After a few choice words from Sir Alex Ferguson during the week, Manchester United looked more like their old scary selves as they beat Ipswich 2-0 at Old Trafford today. They were vastly improved from the side which stuttered to defeat against Liverpool last weekend and in the first half they simply blew Ipswich away.
And so much for their supposed striker crisis as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – their only available first-team forward - scored twice in that period to win the match. After being starved of the ball against Liverpool last Sunday, Solskjaer demonstrated yet again how lethal he can be with proper service. Solskjaer applied two fine finishes as the champions atoned for that defeat against Liverpool to re-establish their eight-point lead in the title race.
Aston Villa's unsettled skipper Gareth Southgate returned to Elland Road to haunt Leeds again as boss John Gregory's side finally ended their five-match winless streak with a 2-1 victory. Not even the introduction of Robbie Keane 22 minutes from time prevented Leeds from suffering their third defeat in four matches as their Champions League hopes took another battering.
Instead, Keane spurned a late chance to equalise and it led to Villa's decisive second goal in the 88th minute as George Boateng finally broke his duck for the season. Jonathan Woodgate's injury-time header was nothing more than a consolation, and instead it was another centre-back in Southgate who proved to be the hero at a ground where he must wish he could play every week.
Makeshift striker Don Hutchison scored the solitary goal that fired Sunderland to their 50th victory in 75 games at the Stadium of Light to fend off Manchester City's determined challenge. The former Everton midfielder struck with a quickly-taken free-kick just 19 minutes into a fiercely contested game that could have gone either way as both sides squandered chances.
Sunderland will be delighted to have got back to winning ways after two successive defeats, but Joe Royle's men left knowing that with a little more composure they could have got something out of the game.
Deon Burton ensured a glorious Christmas Day for resurgent Derby as his 73rd minute goal sealed his side's 2-0 win over sad Newcastle at Pride Park today. Burton converted Craig Burley's right wing cross to seal the points and take his side further away from the relegation zone.
Horacio Carbonari had given Derby the half-time lead with a right-foot drive from another Burley cross. Bobby Robson's Newcastle were outplayed and Alan Shearer's best chance was a 26th-minute header which flew over the bar.
At Filbert Street Robbie Savage was again the chief thorn in West Ham's side with a second-half winner as Leicester won 2-1 and moved level on points with second-placed Arsenal. The shaggy-haired Welsh international had grabbed a winner at Upton Park back in August. And he again came up trumps to end West Ham's eight-match unbeaten run which had stretched back to mid-October.
Mathias Svensson's second goal of the season halted Charlton's slide down the table and left Everton hanging precariously above the relegation zone. Svensson headed home Claus Jensen's eighth-minute corner as the Addicks dominated the first half to set up their first win in five games.
And although Duncan Ferguson made his first appearance for four months as a second half substitute and Idan Tal hit an upright, the visitors could not find an equaliser and have now taken just one point from their last four games.
Terry Venables walked away from his first visit to White Hart Lane with another precious point to aid Middlesbrough's Premiership survival fight. But all the build-up to the first Tottenham game since chairman Sir Alan Sugar handed over to new owners only resulted in a big fat zero, the game ending scoreless. Spurs huffed and puffed in the familiar style which has failed to endear their former Arsenal manager to the fans.
And although they had little luck in their bid to send a former and far more popular boss away empty-handed they seldom looked like breaking down some resolute Boro defending.
A splendid individual goal from Sam Dalla Bona ensured Chelsea kept their European qualification hopes alive, beating struggling Bradford City 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. The teenage Italian midfielder sealed the three points with his 67th-minute solo effort after Gus Poyet had steered a loose ball home in the first half.
Eidur Gudjohnsen rounded off a good day's work with a third in the dying seconds, curling in from a tight angle after Gary Walsh had saved his initial strike. Bradford came closest to pulling a goal back through Dean Windass, who had a volley ruled out for offside and a late header cleared off the line.
Filed by Seán Folan
