Boxing Day misery for United; Chelsea held by Watford; Man city cruise past struggling Sunderland

A compelling boxing day kicked off at the Britannia Stadium with Stoke hosting Manchester United.

Eyebrows were raised after Wayne Rooney was left out of the srarting eleven, with the manager citing ‘tactical reasons’. Stoke City opened the scoring after a school boy error by Memphis Depay, who attempted to head the ball to David De Gea to take hold off, but it barely got anything behind it as Glen Johnson pounced on the loose ball and played it square to Bojan, who it into the back of the net.
Mark Hughes’ side doubled their lead after Bojan’s free-kick fell into the path of Marko Arnautovic and the Austrian thumped home a shot from 25 yards, past the hapless De Gea.

Wayne Rooney was introduced after half time replacing Depay and made an immediate impact on proceedings as his side showed more urgency and commitment.

They came closest to scoring when Rooney cleverly turned and left Philip Wollscheid back peddling as the England skipper played the ball to Marouane Fellaini, whose shot was brilliantly saved by Jack Butland. Manchester United have now lost 3 games on the trot in the PL and Louis Van Gaal’s future is under severe scrutiny and it is believed among several sources that the game against Chelsea a fortnight later might be his last if his side is unable add points on their tally.

Guus Hiddink took charge of Chelsea for the first time in his second spell at the London club, against a resurgent Watford. The Blues took the lead in the 32^nd minute after Willian’s out swinging corner was headed on by John Terry into the path of Diego Costa, who smashed it home to give Chelsea the lead. Watford, however, managed to bounce back after Nemanja Matic handled the ball from a corner, in attempt to clear it, and the away side were awarded a spot kick, Troy Deeney stepped up to take the same and slotted it home, as the sides went into half time with a goal apiece. Quique Sanchez Flores’ side took the lead in the 56^th minute, when Abdi passed it to Odion Ighalo who was face to face with Gary Cahill and the Nigerian’s shot took a big deflection off the English defender leaving Thibaut Courtois in no man’s land, as the visitors took the lead.

Guus Hiddink’s side made matters level in the 65^th minute thanks to a scintillating pass by Willian from the right flank towards Diego Costa who went around the goalkeeper and placed it into the empty net. Chelsea had the chance to complete a comeback, after the hosts received a penalty as Eden Hazard was brought down clumsily in the box by Valon Behrami. Oscar stepped up to take the spot-kick and skied it much to the dismay of Chelsea fans and manager. The game ended all square and winning a point against an in-form side, is a good sign for Guus Hiddink.

Manchester city came into this game having lost their last premier league outing against Arsenal and were looking to make amends against Sunderland. It took the citizens merely 12 minutes to open the scoring as Kevin De Bruyne received the ball on the far right hand side through an over hit cross by Aleksandar Kolarov and the Belgian crossed it into a dangerous area, as the unlikely Raheem Sterling headed it home past Costel Pantilimon. Yaya Toure doubled City’s lead when he used his bag of tricks to create some space for himself and rifled his left-footed shot past the helpless Pantilimon.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men scored their third before the half hour mark thanks to De Bruyne’s fierce out swinging free kick which was robustly headed by Wilfred Bony. City were cruising and causing the Black Cats all sorts of problems and when De Bruyne attempted pass to Wilfred Bony was intercepted by Sebastian Coates, it bounced off the Uruguayan and towards the Belgian who had just the goalkeeper to beat and finished with ease to make it 4-0.

Sam Allardyce’s men got a consolation goal, when Lee Cattermole’s feeble attempt at goal fell kindly towards Fabio Borini at the far post, whose initial shot was saved by Joe Hart but it came back to the Italian, who made no mistake on the rebound. Wilfred Bony had a chance from the spot kick to revive his side’s 4 goal advantage but squandered it as he sent his penalty into the sky. The win sees the Citizens only one point shy of Arsenal in second place and three of Leicester in first as both, Leicester and Arsenal lost their Boxing Day games.

• About the Author

About Sahil Bhinde

"I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football! I'm not mad, I'm just passionate," said by one of the legends of the game, Thierry Henry, apt description for Sahil Bhinde. Aside from being a football admirer since a very young age, the 17 year old is pretty fond of British rock bands, Oasis, Beatles, Radiohead to name a few. All opinions are his own.