The Reds and Blues of Boxing Day

By Zain Alvi | 26th December 2009

The Reds and Blues of Boxing Day | read this item

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The Boxing Day action from the Barclays Premier League is in the books and the results – for the most part – were far from astonishing. While the day kicked off with league leaders Chelsea held to an away draw in the only surprise result of the day, the remainder of the action seemed like a formality for both the favorites and the underdogs. Let’s discuss some of the reds and blues of a day that is always decorated with nonstop Premier League activity as other leagues just begin their holiday.

The Reds

When speaking about the reds of the Boxing Day, there is no need to look any further than Rafa’s much maligned Reds. The Anfield outfit has been under a lot of pressure due to the fact that the Kop has largely forgotten what victory feels like.

As the league’s most static and listless outfit – Wolverhampton Wanderers – made the evening trip to Merseyside, the Stanley Park neighborhood (of course, barring the Evertonians) was finally hoping for a holiday present in the form of three much needed points. Alberto Aquilani started for the home side and worked hard to create chances in the early stages. Although his efforts in the first half were certainly in vain, his skipper Steven Gerrard finally inspired the team to take the lead in the second half.

With Stephen Ward sent off for his second yellow card, Gerrard converted a brilliant Emiliano Insua cross to pull ahead of the helpless Wolves. A few minutes later, Yossi Benayoun sealed the points as his deflected shot left the unfortunate visitors dumbfounded. By no means was it an impressive win, but as the old saying goes, three points are three points, especially when they are needed this desperately.

Wearing their red stripes, Sunderland also held the visiting Everton to a 1-1 draw, heaping more misery on David Moyes’ underachieving Toffees. It should be obvious that the Blue half of Merseyside was less than impressed on Boxing Day following the 2-0 win for their neighbors at Anfield. However, despite the Reds’ own struggles, it’s not like Everton still stands a realistic chance to catch them in the table. For the Goodison Park faithful, the focus should now shift towards a respectful survival in a horrendous season.

The Blues

We’ve already addressed the disappointment of Carlo Ancelotti’s Blues at their early afternoon draw at St. Andrews. Even though credit also goes to Alex McLeish’s men for a valiant effort that almost gave them a shock win had it not been for their goal being correctly flagged, Ancelotti conceded that Chelsea’s failure to convert six or seven clear chances was down to more than just Joe Hart’s heroic performance in the Birmingham City goal.

As the Italian explained, the men from the Bridge are finally experiencing fatigue issues and their frustrations are being compounded with every dropped point. Nevertheless, they remain at the summit of the table and Sir Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils will have to fight hard to retain a crown that has stayed at Old Trafford for the last three years.

The blue shirts of Portsmouth felt a lot more like the Blues of Ancelotti than the Blues of McLeish. They struggled endlessly at Upton Park as West Ham’s summer signings Alessandro Diamanti and Radoslav Kovac scored to seal three crucial points for Gianfranco Zola’s Hammers. This relegation six-pointer could go a long way in deciding the fate of both teams and by the looks of it, the East London outfit has given itself a good shot at survival by this important Boxing Day win.

Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City career also began with a success as the Sky Blues beat the rugged Stoke City 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Martin Petrov and Carlos Tevez. Meanwhile, the blue and whites of Wigan, as well as Blackburn, fought hard in a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium as Benni McCarthy’s much awaited first goal of the season was cancelled out by Hugo Rodallega’s inevitable equalizing header. I say inevitable because regardless of how much Roberto Martinez insists on adding new firepower, he can always count on the unstoppable and ever-dependable Rodallega.

How about those white shirts?

Three teams whose default outfits are white – Tottenham, Fulham, and Bolton – ended up with a point each as the former two fought to a goalless draw in a London derby played at Craven Cottage. The Trotters, meanwhile, made things a lot more interesting as Matty Taylor struck a superb free-kick (what else is new?) to give them the lead at the fortress known as Turf Moor. However, David Nugent hit back with an equalizer to show that the recent home draw against Arsenal was no fluke. Perhaps Rafa Benitez is passing the torch to Burnley to become the new draw specialists in the Premier League – at least at home.

All in all, we saw eight entertaining fixtures played out at Boxing Day. Sadly, only three of them yielded results while the rest were either goalless (two games) or 1-1 draws (three games). In Sunday’s action, third-placed Arsenal will battle to stay close to the top two as Martin O’ Neill’s fourth-placed Villans make an exciting trip to The Emirates.

Last, but not least, second from bottom Hull City will host Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United while hoping to replicate Fulham’s shock 3-0 win against the champions last week. To find out if Hull stands a chance, or to determine who amongst Arsenal, Aston Villa, and United manages to close the gap on Chelsea before the FA Cup break, make sure to follow all the Barclays Premier League action that follows Boxing Day.