There was absolutely no indication of Christmas cheers and goodwill across the English professional football setup on Boxing Day where match officials had the busiest of outings compared to club players and managers. A shameful record number of red cards were on display across the four league divisions of England. In the country’s top most tier, the Premiership, there were five red-cards on show with two of the sending-offs being due to the dreaded two footed challenges. It is surprising to see that professional players are failing to heed the warnings of officials not to indulge on these career-destroying tackles. May be the competitiveness and rigours of the Premiership are taking a toll on the players’ tackling mentalities. It is upto the respective clubs, now, to set the standards of fair play and introduce tough measures to rein down on ill-tempered behaviours.
Coming back to the business of proper football, Boxing Day, 2007, got off to an enthralling start as title-contenders Chelsea were held to a sensational 4-4 draw by a thrilling Aston Villa side. The Blues went two goals down at Stamford Bridge early on in the first half courtesy of a Shaun Maloney double (one of the goals was due to a Petr Cech horror mistake) and the Midlands side deserved their lead. But Zat Knight’s dismissal just before the half-time and Andriy Shevchenko’s goal from the resulting spot-kick turned the match around with further two goals in the second-half from Shevchenko and Alex. But Martin O’Neil’s Villa kept on pushing and equalised via a Martin Laursen close-ranger from a free-kick. Ricardo Carvalho was sent-off for Chelsea following a desperate two-footed lunge but an expert free-kick from Michael Ballack seemed to have won the match for Chelsea only for a harsh decision to send-off Ashley Cole for handling the ball inside the penalty area denied Avram Grant’s team all three points as Villa skipper Gareth Barry coolly tucked away the the penalty deep into injury time to share a well-deserved point.
But defending champions Manchester United went top of the table after beating struggling Sunderland 4-0, thanks to a remarkable first-half. Roy Keane’s team started the match well but Wayne Rooney set the tone of the evening with a classic finish and Louis Saha and Christiano Ronaldo adding two more goals in a largely one-sided first half. United completed the stroll with a further strike from Louis Saha late in the match. The win and Arsenal’s disappointing goalless draw away to Portsmouth meant United go ahead of the Gunners in the league table separated by just one point.
Source Link: Dailymail
