03-30-2016, 02:53 AM
When that victorious Chelsea side walked off the pitch at the Britannia Stadium on December 22, no one could have dare imagine what was to unfold across the Barclays Premier League over the course of the next 10 days as a crestfallen Chelsea team exited White Hart Lane Thursday signifying the conclusion of the BPL festive season. Nike Juvenate Femme blanche . From the sheer joy for Manchester City as they climbed to the summit, through to the absolute pain for Liverpool as Steven Gerrard announced he would be taking his Anfield bow at seasons end, this has been anything but a holiday for the league which keeps on giving. In this era of constant change, which demands instant success, surprisingly we went into the Boxing Day fixtures with the same cast of managers we had begun the season with. To put this into a clearer perspective, the last time this happened, you have to go all the way back to the 1995-96 season when on January 2, Derby County fired their manager. This time, the axe finally fell off course on Neil Warnock whose Crystal Palace had only managed three victories in the 16 matches the 66-year old Englishman was in charge. The club had seen more than they could take following a Boxing Day reversal at Selhurst Park. No surprise for the London bookies, who had installed Warnock as favourite for the chop. The only surprise was his appointment at Palace in the first place. Warnocks CV includes guiding two of his previous clubs to the horrors of BPL relegation. Victors in southeast London Boxing Day, Southampton rediscovered their BPL mojo over the holidays and to me, were the best performing club over this defining period. The club had gone into the Palace match in a tailspin, managing only a single win in six matches. All that early season guile and promise where Southampton were an unbridled joy to watch as they cemented a position in the top four, had all but vanished come early November. The Saints went marching on over the holidays as they destroyed Palace, were fully deserving of a point against Chelsea and then, on New Years Day, dismantled a rejuvenated Arsenal and in doing so, rightfully restored their position amongst the BPL elite. The two Manchester clubs had gone into the holidays as the two best teams in the league. Following the festive folly, the red half enter the New Year with more questions than answers. Whereas their noisy neighbours reminded us once again why they, unlike no other club in recent seasons, know how to ride the roller coaster ways of the BPL. The current champions were given up as genuine title contenders in November, as a rampant Chelsea opened up a seemingly insurmountable eight-point gap at the top. The only thing that separates the two clubs now is name only. If that scenario of identical records was to present itself at seasons end, it would result in a one-off match to decide the destination of the title. Not sure thats what league CEO Peter Scudamore envisioned when, just a few seasons back, discussing plans for adding that so termed, 39th game of the season. What though can we make of Chelseas Holiday Horribulus? From Invincibles to Invisibles quicker than Mourinho can blame the referees as his over-active mind invents conspiracy theories and anti-Chelsea campaigns are the root and cause that Chelseas procession to the title is in tatters after the thoroughly deserved walloping they took against Tottenham Thursday. Following this weekends traditional BPL break for the FA Cup third round, all the headlines leading into Newcastles visit to Stamford Bridge January 10th will all be about a highly improbable season double. If that comes to be, we can well imagine Mourinho will lay fault with the fixture scheduler. Chelsea have been perfect to date at Stamford Bridge, its their lack of success away from home that has been their undoing. May 24 is when we will really discover how vital Frank Lampards New Years Day winner was, let alone how valuable his late equalizer against his old club was back in late September. Fridays hilarious quote from Arsene Wenger that he hasnt yet counted out his club from being title contenders from a position of 13 points back almost tops the classic bon mots from Louis Van Gaal following Manchester Uniteds scoreless draw at White Hart Lane on December 28. The Dutchman described the second half against Spurs as a struggle for life, his way of criticizing the league for scheduling matches 48 hours apart, something UEFA and FIFA would not ever allow he reminded us. Welcome to England, Louis. If LVG is struggling to understand why his team that had ￡150m [$275m] lavished on it in the summer only managed to collect five of the nine holiday points on offer, which included a mighty fortunate draw with Stoke Thursday, I suggest the greatest thing to happen to Manchester since the Smiths texts his opposite number at Burnley, Sean Dyche. The budget for Manchester Uniteds Christmas Party likely dwarfed the entire transfer budget handed to Dyche last spring following Burnleys promotion. Yet, here was a team that followed up Boxing Days underserved home reversal against Liverpool with that now famous fight back at the Etihad some 48 hours after trudging off the Turf Moor pitch. Down by two goals to a rampant Manchester City at halftime, through sheer will and determination, Burnley not only salvaged a point, it was they in the closing minutes who seemed the team more likely to find the winner. The only conclusion to be drawn is that 48 hours in Manchester must have flown by in a New York minute for Van Gaal. Which leads us rather aptly into one of the biggest headlines over the festive season, the confirmation on New Years Eve that Frank Lampards stay at the Etihad was extended through the end of the season; even longer perhaps if Manuel Pellegrini gets his way which is sure to ruffle more stateside feathers. This, though, pails into complete insignificance with the news on Liverpools website less than 24 hours later of Steven Gerrards Anfield departure come seasons end. As much disagreement and debate abounds on who has been the best foreigner in history to grace the English Premier League, there is no doubt on who is the greatest ever player in league history not to win a title. At least on two occasions, the native Liverpudlian spurned highly lucrative offers to leave a club he joined as a youth player in 1987 in search of adding more trophies to his personal collection. Steven Gerrards real place and impact at and for Liverpool will only truly be known years after he finally hangs up his BPL boots, which will happen May 24 when Liverpool visit Stoke. Most poignantly, 24 hours later, the five-time European Champions celebrate the 10th anniversary of Istanbul - one of the most remarkable of improbable achievements in the entire 150-year history of the beautiful game. Surely no one, not even the self-ordained Special 1, would begrudge Gerrard or his club a place at this seasons FA Cup Final on May 30 and in doing so, allow the curtain to drop on Gerrards Liverpool career at the venue of so many triumphs for his club through their history. Wembley Stadium truly is Liverpools second home. Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter Nike Juvenate Femme pas cher . -- Nick Bjugstad snapped out of his scoring slump and spoiled Drew MacIntyres first NHL start. Nike Roshe One Print Floral . Chelsea earned its biggest league victory under Jose Mourinho after the leaders raced into a 2-0 lead in just seven minutes through goals from Samuel Etoo and Andre Schuerrle. "You come to kill and in 10 minutes we destroyed," Mourinho said.TAMPA, Fla. -- Sami Salo joked that as the shootout went on and on, one thing went through his mind: "Youve got to tie up your skates. I might get a chance." The 15-year NHL defenceman made the most of a rare shootout opportunity, scoring in the 13th round to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. "It just happened to go in," said Salo of his first successful shootout goal, coming in his third ever attempt. "It was obviously good for us. Its a good feeling." The shootout was tied at 4 through 12 rounds before Salo put a backhander past Evgeni Nabokov. Ben Bishop preserved the win by making a glove save on Johan Sundstrom. Ryan Callahan had two goals for the Lightning, who trail Montreal by two points for second place in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay, 6-0-4 in its last 10 games, has two games in hand on the Canadiens. "First and foremost, we got two points," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "So, thats what we need out of the game. Were going to have to do better than that. Give the Islanders some credit, they played really hard. Definitely, there were positives in the game, but as a whole, were a better 5-on-5 team than we showed tonight." The Islanders, out of the playoff race, got goals from Ryan Strome and Matt Donovan. Right wing Kyle Okposo, who has a team-best 27 goals and 69 points, was a late scratch due to a lower body injury. "We are trying to play hard at this point of the season, andd were trying to get better each and every day," Islanders defenceman Travis Hamonic said. Nike Roshe One Flyknit Homme noir. "I thought we played a pretty good game." All three games between the teams this season were decided in a shootout, with the road team winning the first two. "I dont mind them when were winning," Callahan said. "When you lose them, you hate them." Callahan pulled the Lightning even at 2 on his second goal of the game, coming on a rebound 5:50 into the third. "We didnt have our best game, but really willed a way to win," Bishop said. Donovan put the Islanders up 2-1 while lunging forward in the slot at 9:17 of the second. It ended the defencemans 39-game goal drought. After Callahan redirected Radko Gudas shot past Nabokov just 29 seconds into the second, Strome put a shot past Bishop to tie it at 1 at 1:33. New York had a short-handed goal by Hamonic from centre ice waved off due to an offside call in the second. Hamonic stole Bishops errant long-range pass from the corner and put the puck into the vacated net. The Islanders failed to score during a 5-on-3 power play early in the third. Tampa Bay came up empty on a power play that covered the final 69 seconds of overtime. NOTES: Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula had an assist to extend his point streak (10 assists, 14 points) to 10 games. ... The Islanders recalled forward John Persson on an emergency basis from Bridgeport of the AHL. Persson, selected in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, made his NHL debut. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '