The hectic Premier League festive period kicked off this week and there were eight live matches delivered by new player Amazon that were played on Tuesday, Wednesday and last night. There was no change at the top of the Premier League as all the top seven teams won. Liverpool maintained their eight-point lead over second place Leicester City on Wednesday night, thanks to Klopp masterminding another scintillating and blistering attacking performance against derby opponents and relegation threatened Everton at Anfield, which produced another classic Merseyside derby and a bumper seven goals in the process.
Mane lead by example for Liverpool’s first two goals, turning provider, which started with him deftly controlling a rapier like cross-field pass from Lovren, then attacking Everton’s left-back Sidibe at pace, turning him inside and out, before delivering a beautifully timed and weighted pass into the path of the on-rushing Origi, who deftly nudged the ball past the on-rushing Pickford, just inside the area, before slotting home into an empty net. Mane then set-up Swiss International Shaquiri for the second, ten minutes later, then against the run of play Everton pulled one back through defender Keane and the big turning point in the match came when a resurgent Everton weren’t awarded a blatant penalty by the referee or VAR midway through the first half, which would have made it 2-2 if they scored the hypothetical penalty and possibly change the whole complexion of the game.
However, Everton couldn’t even persuade the referee to ask VAR to look at it, which only adds further confusion to the question, “what is the actual purpose of VAR”? Everton could have been excused for folding after being robbed of a certain penalty, but they courageously battled on and on the brink of half time there was still time for more drama and goalmouth action as Mane bagged his only goal of the match on the stroke of half-time to make it 4-1, but Everton had the final say as Richarlison pulled one back three minutes in to first-half injury time.
Leicester City’s dream season under manager Brendan Rogers is starting to feel more and more like their remarkable 2015/2016 campaign, when they penned the most remarkable story in the Premier League’s twenty seven year history, when as 5000/1 outsiders they achieved the impossible by winning their first Premier League title under the stewardship of the charismatic Italian Claudio Ranieri. The Foxes’ were in action against relegation threatened Watford at the King Power on Wednesday night and they delivered another rock solid, clinical performance with a clean sheet and two second half strikes from club and Premier League 2019 top-scorer Vardy and Maddison right at the death.
The win left manager-less Watford further adrift at the bottom of the league and Leicester’s win meant they maintain their three-point lead over reigning Premier League champions Manchester City, who were in action on Tuesday night against Burnley at Turf Moor. After a few blips in the league last month when they lost against title rivals Liverpool and more surprisingly, could only manage a 2-2 draw against a resurgent Newcastle at St James’ Park, City finally rediscovered their form at Turf Moor on Tuesday night. City were on fire and looked like they had a point to prove after some disappointing performances by their lofty standards of late. Brazilian striker Jesus was the star perfomer for the sky blues on the night with the opener and only goal of the first half and second not long after half time. While Jesus grabbed the headlines with his two world class goals, the two Silva’s were running the show as ever in midfield, assisting three of the four goals, Fernandinho’s replacement Rodri netted City’s third midway through the second half, Mahrez bagged City’s fourth before Brady grabbed a consolation goal for Burnley just before the end.
Crystal Place moved up to seventh, level on points with Manchester United and one point ahead of Spurs on Tuesday night after they made it back-to-back wins for the second time in the league this season, thanks to a hard fought 1-0 win at Selhurst park against struggling Bournemouth. Wolves continued their impressive season by extending their league unbeaten run to ten after a comfortable 2-0 win against struggling West Ham at Molineux. Southampton recorded back-to-back league wins for the first time this season and moved out of the relegation zone in the process, after they won a highly entertaining and crucial relegation six-pointer at St Mary’s on Wednesday night against Norwich, who remain second bottom, three points behind Everton.
There were also, two more Premier League matches last night as ninth place Sheffield United put their seven match league unbeaten run on the line at Brammal Lane against a resurgent Newcastle United and manager-less Arsenal in tenth, who appointed former star player Freddie Ljungberg as caretaker manager, faced sixteenth placed Brighton at the Emirates. It was a great night for Newcastle and Brighton as they both picked up a valuable three points.
Newcastle’s remarkable transformation under new manager Steve Bruce, from relegation candidates to potential top-half finishers, continued at Brammall Lane last night as they performed the perfect smash and grab raid, built on only 27% possession. The Toon’s player of the season so far, St Maximin, was on fire again, netting after fifteen minutes and resurgent midfield partner Shelvey made sure of all three points with the second and last goal with twenty minutes remaining. Brighton were also on a high last night and they moved closer to the top half, thanks to a 1-2 away win against in crisis Arsenal at the Emirates.
There’s no let-up in the football action, which continues to come thick and fast, and there’s a full set of Premier League and EFL fixtures across tonight, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to wet the betting appetite. The action kicks off tonight with a live EFL Championship game between fourth place Forest and mid-table Millwall at the Den. This should be a close, hard fought battle as Millwall has only lost once at home in the league and Forest once away in the league so far this season.
On Saturday the action gets underway at lunchtime and in the Premier League. Everton’s nightmare festive fixture schedule continues as they face high flying Chelsea at Goodison and while there were signs of encouragement against Liverpool on Wednesday night, it’s hard to see them beating Chelsea on current form. Down in the EFL Championship second place Leeds, take on struggling Huddersfield, at the Johns Smith Stadium at lunchtime and on current form this looks like a good opportunity for Leeds to continue their excellent league away record this season because the Terriers have only won twice at home in the league from ten matches, drawing four.
The match of the day on Saturday is of course the live blockbuster tea-time derby clash between Manchester City and Manchester United at the Etihad kick-off 5.30pm. There’s very little between the two over the last decade in terms of Premier League head-to-heads, both winning four and drawing twice. The same applies to the last ten corresponding head-to-heads as they both won four and drew twice. City had the upper-hand last season, winning both fixtures, including at home 3-1. I expect that trend to continue tomorrow as City have only lost once at home this season, winning five and scoring an average three goals per game, while United’s Achilles heal continues to be their away form because, they’ve only managed a miserly one league away win so far this season, against relegation threatened Norwich.
