Walter Smith’s Rangers side annihilated Dundee United at Ibrox with Kris Boyd scoring a remarkable five goals and this was with the table toppers being reduced to ten men for almost half the match.
The win takes Rangers seven points clear at the top of the table ahead of the Old Firm derby in a few days time.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United side were in imperious mood at Old Trafford as they tore apart a hapless Wigan side in this festive fixture. Once again Wayne Rooney was in fine form scoring the first with a nice finish.
Manchester United ran riot from that point onwards and goals from Michael Carrick, Rafael and Dimitar Berbatov saw them four up after 50 minutes. Luis Antonio Valencia put away a fifth to cap a fine individual performance from the Ecuadorian again his former employers.
The win puts Manchester United just two points off Chelsea at the top of the table and keeps them ahead of resurgent Arsenal.
Arsenal placed yet more pressure on crisis hit Portsmouth with a very convincing win away at Fratton Park. The Emirates side found themselves two up at the break thanks to goals from Eduardo and Samir Nasri at which point the Gunners took their foot off the pedal a little. Aaron Ramsey added magnificent third midway through the second half to truly end the game as a contest before Nadir Belhadj netted a consolation goal for Pompey.
Alex Song then scored a rare goal to put Arsenal 4-1 up.
This will puts Arsenal in a great position to further attack top two Man United and Chelsea and gives Arsene Wenger three wins from three ahead of two successive home matches that the north London side will believe they should win comfortably.
Maybe the force is strong in this one or perhaps after the best part of seven decades as a top notch keeper David James can now save shots at high speeds without the need for eyesight in much the same way as Moles have evolved to suit their darkened environments. Check it out!
What a game! London Road was treated to an eight goal thriller as promotion chasing Cardiff City rushed into a four goal half time lead only to see the Posh come back from the dead and scored two goals in the last two minutes to see the game leveled.
Two goals from Hull City midfielder Stephen Hunt put yet more pressure on under fire Bolton boss Gary Megson. Having moved into a seemingly unassailable lead through Bolton strikers Kevin Davies and Ivan Klasnic the Reebok crowd were annoyed by the manager’s decision to withdraw the Croatian international just after Hunt scored the first of his brace. The decision left the home side trying to play out the game and hoping to cling on to a result rather than trying to put the emphasis on attack, it was a decision that back fired and handed the visitors a crucial point in this relegation battle.
Aston Villa and Liverpool appeared to be playing out a draw at Villa Park as both sides failed to convert the chances to clinch all three points in this top four chase until Fernando Torres popped up with a late winner.
Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina pulled off the save of the match as Stewart Downing failed to find the back of the net from close range. Liverpool had the most of the chances and put on a great deal of pressure on the Villa back four and finally made that pressure tell as Fernando Torres scored a crucial late winner.
The Spaniard secured his 50th league goal for the Anfield outfit after a Stephen Warnock gifted Liverpool a chance that Torres lethally put away.