England’s inaugural Winter break has taken place with many Premier League clubs giving their players some much needed rest.
Liverpool’s players have been seen all over Europe enjoying their 22 point gap at the summit of the Premier League as they look to do what no other team outside of Arsenal have achieved, buy going through the entire campaign without a defeat.
Currently Liverpool have played 25 matches, winning 24 and only conceding 2 points via a draw early in the season. Liverpool are back in action this weekend as they travel to cellar dwellers Norwich City on Saturday.
Many fixtures have been played however over the past few days as the winter break is extended over 2 half weeks - Everton continued their impressive run of form under Ancelotti – winning 3-1 at home to Crystal Palace to move up to 7th in the table.
They will continue to give the Toffee’s every chance of European football next season. Meanwhile Palace are in a bad patch of form and continue to keep in touch with the relegation zone – losing their past 3 matches and only picking up 2 points in their last 5 matches.
Saturday’s other fixture was a battle at the bottom with Brighton hosting Watford in a massive match for both clubs. Watford scored early only for Brighton to level in the 78th minute via an own goal. Both teams had plenty of chances however neither team could find the decisive winner.
Manchester City and West Ham were scheduled to play on Sunday’s late fixture however weather got in the way as Storm Ciara struck.
In the early kick off, Sheffield United battled back from 1-0 down at home to Bournemouth to win 2-1 and keep their European aspirations alive – moving up to 5th in the table.
Bournemouth are still 16th however have played a game more and are still in big trouble as the final months of the year take place.
Wesley Tronson is an award winning sport writer who spent 7 years in England in soccer and banking. He is now a senior regional manager in banking in Queensland