Over the course of the past two weeks, with four rounds of games taking place, the contenders, namely Arsenal, City and Chelsea, and the "pretenders," primarily Liverpool, but also Tottenham and Everton, were separated. As the race for the top clears, the dog-fight that is the relegation battle got only thicker, with only 9 points separating 20th place Sunderland from 10th place Hull City.
The busiest time of the year for Premier League clubs started off on the 21st of December, which saw Liverpool win at Cardiff 3-1, sending top of the table. City beat Fulham 4-2, starting their rise to the top. United also won 3-1 at home against West Ham. Sunday saw Tottenham recover from the 5-0 beating they took from Liverpool the previous weekend to beat Southampton 3-2. Everton also kept pace with the leaders by beating Swansea 2-1 in Wales. Then came the big clash, Mourinho v Wenger. That day Mourinho bested the Frenchman, compressing his Chelsea side into a tight, united defensive unit, capable of breaking out on a moments notice to score on the counter. Arsenal were entirely baffled, and Chelsea, picking up half the possession that the North Londoners had, doubled both the Gunners shots and shots on goal. Although the game ended in a 0-0 draw, Chelsea were clearly the better team. Some said that the game was a disappointment, but it shouldn't take anyone by surprise that a Mourinho team, on the road, against a league leader, fought a defensive battle.
The next round of games came on Boxing Day, with United starting the day off with a tight win at in form Hull City, 3-2. Both Chelsea and Arsenal won, beating Swansea and West Ham respectively. Then came the match of the day, Liverpool at City. The Reds opened the scoring when one touch play from Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez resulted in Raheem Sterling being put through the back line; he rounded Joe Hart, and just as he prepared to take the shot, Fabio Coutinho stole it from him, claiming the goal for himself. City tied it up when, off a corner in the 30th minute, Vincent Kompany rose up, pushing off Martin Skretl, and heading the ball into the net; Joe Allen tried to keep it out, by the goal was meant to be. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, City started a break; Jesus Navas put Alvaro Negredo through, and the Spainard chipped Simon Mignolet; the goalkeeper really should have kept the ball out, but instead palmed the ball back into the net. Twice Raheem Sterling nearly equalized for the Reds, but once was flagged for offside, in what proved to be a very poor call, and the second time skyed the ball. The Reds were unlucky to come out of the Ethiad empty-handed.
The weekend round started with both City and United winning 1-0 games on Saturday; that day was also highlighted by Hull City's 6-0 thrashing of Fulham. Sunday saw Arsenal win a gritty 1-0 game at Newcastle, allowing them to top the table again. Everton and Tottenham kept pace with the leaders still, but the day was truly highlighted by Liverpool and Chelsea's clash. Mourinho came out on top of his protege, Brendan Rogers, 2-1. Martin Skrtl opened the scoring for the Reds off a 3rd minute free kick; the ball came first to Branislav Ivanovic and Luis Suarez, at the near post, and bounced down in front of goal. Skrtl reacted quickest, and Cech was caught out by the deflection. Eden Hazard equalized in magnificent fashion, curling the ball past Simon Mignolet sublimely. Samuel Eto'o put the Blues ahead in 34th mintue, getting on the end of an Oscar cross to tap the ball just past Mignolet. Much was made in the week of Howard Webb's poor referring decisions, but in the end, Chelsea deserved all three points.
On New Years Day, not much changed; Arsenal stole two goals late at home against Cardiff to stay top of the league, while City won at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea, 3-2, to stay a point behind them. Chelsea put on a masterful display at Southampton, coming out 3-0 winners. Thus the top 6, following the busy Christmas period, looks like this: Arsenal (45), City (44), Chelsea (43), Liverpool (39), Everton (38) and Tottenham (37). While it looks as though the bottom 3 are still in the race, in reality Liverpool are the only real contender of the three. Right now, it's a three horse race between Arsenal, City and Chelsea.
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