The action-packed festive football schedule continued on Saturday 28th December, as Premier League 2019/20 rumbled on.
Highlights from the full day’s Prem action are below, all in one, fast-loading, page.
Additional commentary is provided by me. Feel free to skip the words 🙂 Leave a comment at the bottom if you have something interesting to say about the sport.
Table of Contents
West Ham v Leicester (1-2)
West Ham were once more the wrong side of a 2-1 defeat as Leicester -fresh from being humbled at home to league leaders, Liverpool – won 2-1.
Scores had been level at half time, after Iheanacho’s close-range header was cancelled out by Fornals on the stroke of half time.
Leicester took all three through a nice finish from Demarai Gray just before the hour mark, and a lacklustre home side never really threatened to get back into it.
This was more than the Hammers’ board could handle. One bad result too many. Pellegrini was fired soon after this match concluded.
Newcastle v Everton (1-2)
It was both sides to score, away win at St James’ Park, too, as Newcastle went down 2-1 to visiting Everton, who maintained their 100% record under new boss, Carlo Ancelotti.
All three goals scored under the Italian have thus far come from Calvert-Lewin, who added another brace on Tyneside, here.
Burnley v Man Utd (0-2)
Manchester United travelled the short trip to Burnley, and collected all three points with a goal coming towards the end of either half, from Martial and Rashford.
They are one point shy of the top four, albeit with one match more played than others around them.
Brighton v Bournemouth (2-0)
Brighton took a leap away from the relegation zone, at the expense of their visitors, with a nice 2-0 home win.
Southampton v Crystal Palace (1-1)
Southampton have been posting improved performances of late, and so it would prove again as the also in-form Crystal Palace visited. Both sides shared the points in 1-1 draw which Saints arguably had the better of.
Watford v Aston Villa (3-0)
Watford had been looking like a side close to a turnaround in recent weeks, so it was perhaps no surprise that – even reduced to ten men – they collected three points to lift from the foot of the table.
Villa will be in almost full-scale-crisis mode now, as they are in something of a rot, and now sit in the bottom three, just two points above a side who took them apart here.
Norwich v Tottenham (2-2)
Spurs have been playing… well, badly… yet getting results, recently, while Norwich have done the opposite – looking good, but not getting anything from games.
This match had a lot of controversy, and four goals. Both sides could have done with three points here. It wasn’t for the purist, but entertainment value was high.
Spurs need to find a bit of solidity. Norwich need to start getting wins, as Watford’s win puts them bottom of the heap.
Premier League Table – 29 December 2019
Below is how the table appeared following these matches:
| Team | P | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | Liverpool | 18 | 32 | 52 |
| 2 | Leicester | 20 | 24 | 42 |
| 3 | Man City | 19 | 29 | 38 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 19 | 6 | 32 |
| 5 | Man Utd | 20 | 9 | 31 |
| 6 | Tottenham | 20 | 7 | 30 |
| 7 | Wolves | 19 | 5 | 30 |
| 8 | Sheff Utd | 19 | 6 | 29 |
| 9 | Crystal Palace | 20 | -4 | 27 |
| 10 | Everton | 20 | -7 | 25 |
| 11 | Newcastle | 20 | -10 | 25 |
| 12 | Arsenal | 19 | -3 | 24 |
| 13 | Burnley | 20 | -9 | 24 |
| 14 | Brighton | 20 | -4 | 23 |
| 15 | Southampton | 20 | -14 | 22 |
| 16 | Bournemouth | 20 | -8 | 20 |
| 17 | West Ham | 19 | -11 | 19 |
| 18 | Aston Villa | 20 | -11 | 18 |
| 19 | Watford | 20 | -18 | 16 |
| 20 | Norwich | 20 | -19 | 13 |
Man Utd moved into the top five – one point off the Champions League fourth spot – while Everton and Brighton also saw upwards moves following their wins.
