We are almost at the halfway point in the Premier League season, 18 games complete and Boxing Day signals the halfway point on December 26th. It’s quite the day of soccer in England. 18 teams play, it’s wall to wall soccer. I checked our local TV schedule and you will have opportunities all day to catch some top flight soccer. Channel 662 NBC Sports or also on the NBC Sports App as well.
6:30 Tottenham vs. Brighton
9:00 Chelsea vs. Southampton
11:30 Manchester United vs. Newcastle United
And to top off the day, the #1 and #2 teams in the table, this doesn’t happen very often so you might want to check this one out.
11:30 Leicester City vs. Liverpool
Boxing Day- A Quick History
A national holiday, the day after Christmas (also called St. Stephen’s Day) has come to be known as Boxing Day in England. While there is some debate on the origins, a few popular stores provide the clues. One theory suggests the date was a day off for servants who would receive a Christmas box from their employers to take home to their families. Another proposes that great ships setting sail would have a sealed box full of money onboard for good luck. If the voyage was a success, the box was given to the church and the contents donated to the poor on this day. Regardless, the real key is the tradition leads us to an incredible day of soccer. The story goes…in a moment of peace in 1914 during WWI, English and German soldiers dropped their weapons and decided to have a little game of football (the English kind). A ball appeared and a little impromptu game ensued. Crazy but probably true. Wow–what a moment. From that history, soccer on Boxing Day became a Thing! Local Derby’s were the rage for many years….big games against local rivals.
The Premier League fully takes advantage of the Holiday, much like we have Football in America on Thanksgiving, with not much to do but sit around and watch soccer all day. Sounds good to me!
Match Week 17/18 Recap
- Four teams went undefeated the past two matches….Liverpool, Manchester City, Burnley and Sheffield United. Sheffield surged to 5th in the table.
- Leicester City in a mini-slump. After roaring out the first half of the season and challenging for the top spot, Leicester City had a draw and loss the past week. The draw to Norwich City is a bit alarming. Manchester City had a solid 3-1 win to re-establish the faith in their fans that they have a chance to challenge Liverpool in the second half of the season.
- Chelsea had an important win. After a bad run of form, winning only 1 of their last 5 and facing their former manager, Chelsea found their form and really dominated Tottenham to extend their gap and take control of the 4th spot in the table.
- Manchester United, at the time in 6th, lost to #20 and bottom of the table Watford this week. A shock defeat really. Watford has been last all season and had only 1 win to show for their first 17 games. A new manager was assigned recently, and as sometimes happens, the new coach finds a new energy and a new passion from the players. Watford looked the better team all day and Manchester United looked frustrated. As is typical in a big upset, it was a mistake and PK that led to the win, but a deserving 2-0 win regardless. Wow! Have I ever mentioned, the Premier League is the toughest league in sport. Where else do you see these kind of upsets.
Games of the week. Mentioned above, these two top 6 match ups were big games. Manchester City now ready to challenge. Chelsea with a rebound win and a statement to their ex-manager. Lets take a look.
Leicester score on their first shot of the game, but then things just go City’s way…. a deflection goal, a PK and then Manchester City closes the door on a nice goal in the second half.
Chelsea switched up their formation to 3-4-3 and really won the tactical battle, owning possession, owning the shots and shots on goal stats as well. It was their best performance of the year and biggest win of the year. Sweeter that is was against “The Special One”, former coach Mourinjo.
For first year coach and club legend, Frank Lampard, it was “A Special Day”. And Tottenham, well, Tottenham just imploded a bit on two occasions. The penalty on their GK was a bit crazy…what was he thinking…a crazy jump and attempt to kick the ball resulted in a take down of Chelsea defender Alonso. He whiffed the kick and just ran over Alonso. Very clumsy. Most surprising was the initial call was goal kick. VAR correctly overturned and award the penalty. Later, what was Son thinking when he kicked out on Rudiger. Just lost his mind for a split second….Red Card. As a Chelsea fan….we don’t like Tottenham, so a pretty cool day for Chelsea fans. Win the game, beat Mourinjo and watch Tottenham implode twice.
Race for the Top 4
- Liverpool 16-1-0. 49 Points and still undefeated, plus a game in hand.
- Leicester City 12-3-3 39 Points
- Manchester City 12-2-4 38 Points
- Chelsea 10-2-6 32 Points
- Sheffield United 7-7-4 28 Points
- Wolverhampton 6-9-3 27 Points
Tottenham, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Burnley round out the Top 10. Arsenal has slipped to 11th but named a new head coach this week. Mikel Arteta, the #2 behind Pep Guardiola at Manchester City was named to replaced fired Unai Emery. Lots of talent there, and can Arteta get them to find their potential and challenge for a top 6 spot.
The Relegation Zone
There are currently only 4 teams within 3 points of the relegation zone. Bottom teams are finding some key wins and climbing the table. Southampton sits in 17th, just outside the zone with 18m points. The current bottom three include:
18. Aston Villa with 15 Points. 19. Norwich City with 12 points. 20. Watford with 12 points.
Game of the Week—Week 19
Leicester City vs. Liverpool. Leicester City need a rebound after a tough week. The rest of the league needs to know that Liverpool can be caught and will not be a runaway winner of the league.
UEFA Champions League Update
The annual competition of the top clubs in Europe is well under way with teams having completed the round robin matches. The 16 Teams advancing to the Knock Out stages have been determined and the draw for match ups happened last week. Here is the next round match ups. 5 Countries represented. England (4), Spain (4), Germany (3), Italy (3) and France (2)
- PSG (France) vs. Dortmund (Germany)
- Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Chelsea (England )
- Manchester City (England) vs. Real Madrid (Spain)
- Juventus (Italy) vs. Lyon (France)
- Liverpool (England) vs. Athletico (Spain)
- Barcelona (Spain) vs. Napoli (Italy)
- RB Leipzig (Germany) vs. Tottenham (England)
- Atalanta (Italy) vs. Valencia (Spain)
Big Rivers All Conference Recap
In case you missed it, here is a little recap of the All Conference Teams and POY announcement.
Player of the Year. Lu Shi Xiong. Memorial.
First Team. Kolton Prater (Hudson), Lu Shi Xiong (Memorial), Cole Ober (Hudson), Logan Junker (Memorial), Luke Rosenberger (Memorial), Gage Espanet (River Falls), Nick Thompson (Hudson), Parker Bowman (Rice Lake), Jacob Peloquin (Memorial), Cory Denning (Hudson), Ayden White (North). Of note….all Seniors selected this year to the first team.
Second Team. Ryder Woodworth (Memorial), Kyle Siddons (Chippewa Falls), Owen Wise (River Falls), Tyler Albrecht (North), Ben Kemp (Rice Lake), Garrett Woodford (Memorial), Josh Linton (River Falls), Sam Ross (Hudson), Shane Drazkowski (Menomonie), Louis Larson (Rice Lake), Jonathan Fenton (Menomonie). Observations….Memorial, River Falls, and Menomonie with 2 Juniors on the list.
Honorable Mention. Jared Nunez (Memorial), Braeden Williams (Hudson), Teig O’Kelly (Hudson), Matt Gyorfi (Memorial), Landon Brunke (Chippewa Falls), Jake Engebritson (Rice Lake), Jack Echternach (North), Miles Longsdorf (River Falls), Joey Grikis (Hudson), Will Hartman (Memorial), Ben Matheson (River Falls). Of note….4 sophomores make the list. No sophomore on the 1st or 2nd teams.