Apologies once again for our hiatus, we’ll be back more regularly from now on! Football may not have a winter break in the UK, but here at 90minutesonline circumstances led us to follow in the footsteps of some of Europe's other top leagues.
Time to catch up on some of the latest action from the Premier League. Snow may have affected a number of matches during the first fortnight of the new year, but barring any more blizzards the fixture list is getting back on track. Wednesday night saw two previously postponed games finally kicking off: Liverpool versus Tottenham and Arsenal versus Bolton.
As fate would have it Arsenal and Bolton were playing for the second time in just three days, following on from the Gunner's 2-0 win at the Reebok stadium on Sunday afternoon. Under the new management of Owen Coyle Bolton were praised by many critics for their football last weekend, and at the Emirates the fans that had hounded Gary Megson's tenure had further cause for optimism.
Considering that a two-goal victory would give them at least a short-term stay at the top of the Premier League, Arsenal started particularly sluggish. Defensive insecurity led to Bolton scoring the opener. It was understandable that Gaël Clichy would be a little rusty after being out since early November, but Arsenal should have been sharper and Gary Cahill took advantage to volley in.
With Arsenal pressing for an equaliser things got even worse for the home side after 28 minutes. Bolton were awarded a clear penalty thanks to a sloppy foul courtesy of Denilson, and Matthew Taylor confidently put Bolton 2-0 ahead. Arsenal then started to show some character and crucially halved the deficit before the half-time whistle. Good work by Fabregas released Tomas Rosicky who then finished with aplomb inside the near post.
The 52nd minute became the key talking point of the match, Mark Davies and William Gallas both going for a 50-50 ball which resulted in Gallas finding Davies' ankle instead. Play continued and whilst Bolton dithered slightly, Arsenal exchanged passes until Fabregas expertly scored from an acute angle.
Whilst it was harsh on Bolton they would do well to remember that you should always play to the whistle. The tackle was bad but there was never any guarantee that the referee or Arsenal players would realise enough to stop play themselves.
From then on Arsenal were in the ascendancy, Bolton continued to show signs of attacking prowess but the momentum had clearly shifted. With 25 minutes to go Arsenal won a corner that was eventually nodded on by Diaby and found Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian defender provided further evidence that he might be an emergency striker in the making, skilfully volleying the ball in after it had moved across his body.
The scoring was rounded off by Andrey Arshavin, the fan favourite was quick with his feet in creating space and stroked in the fourth goal with 5 minutes to go. Thus Arsenal finally had the two-goal win they had craved to lead the Premier League, although only after enduring a difficult evening.
Meanwhile Liverpool and Tottenham were playing at Anfield, with both trying to get one over on the other in the race for fourth place in the league. Spurs fans had good reason for a sense of foreboding about their trip to Liverpool, shockingly Tottenham have failed to win away against the traditional top-four in 65 matches since 1994.
The way Wednesday night started did little to suggest that Tottenham were on the way to breaking that duck either. After a mere 6 minutes Liverpool took the lead, Alberto Aquilani with a rare start created an opening on the edge of the area and Dirk Kuyt found the left corner past Gomes.
Liverpool were in overall control throughout the first half and had opportunities to extend their lead but it stayed 1-0 at half time. Soon after the re-start however Tottenham had every right to feel aggrieved when they had an equaliser ruled out from Defoe. Kyrgiakos and Reina got into a confused mix-up after the Tottenham striker had wandered back onside when he initially hadn't been.
After Defoe had then rolled the ball into the empty net the linesman belatedly raised his flag for the earlier offside decision. The question remains as to what point a player who was offside then becomes legally active in the play again? A matter the FA should try and clarify for sanity's sake.
The reprieve for Liverpool enabled to them focus and they went on to create a host of chances. Riera hit the crossbar with a header and Kuyt failed on more than one occasion to double his tally. Tottenham's manager thought to substitute on Sebastien Bassong with 15 minutes to go but found that the Frenchman wasn't wearing any shorts!
It isn't clear if Bassong eventually entered the game with his own shorts or not, but he did finally appear 5 minutes later than intended. In the dying minutes it was clear that Bassong should have simply stayed in for the day. Ngog had broken through the penalty area and the defender had tumbled him over from behind.
Kuyt scored with his first attempt but was ordered to retake it after encroachment into the area by both sides. With his second he rolled it past Gomes and gladly wrapped up the win for Liverpool that now sees them a point adrift of Tottenham.
Finally, Manchester United and Hull was oddly the only Premier League fixture on Saturday. The game itself was a proverbial cakewalk as United dominated possession and racked up goal-scoring chances. In an unusual combination Rooney was paired up front with Michael Owen.
The partnership certainly worked out better for England's current primary striker, Owen meanwhile was unable to capitalise on his build-up play as chances went astray. The home side took the lead in the eighth minute after Rooney gobbled up a Myhill parry, but despite their superiority and chances it stayed 1-0 until the final 10 minutes.
By this point Berbatov had replaced Owen, but on this occasion the plaudits were all going to be for Rooney who literally leads by example in his current form. In the 82nd,86th and 93rd minutes he plundered three more goals all from within the penalty area to compound a miserable yet predictably bad day at the office for Hull and Phil Brown.
The relegation candidates will certainly be looking ahead for more winnable games, the rest of the season looks like a long grind. The title race ploughs on however, with the top three all looking to catch the initiative there are plenty more twists and turns to come.