A Feast Of Christmas Soccer

Peter Anderson ⚽ Season's greetings Quillers.

I hope you all had a good one. I fucking hate Christmas, so I'm chuffed it's all over. Doctor enforced tee-totalism and no kids make for an uneventful Yuletide. After spending two days attending family dos, and spending a small fortune on my nieces and nephews, I absolutely love waking up on Boxing Day and doing sweet F.A. apart from sitting on the sofa, lighting the fire, eating chocolate and desserts, and watching the footy, of course.

The first course was the lunchtime kick off with toffee roulade and heavy cream. Spurs visited Brentford and were taught a lesson in the first half. Into the second period and with Brentford 2-up and cruising, Kane scored a soft one and suddenly Spurs were undeservedly back in the game. With their tails up they forced a second and earned themselves a point. The classic example of 2-nil up not being a winning lead.

Next up was Toon at Leicester, accompanied by a Terry's orange and lashings of hot Italian coffee from my new moka pot. Leicester got their arses handed to them on a plate in the first half. The Toon were 3-nil up in no time, a classic example of a winning lead.The second half was largely a damp squib, well what I saw of it, before a sugar-low doze. Toon look hot. They've lost once in the league this season and that was to a Liverpool winner in the last minute of added time. They look nailed on for top four if they can keep the form going. Leicester, on the other hand, look like they are in a fin-de-siècle.

After cracking open a box of Celebrations for tea, I settled down to watch Aston Villa catch out Liverpool and put an end to their season comeback. I was disappointed. Liverpool took an early lead with a ridiculously good goal. TA-A, standing in the middle of the park, curled a beauty with the outside of his boot inside the full-back and directly into Robertson's path. He crossed the ball to Salah, who did what Salah does, and poked it into an empty net. VvD added a second before half time.

In the second half we saw the downside of TA-A yet again. He failed to clear the ball properly and when the subsequent cross came in, he didn't get close enough to VvD and Watkins had a free header at the back post. It happens every game at Trent's back post! Unfortunately, Liverpool wrapped it up with a third and put themselves into the top six. Nuñez scored another duck. He looks like Raheem Sterling MkII, bags of pace and guile to get himself chances which he rarely takes.

Last up was Arsenal. I love, love, love watching Arsenal. Odegaard is the next De Bruyne and the front line is full of pace and trickery, but they aren't water tight at the back. And West Ham took a 1-nil lead into the break after a Hammer's move carved Arsenal open. In the second half Odegaard got to work and the front three youngsters provided the finishes to send Arsenal seven points clear. Another stunning comeback and another stunning victory. Can they do it? They certainly deserve it at the mo.

And so, roll on Tuesday so I can get back to my cycling training and more importantly to my boring diet. It is so good to have the EPL back. My day of sugar and football is over for another year.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports