Ten Lords A-Leaping

Ten more matches down this weekend with ten more to go on New Year's Day to complete the "Twelve Days of Football."

For my money the two best matches were draws between teams at the bottom of the table.  Nothing like the fear of relegation, even in December, to ramp up the intensity, as teams in this situation know that every point is dear.  Imagine if in today's Giants-Redskins NFL game, the loser would be demoted to the Canadian Football League.  That's the situation teams at the bottom of the table are trying to avoid later in the season; get some points in these matches and maybe they won't be staring relegation in the face at the end of the season.

We start with the see-saw affair at Boleyn Ground, where West Ham and West Bromwich played to a 3-3 draw.  West Ham scored early but the Baggies scored twice before the break to take a 2-1 lead into the second half.  We were treated to three goals between the 65th and 69th minutes, as West Ham scored twice in succession only to give up the lead on a goal by Berahino.  A frenetic finish but no further scoring and both took away a point.

The script was a little different at Cardiff City.  The fans have been none too happy with owner Vincent Tan, and he added to their displeasure on Saturday by sacking fan favorite Malky Mackay, the manager who had brought the team back to the first division for the first time in over 50 years.  Still, it was looking like a promising weekend as Cardiff took a 2-0 lead into the late stages of their match with Sunderland.  Except then Fletcher scored in the 83rd minute and Colback ricocheted a ball past the keeper in the 95th minute, likely seconds before the referee was going to blow the final whistle.  Um, that's not going to help the fans forget all the off-field turmoil.  Colback's goal is the weekend's YouTubeable Moment, except that right now the only place I can find it is on the NBCSN highlights page, which doesn't do the moment justice (you miss the announcers and Sunderland fans going nuts and the Cardiff fans sinking in their seats and all the drama).  Maybe check again in a few days.

Not too pretty an outing for Newcastle.  They looked tentative and couldn't seem to put a pass anywhere close to where it needed to be.  Aside from a set piece at 45 minutes and some extended pressure in the last 10 minutes when Arsenal were bunkered in to protect the lead, the Magpies generated precious little offense.  Even the insertion of Ben Arfa failed to spark the attack.  Giroud's goal was definitely on the soft side (he barely touched it) but the Gunners deserved the 1-0 win and all the points.  The Newcastle game plan looked quite conservative, like they were playing for a tie.  I get that sometimes it's a wise  move but not sure this was the right strategy today.  Wenger didn't seem too anxious to open up either.  Frankly, a bit of a drab match given the quality of the sides. The good news is that Newcastle have a bad day and lose to Arsenal only because Giroud uses product to poof up his hair in the front.

Aston Villa fared somewhat better, drawing 1-1 at home versus Swansea City.  Weimann sprung Agbonlahor on a beautiful pass to put the Villans up 1-0 early.  Swansea should have been level after the 20th minute when Ben Davies had a free header and somehow managed to send it hard enough into the ground to bounce over the bar. But Roland Lamah (another Belgian international!) tied the match up in the 36th minute.  I recall Swansea having the run of the play for the rest of the match but neither team really did all that much.  An important point for Aston Villa though.

The Manchester squads both put away weaker opposition, though not necessarily in convincing fashion, posting 1-0 wins.  United took Norwich and they continued their march up the table (now 6th).  City bested Crystal Palace and now sit in second behind Arsenal.  To paraphrase a succinct movie review Dennis once did, the Chelsea -Liverpool match was great until it started to suck.  The first half was a wonderful, free flowing game probably because Liverpool opened the scoring quickly on a goal by Skertl.  Chelsea was forced to open up and open up they did.  Though it was a lucky carom to his feet, there was nothing lucky about Hazard's strike to tie the match up.  Eto'o's poke past Mignolet at 36 minutes proved to be the game winner.  The second half seemed choppy and chippy but in the end Mourinho got through his 70th consecutive game at Stamford Bridge without a loss.  Did not see either Everton's 2-1 win over Southampton or Tottenham's 3-0 win over Stoke City.  The wins moved Everton into 4th and Tottenham into 7th (tied with Man United).  And what the fu...lham is happening to the Cottagers?  They went down to Hull City 6-0 (a bad score in tennis or soccer) and now sit in 18th place, just two points ahead of last place Sunderland.  Fulham hasn't been in a relegation battle since 2007-08 but looks like they're in for one now.

Ten more games on New Year's Day. Top match looks to be Man Utd - Tot at 12:30.