Manchester City missed the chance to stay ahead of cross town rivals United with a scoreless draw in the Midlands against West Brom. West Brom were well organised under Hodgson and made life difficult for the multi million pound City squad. Both teams now go into the new year on Level points at the top with an intriguing 2nd half of the season to come.
Chelsea were disappointing with a 1-1 draw at home to Fulham. The cottages were coming off a 5-0 hammering defeat to United the previous week and needed a big performance which is what they did. Chelsea are now in a serious battle for just a Champions Legaue place which is not up to standard for their fans.
Liverpool also gave up a great chance to get closer to the elusive 4th place with a disappointing 1-1 draw with cellar dwellers Blackburn at Anfield. Blackburn are bottom at Christmas which doesn't bode well for the club after all but 1 team surviving the drop from this position in the 20 year history of the Premier League.
In other boxing day fixtures, Aston Villa travelled to Stoke who played out an entertaining 0-0 draw. Newcastle won away at Bolton 2-0 and Sunderland and Everton played out a 1-1 draw.