Manchester United’s winless streak reached eight matches in all competitions after they were held to an entertaining but goalless draw by Chelsea in
ADVERTISEMENTManchester United’s winless streak reached eight matches in all competitions after they were held to an entertaining but goalless draw by Chelsea in the Premier League.
Despite an vastly improved performance by the Old Trafford side they were unable to break the deadlock against the visiting Blues and finished with a share of the points.
The result keeps United boss Louis Van Gaal’s future in serious doubt whilst it also left Chelsea’s interim coach Guus Hiddink hunting a first win since his return to the club for a second stint following the recent sacking of Jose Mourinho.
Arsenal, meanwhile, jumped back to the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.
Gabriel Paulista and an inspired Mesut Oezil did the damage for the Gunners at the Emirates as they now sit one point clear of Leicester, who play on Tuesday.
Manchester United are nine points behind in 6th while Chelsea move up to 14th but they remain only three points above the drop zone.
Up and down
And now, let’s see who has made our up and down list from the previous few days of the Christmas holiday football action.
Manchester City are on the up side of the list after a Boxing Day bashing of Sunderland.
Manuel Pellegrini’s men beat the Black Cats 4-1 and their first three goals came in just 11 first half minutes to kill off the game early.
Down is City skipper Vincent Kompany, whose return from injury lasted even less than his side’s first three goals.
The Belgium international had been out of action since November 8.
He entered the pitch as a sub just after the hour mark but returned down the tunnel 9 minutes later after suffering a recurrence of his calf injury.
Down and out of Lyon is Hubert Fournier who was sacked on Christmas Eve.
Fournier was fired and replaced by assistant Bruno Genesio following a poor strong of results that have left the club out of Europe and 9th in the domestic league 25 points off leaders PSG.
Road to Euro
Michel Platini has hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently. But 31 years ago it was a different story as he wrote his name in the European Championship history books and no player since has been able to re-write that particular chapter in the book.
The Three times European Footballer of the Year reached the pinnacle of his career at the 84 championships on home soil.
ADVERTISEMENTThe attacking midfielder scored no less than nine goals in just five matches to help guide France to a stunning European Championship victory in front of the side’s home support.
Making his achievement even more special was the fact that he scored two “perfect hat-tricks” meaning a goal with his right foot, left foot and head.
He lifted the trophy as captain and secured his place in the pantheon of football greats.
We might be wrong
On Tuesday night surprise package Leicester and Manchester City lock horns in a battle of the Premier League title contenders. Who would have thought that Leicester would be used in a phrase like that at the start of the season? We’ve had a crack at predicting that game and two other up coming fixtures from across Europe. Have a go yourselves using social media and #TheCornerScores.
ADVERTISEMENTLeicester 1 – 2 Manchester City
Valencia 1 – 1 Real Madrid
Sporting 3 – 1 Porto
Bloopers
We end this edition with images of a referee in Tunisia who is pushed to his emotional limit by the fans during a topflight game. (See video above)