The traditional football holiday round was marked by pandemic adversities after three canceled games due to numerous corona failures and the briefly positive coaches Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa) and Patrick Vieira (Crystal Palace).
League leaders Manchester City defeated Leicester 6: 3 after a splendid start and an intermittent sag. The champions were already 4-0 up after 25 minutes, but then took it too easy after an outstanding first half. So the guests came up to 3: 4 after the break up to the 65th minute, but the hosts’ fifth goal brought the preliminary decision a little later. The final score was fixed in the final phase by Raheem Sterling, who appeared as the only double goal scorer.
Coach Ralph Hasenhüttl celebrated a 3-2 win at West Ham with Southampton. Fourth in the table, Arsenal, knocked Norwich off 5-0 away, with Bukayo Saka scoring twice. Tottenham showed no nakedness at home against Crystal Palace 3-0.
The Boxing Day games Liverpool against Leeds and Burnley against Everton had already been canceled on Thursday due to too many Corona cases in the ranks of the visiting teams. The duel Wolverhampton against Watford had to be canceled a day later. Today (9 p.m., Sky) the final game of the round is scheduled with Newcastle against Manchester United.
In the next one, which starts on Tuesday, a game with Leeds against Aston Villa will be canceled for the time being. If things continue in a similar way – as is to be feared in view of the infection occurrence – the already tight schedule with numerous supplementary matches becomes even stronger.
Source: Nachrichten
