Boxing Day Presents the Gift of Goals
Aside from the three postponements that shortened the Premier League's Boxing Day slate considerably, there was another prevailing theme on Sunday: the gift of goals.
Between a nine-goal thriller at the Etihad and a pair of lopsided routs won by North London's two powers, the Boxing Day slate did not disappoint from an entertainment standpoint. Man City's 6–3 win over Leicester City was, according to Opta, the highest-scoring Boxing Day match of the Premier League era and the highest scoring Dec. 26 game in England's top flight since Man United's 1991 win over Oldham by the same scoreline. That accounted for a good chunk of the 22 goals scored in the day's reworked, four-match opening window—matches planned for earlier in the day were called off amid the resurgent coronavirus outbreaks at multiple clubs (Liverpool-Leeds, Wolves-Watford and Burnley-Everton had their holiday fixtures pushed to a yet-to-be-determined date).
Here's a closer look at an affair that turned into a game-of-the-season contender and the other key points from an exhilarating day across the Premier League:
Imago Images (3)
Man City Runs Away, Then Holds On
After 25 minutes, Manchester City was leading Leicester 4–0 at the Etihad and was seemingly on its way to three of its most comfortable points of the season. Two penalties certainly helped, but it was all shaping up to be a day of ease for Pep Guardiola's side. But ex-City forward Kelechi Iheanacho spearheaded a comeback effort that, while ultimately coming up short, injected some immediate life into what will go down as one of the more memorable matches of the season.
In a 10-minute span, Iheanacho assisted on two goals and scored one of his own, making what was a rout into a one-goal game—at least for four minutes. Aymeric Laporte's header off a corner kick restored the order for the hosts, before Raheem Sterling's 87th-minute insurance strike took care of business.
In his immediate assessment of the match, Guardiola said, "We were lucky at the end with set pieces we could score the fifth and the sixth goals, otherwise sure there would have been problems at the end, because football is over when it's over and against good teams like Leicester with the quality they have, anything can happen."
"Anything" very nearly did happen, but instead for City it's a day when it padded its lead atop the table, and with Liverpool having its Boxing Day match called off, it's assured of moving forward with a six-point edge.
North London's Rebirth
Tottenham and Arsenal both won comfortably, reinforcing their respective turnarounds with Spurs' 3–0 win over Crystal Palace and the Gunners' 5–0 thrashing of Norwich City.
There are caveats to both victories, surely. Crystal Palace attempted to get the match vs. Tottenham called off on account of COVID-19, with manager Patrick Vieira among those missing out, while last-place Norwich, frankly, is dreadful. But the points all count the same, and Arsenal, with four wins on the bounce, remains a top-four side, while Tottenham, with three games in hand on the Gunners, sits six points back provisionally in fifth place. West Ham's 3–2 defeat to Southampton Sunday put a further dent in the Hammers' bid to crack the Champions League places, while cracking the door open for Spurs to creep back in. The imbalance of matches played due to the COVID-19-related cancellations makes for a bit of a misleading table, but there's no denying the surge in form for both rivals. Tottenham remains unbeaten in the Premier League under Antonio Conte (4–0–2), with multiple goals scored in every game since his 0–0 debut at Everton, while Mikel Arteta, two years to the day from his first match in charge at Arsenal, has his group buzzing.
"In this festive period you have to keep the focus and the performance level really high against a team that here against top teams they've done really well even if they didn't win," Arteta said. "And I think today we had great performance, scored some great goals and a big away win."
The way things are shaping up, the derby between the clubs once the short Premier League winter break is over in mid-January could wind up having more competitive stakes than it has in quite some time.
Harry Kane, Boxing Day King
This has been far from Harry Kane's most prolific season with Tottenham. The English star, who attempted to maneuver a way out of Tottenham over the summer, has just three goals on the season, and a fourth golden boot in nine seasons would be miraculous at this juncture (Mohamed Salah leads the league with 15 goals). But with goals in two straight games, perhaps Kane is rounding into form, and it helps that Boxing Day is absolutely his day to shine.
Kane has now scored in all six of his Boxing Day appearances, good for the longest scoring streak in Premier League history (he already held the mark with five). He also tied Robbie Fowler for the most goals in Premier League history on the holiday after the ninth Boxing Day goal of his career. Kane also drew level with Fowler for second-most goals during the festive period (defined by the Premier League as Dec. 26-Jan. 4), with their 18 trailing only Alan Shearer's 23. Considering the run of fixtures Tottenham has after the festive season ends (Arsenal, at Chelsea, at Man City and at Man United among its following eight matches), Conte and Spurs would certainly benefit from a Kane that's firing on all cylinders.
Lukaku Brings Chelsea to Life
Kane wasn't the only forward in need of a jolt. Romelu Lukaku hadn't scored in Premier League play since Sept. 11, when he notched a double against Aston Villa. Thrust into the Sunday's rematch vs. Villa off the bench—Lukaku was returning after missing time due to COVID-19, but manager Thomas Tuchel indicated he wasn't ready to go 90 minutes just yet—he was the difference maker yet again.
His header gave Chelsea the lead, before his hustle to win the ball and direct dribble toward goal drew the penalty that put the result to bed.
Given what Chelsea has had to try out while dealing with injuries and COVID-19-related absences—including trotting U.S. star Christian Pulisic out as a false nine—having a reliable center forward like Lukaku to bring it all together would go a long way in reinforcing the club as a title contender along with Man City and Liverpool.
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