Yesterday’s Premier League illustrated why football fans around the world don’t want a winter break in England. The day after Christmas we were able to sit back and watch goals, upsets and controversy in an action packed day of football.
In the early day it looked like the David Moyes era at Old Trafford was going to hit another dump in the road as Hull City went 2-0 inside the opening 15 minutes. But Wayne Rooney put United o his back as Man United roared back to win 3-2. An important three points for United considering that three of the teams above them in the table dropped points on Thursday.
On to the 3pm games where Arsenal, the team in a “slump” went back to the top of the table with a 3-1 win at West Ham, their first league victory since December 4th. The big stories though were taking place at the other end of the table were Sunderland, Fulham and Crystal Palace and won. The Fulham and Crystal Palace wins dragged West Ham into the bottom three for the first time all season. While there is three points separating the top four teams in the table, three points at the bottom of the table is the difference between Fulham in 18th place and Aston Villa in 13th place. With games coming fast and furious over the holiday period, any team neat the bottom that goes on a little winning streak could find themselves in the top half of the table heading into 2014.
The big game of Boxing day was the top four clash between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium. A place where Man City have destroyed teams this season. But while City beat Liverpool 2-1, to move into second place in the table, Brendan Rodgers side will consider themselves unlucky to have lost. A terrible decision by the linesman in the first half denied Sterling a one-one-one with Man City goalkeeper Joe Hart and then Hart made a couple of really good saves to preserve the win for his side.
