and Manchester City were leaking goals at an alarming rate.

However, Arsenal have dropped points three times since their comfortable 2-0 victory at Burnley at the start of November, and they should have done so again on Saturday after a dire display against Wolves at the Emirates, with the hosts needing two own goals to overcome the weakest team in the league.

Of course, Mikel Arteta's men are unlikely to play as poorly in many more games this season, while winning ugly is undoubtedly the mark of champions. However, the very fortuitous win over Wolves made it painfully clear to Arsenal's long-suffering supporters that there won't be too many easy games either – not for a team that is so incredibly desperate to win the title after three consecutive runners-up finishes.

The north Londoners remain favourites to finally end their major trophy drought this season but, with City resurgent, it's going to be a long and nerve-racking ride for Gooners. 

Getty Images SportLOSER: Newcastle

A little under two years ago, Newcastle's players celebrated a 3-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light with a team photo in front of their fans. On Sunday, it was the Black Cats' turn, after a well-deserved 1-0 win over their most hated rivals.

Newcastle striker Nick Woltemade decided the Tyne-Wear derby in the home side's favour, by unintentionally planting a cross from Nordi Mukiele past his own goalkeeper shortly after half-time. However, it would be wrong to single out the German after what was an atrocious team performance from Eddie Howe's troops. Indeed, midfielder Bruno Guimaraes admitted after Newcastle's first league loss to Sunderland since 2016, "The whole message in the changing room was: 'Do it for the fans' and we didn't.

"It's so embarrassing for me and frustrating because we know we have a better team than them. It's clear for me. But we didn't perform like a better team – it makes me feel angry." And rightly so, because Newcastle's supposedly 'better team' are now four points and five spots below seventh-placed Sunderland in the Premier League table.

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Getty Images SportWINNER: Morgan Rogers

Cole Palmer got back among the goals for Chelsea, Phil Foden maintained his fine form in Manchester City's win at Crystal Palace, while Jude Bellingham set up a goal for Real Madrid in their crucial victory over Alaves. However, the most impressive performance delivered by an English attacking midfielder over the weekend came courtesy of Morgan Rogers, who once again showed why he's Thomas Tuchel's preferred No.10 by scoring  twice as Aston Villa came from behind to beat West Ham 3-2 at the London Stadium.

Unai Emery's men have now won nine games in a row in all competitions and sit third in the Premier League, just three points behind leaders Arsenal, meaning talk of a title challenge no longer seems quite so unrealistic. Certainly, with Rogers in such scintillating form (eight goal involvements in 16 matches), anything seems possible for Villa.

"I'm scoring quite a few lately," the 23-year-old told . "I want to score as much as possible and help the team and, at the moment, we're on a great run, so let's see where that takes us."