Soccer-The week in Asian football

Talking points from the week in Asian ​football: WATKINS, NEVES STRIKE TO PUT AL-HILAL ​BACK ON TOP

Ollie Watkins and Ruben ‌Neves ​were on target as Al-Hilal returned to the top of the Saudi Pro League with a 2-0 win over Al-Fateh on Saturday. Al-Qadsiah ‌had gone top on Friday with a 6-0 thrashing of Al-Riyadh, with Tijani Reijnders scoring a hat-trick. They now trail Al-Hilal by two points.

Cristiano Ronaldo also scored a hat-trick as defending champions Al-Nassr remained ‌third following a 5-3 win over Al-Kholood. FC TOKYO EASE TO VICTORY TO CLAIM POLE POSITION

FC ‌Tokyo thrashed Fagiano Okayama 4-0 on Saturday to move ahead of Machida Zelvia and into top spot in the J.League. Teruhito Nakagawa scored twice as Tokyo capitalised on Machida's 0-0 draw with Gamba Osaka. Sanfrecce Hiroshima trail the leaders ⁠by a ​point after their 3-0 ⁠win over Mito Hollyhock. Machida are third, a point further back.

WELLINGTON STAY PERFECT BY BEATING CHAMPIONS NEWCASTLE Wellington Phoenix continued ⁠their perfect start to the A-League season with a 3-0 win over Newcastle Jets on Saturday.

Corban Piper gave ​the New Zealanders a 14th-minute lead but they had to wait till the closing minutes ⁠to make sure of the win, with Riley Bidois and Nathan Walker scoring in the 87th and 93rd minutes respectively. Wellington ⁠have ​won all three of their matches to start the season and have opened up a four-point lead over Western Sydney Wanderers, who were held 0-0 by Macarthur FC.

ULSAN CONSOLIDATE HOLD ⁠ON SECOND WITH WIN OVER GANGWON Ulsan HD picked up a 2-1 win over Gangwon FC to ⁠consolidate their hold on ⁠second place in the K League standings behind new champions FC Seoul.

Ulsan extended their advantage over third-placed Daejeon Citizen to four points after Hwang ‌Sun-hong's team were ‌held 0-0 by Jeonbuk Motors.