Winners and losers of the weekend's football: Hat-trick hero Robert Lewandowski defies Father Time for Barcelona - but has Antonio Conte lost the support of his Napoli players?!

Funnily enough, this was not a good weekend for league leaders. Real Madrid remain top of the pile in Spain, but Los Blancos' lead has been cut to three points after a dour 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano, while Napoli's no-show at the Renato Dall'Ara saw them drop from first to fourth in Serie A.

In the Netherlands, PSV usurped Feyenoord at the summit of the standings, by routing AZ 5-1 before Robin van Persie's men were upset by Go Ahead Eagles, and we also have new leaders in Greece, as Olympiacos leapfrogged PAOK in the Super League due the latter's 2-1 loss at Panathinaikos.

Over in Turkey, Fenerbahce drew to within a point of defending champions Galatasaray, who were beaten 1-0 by Kocaelispor, while the leaders in Scotland, Belgium, England and Germany - Hearts, Union Saint-Gilloise, Arsenal and Bayern Munich, respectively - were all held to draws.

Arsenal dropping points was highly significant as the Gunners' brilliant backline was breached not once but twice in a thrilling 2-2 draw with Sunderland that brought an end to a 10-game winning streak, as well as eight consecutive clean sheets for Mikel Arteta's men.

The biggest shock of the weekend, though, was undoubtedly Bayern failing to win at Union Berlin. The Bavarians were on a record-breaking 16-match winning start to season - and had just stunned European champions Paris Saint-Germain in their own backyard four days before - but they needed a late equaliser from Harry Kane just to snatch a 2-2 draw in the German capital.

Paris Saint-Germain were the only table-toppers in Europe's 'Big Five' leagues to win this weekend - but they left it very, very late in Lyon to reclaim first place from Marseille.

A gripping game at the Groupama Stadium looked set to finish in a fitting share of the spoils, with the home side having twice come from behind to draw level thanks to goals from Alfonso Moreira and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. However, Nicolas Tagliafico's injury-time dismissal presented PSG with an opportunity to apply some relentless late pressure - and it eventually told, with Joao Neves heading home a 95th-minute winner from Lee Kang-In's corner.

"It was tough but, in the end, like always with our mentality, our resilience and the character of our players, proved decisive," a delighted - and relieved - Luis Enrique told PSG's media channel. "It is very positive for us to be back on top of the table. The international break is here now - and we will enjoy it." Unlike a lot of their European rivals!

Former Napoli striker Roberto Sosa was very concerned by what he saw from the Partenopei in Bologna on Sunday. "It's the typical match you see when players want to get rid of the coach," the Argentine told Tele A.

Normally, the obvious reaction to such a claim would be to dismiss it out of hand. After all, Conte led Napoli to the Serie A title six months ago, while his goal-shy side are still only two points off the top of the current table. However, in this particular instance, Sosa's observation didn't feel like hyperbole - primarily because Conte was just as disturbed by his players' perceived lack of effort at the Dall'Ara.

"We have to ask ourselves if we are working with the same enthusiasm and desire that we had last year, when we wanted to prove ourselves, or if we are resting on our laurels because people say we are favourites," the passionate coach told DAZN. "The energy has certainly changed here. I don't feel the positive energy we had last season. I've been saying this for a while now, it saddens me that I have been unable to change this energy in the last few months.

"It means I am not doing a good job or that someone doesn't want to listen to me..."

Before the Premier League season began, it was taken as a given that the newly-promoted teams would once again go straight back down. In that context, Leeds United and Burnley are actually doing quite well just to be hovering above the drop zone. What, then, can we possibly say that would do justice to Sunderland's sensational start to the season?

The Black Cats may have invested a fair bit of money in their squad during the summer, but they're competing in the richest and most competitive league in world football, so nobody expected them to be going into the November break sitting fourth in the table - above the likes of Aston Villa, Manchester United and even reigning champions Liverpool.

"For our fans, they deserve to look to the future with positive vibes," manager Regis Le Bris told Match of the Day after Saturday's dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal. "It was a tough game, as we expected. They are probably one of the best teams in Europe. We struggled, but we still believed it was possible to score one more goal. The lads worked hard to the end. They believed it was possible to change the dynamic. Our fans helped a lot, so now we have this faith, this belief that until the final whistle, anything is possible."

Consequently, with Sunderland having racked up 19 points from just 11 games, and Granit Xhaka looking like the signing of the season, Mackems are already dreaming of not just avoiding relegation, but maybe even challenging for a European place!

Slot struggled to find any positives after Liverpool's 3-0 loss at Manchester City. Virgil van Dijk's ludicrously disallowed goal may have been a decisive moment in the game, but there was no disguising the fact that City were, as Slot freely admitted, better than the English champions "in every aspect of football" - which was an admirably honest but nonetheless startling admission.

As everyone has been so keen to remind the Reds, they spent more than £400 million during the summer to strengthen a title-winning squad and yet they're weaker now than they were last season.

Liverpool are eighth in the table and have lost five of their 11 games so far, which, as even Slot admitted, "feels like too many" for a team with aspirations of winning the league. "The last thing I should speak about now is the title race," the Dutchman acknowledged in his post-match press conference at the Etihad.

While Sunday's game at the Etihad was a chastening experience for Slot, it couldn't have really gone any better for his City counterpart Pep Guardiola, who celebrated his 1000th game as a coach with a resounding victory.

"For me, it has been so special to [reach this landmark] in front of my family, and especially against Liverpool. I have a huge respect for that club," Guardiola told Match of the Day.

It was certainly a statement victory for City, coming as it did against the reigning champions, while it also enabled Guardiola's men to draw to within four points of an Arsenal team that had been threatening to run away with the league.

"We lost energy last season," the Catalan admitted to reporters, "and I don’t know why. We were not like this team has been for many years. But since the Club World Cup in the States, I felt something different than what happened last season in general. In October and November, you don’t win the Premier League. The team that wins is the one that grows. I have the feeling [that the energy] is back and we can play in different ways now. That’s good for us but not for the opponents."

Indeed, one can be sure that Arsenal are once again looking nervously over their shoulders at a seemingly resurgent City.

It really doesn't take much to spark talk of a crisis in the Spanish capital. This time last week, Real Madrid were five points clear at top of La Liga and boasted a 100 percent winning record in the Champions League.However, after Los Blancos followed up an insipid showing at Anfield with a scoreless draw at Rayo Vallecano, coach Xabi Alonso had to deal with several awkward questions in his post-match press conference at Vallecas.

The main line of enquiry centred on Madrid's misfiring forward line because, despite fielding a team containing Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham, Alonso's side failed to score for the second successive game - and after once again rarely threatening to do so.

The former Bayer Leverkusen boss was also quizzed over his attackers' alleged unwillingness to defend, as well as a general lack of intensity in his team.

"We didn't win every duel, but we didn't lose them all either," he pointed out. "Today was a very competitive match, with Rayo playing a lot on the transition. In the second half, the defence held up very well, so it's not [down to] a lack of intensity.We know where we are. It's a long season, and you have to know how to balance the good times and the bad times."

Having spent five seasons at the demanding Santiago Bernabeu as a player, Alonso is at least better placed than most to realise that particular objective.

Father Time remains undefeated, and the older an elite-level player gets, the more susceptible they become to injury. There have certainly been concerns in recent weeks, months and arguably years that Robert Lewandowski's body is beginning to betray him.

However, while the Pole may not be the physical force of nature he once was, he still knows where the goal is - as underlined by his decisive display in Barcelona's crucial 4-2 win at Celta Vigo on Sunday. Lewandowski hit a hat-trick at Ballaidos as the Blaugrana reduced the deficit to La Liga leaders Real Madrid to just three points - and Hansi Flick was unsurprisingly enthused by the 37-year-old striker's performance in what was his first start since returning from a hamstring problem.

"After the injury I saw a different Lewandowski," the German said. "He was positive, he came back early, and it's very good for us that he scored three goals because it will give him confidence. Last season, he was very important for us."

Despite his advancing years, there's no reason Lewandowski can't be just as influential this season.

Replacing Gian Piero Gasperini as Atalanta boss was always going to be a tough task for Ivan Juric. Gasperini may be a contrary character, but he achieved legendary status in Bergamo by continually overachieving with a provincial club that he led to Europa League glory last year. Juric, by contrast, has never won anything of note and his appointment was greeted with scepticism by Atalanta fans given the Croat had been last season doing a historically poor job at Southampton.

Despite an underwhelming start to his tenure that featured five consecutive draws in Serie A, Juric was feeling a lot more upbeat about his job prospects after picking up a crucial Champions League win over Marseille in midweek. However, Sunday's 3-0 loss at home to Sassuolo was utterly embarrassing and left Atalanta 13th in the table - a result made all the more painful by the fact that Gasperini's new club, Roma, are joint-top with Inter.

So, while Juric has yet to be sacked, it only appears to be a matter of time, with the club having reportedly lined up Raffaele Palladino to take over in the coming days.

It's easy to understand why Union Berlin were left feeling a little deflated after Saturday's 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich. After all, Steffen Baumgart’s men were a matter of seconds away from becoming the first team to beat the Bavarians this season.

"We're a bit disappointed," two-goal hero Danilho Doekhi shortly after Harry Kane's last-gasp equaliser at the Stadion an der Alten Forsterei. "When you’re 2-1 up against Bayern, you want to win. So, the disappointment over the late goal outweighs everything."

It shouldn't, though. Nobody else - not even the mighty PSG - had previously managed to even hold Bayern to a draw. As Baumgart pointed out, "If someone had told me we would have drawn the game beforehand, I would have taken that as a success! Overall, we saw a great Bundesliga game between two teams who were desperate to win."

So, a draw was not only a fair result, it was an excellent achievement by the 11th-placed team in the Bundesliga.

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