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Premier League Four Holiday Tours Table

The end of the year in England is a traditional time for holidays, entertainment and Christmas gifts. On December 26, there is the so-called boxing day (“Boxing Day”, the first after Christmas), in which sporting events, such as fox hunting, were held from time immemorial. But it has long been banned, so football has to puff out all kinds of sports at once. Boxing day marks the most intense segment of the championship, including 4 matches in 9-10 days. It was at this time that the teams dropped their masks and, in extreme conditions, demonstrated to the heated public their true capabilities, and their coaches competed in cunning and insight.

Of particular interest is the refraction in the light of the Christmas lights of champion intrigue. Manchester United and Chelsea came to the 19th round (namely, he opened the festive series) at a distance of two points. By the end of the tour at number 22, the gap grew to 6 points. This is due to the failure of the “blue” - otherwise the loss of 6 points out of a possible 12 can not be called. Jose Mourinho unexpectedly discovered that he did not have a normal pair of central defenders after John Terry's injury. The absence of Čech's goalkeeper raised these problems to a power. No matter how good Drogba is, his permanent heroism for victory in such a stubborn championship is not enough. Chelsea could not win at home against Fulham and Reading and remained only to watch the red train of the elusive leader.

Manchester United did not even think about waiting for a stumbling competitor. Sir Alex Ferguson grandmaster distributed the load among all capable players and managed to maintain a leadership pace. And not one of the reservists, from Sylvester and Park Ji Sung to Fletcher and Solsher, did not violate the harmony acquired earlier by more stellar comrades. The Mankunians were close to one hundred percent result, and only an unfortunate misfire in the match with Newcastle, which clearly entered into a conspiracy with fortune, did not allow Manchester United to make the gap from Chelsea even greater. However, even now the advantage of the “reds” looks quite convincing. Although, to the denouement, it is most likely still far away: with the return of Cech and Terry, Chelsea will surely add. Is there anything to add to the players who play very well for Manchester - the question is.

The holiday segment of two applicants for champions' places - Bolton and Liverpool - turned out to be quite appropriate to the name. They didn’t expect anything else from the wards of Rafa Benitez: the Spanish coach brought the idea of ​​rotation of the squad to a pre-absurd state and, it seems, was able to play at least every day on Christmas week. Merseysiders went through the whole period in one breath, allowing themselves only to make Blackburn a respite. “Liverpool” in winter shows an almost exemplary game on the defensive, and in the attack completely relies on inspiration, regularly visiting either Gerard, then Luis Garcia, then Keith with Bells, or even Peter Crouch himself. Fans can only regret that the team has been swinging for so long and is now competing with Bolton and Portsmouth, and not with Chelsea and Manchester United.

Bolton itself continues to amaze. Every year Sam Allardyce more and more resembles the legendary Noah, taking away in his ark from the gloom the timelessness of players whom everyone already considered lost for big football. Jorkaeff, Ivan Campo, Hierro, Diouf, Speed, Okocha. Now here is Nicolas Anelka. Largely thanks to the efforts of the Frenchman, who began to play, as they say, as in the best years, "Bolton" climbed the top three. And only the New Year's fight with Liverpool put an end to the wonderful Christmas tale. However, soon a new one will surely begin, and sooner or later the ark will come to the Champions League sooner or later. Arsenal hopes to prevent this, and the modest guy from Sheffield by the name of Phil Jagelka prevented calling the current holidays really bright - maybe the main English New Year miracle.

There were Christmas characters in the middle of the tournament table. Their names are Blackburn and Manchester City. Wards of Mark Hughes in time remembered past successes and, wounded by the collapse (2: 6) at the Emirates, shockly met 2007 with three consecutive wins. Finally, they found themselves in the team of Benny McCarthy and Shabani Nonda, David Bentley took up the mind. If you can wake up another famous storyteller - Morten Gamst Pedersen, returning to the top ten can not be limited. Blackburn, in a jerk from the basement, was made up of Manchester City. This couple is generally inseparable this season - it is not surprising that they celebrated the holidays together.

And “Bolton”, “Blackburn”, and “Manchester City” managed during the holiday period with minimal transformations of the rosters, which did not prevent them from achieving significant success. In contrast, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and, say, Middlesbrough, who embarked on large-scale personnel experiments, did not gain fame. All this suggests that rotation is a difficult thing, accessible mainly to giants, who almost always have something on the bench. For middle-hand teams, the pluses of rotation are often completely leveled by minuses. Numerous examples of this are amicably located at the bottom of the “festive” standings.

Chelsea became the flagship of Christmas and New Year's football losers, but the rest is not any easier from the neighborhood with the champion. Suddenly Aston Villa strayed from the righteous path. The team of Martin O'Neill at some point lost confidence and, losing a couple of times rather accidentally, began to lose the case. The defeat from Manchester United and two defeats in London gave rise to talk about the Birmingham crisis, but the new year brought a gallant draw with Chelsea, and with it the return of hope.

In accordance with their own status, outsiders celebrated the New Year. West Ham was particularly disappointing. Having defeated Manchester United on the eve of the review period, the “hammers” then again took up the old and the collapse in Reading (0: 6) brought the desperation of their fans to the limit. It seems that the symptoms of recovery turned out to be false, and it is time for Dr. Curbisley to start everything from the very beginning. Watford was also not pleased with its fans, the pace of scoring which is not yet compatible with maintaining a residence permit in the Premier League. But Charlton, having won Aston Villa on New Year's Eve, showed that he intended to fight. And that he has something. Fulham has passed this segment more stable than others, although hardly in this case this stability is such a symbol of the class: all four meetings of Londoners ended in a draw.

The only team that failed to score a point for 4 holiday tours was Wigan. This is largely due to a confluence of circumstances: the Paul Jewell team, tormented by the second season syndrome, lost two matches to the leaders, the third (against Watford) did not finish out due to natural disasters, and in the fourth came under the raging Blackburn. As a result, the opening team of the last season found itself in the circle of applicants for the relegation this year. And I probably remembered the phrase that was common in England: "You can’t win the championship during the holiday season, but you can lose it."