In the early morning of December 24, Beijing time, when the Bundesliga, French Ligue 1 and La Liga entered the Christmas holiday, the Premier League and Serie A started the Christmas schedule; Liverpool and Arsenal drew 1:1 in the battle of the Premier League Tianwangshan; Manchester United suffered another defeat, and Ten Hag's position was in danger again. In Serie A, Inter Milan easily won Lecce, while Jose Mourinho's Roma won the European quota battle with Napoli.
Liverpool 1:1 Arsenal
The focus of this round of the Premier League is naturally a direct contest between Liverpool and Arsenal, the two teams are only 1 point apart in the standings before the game; looking at the data of the whole game, the two teams are 13-13 shots on goal, the possession rate is 51%-49%, the pass success rate is 81%, the number of passes is 438-418, the foul is 13-14, and the clearance is 18-22, and the two sides can be said to be evenly matched. The score also reflected the situation of the two teams very well, in the opening 4 minutes, Odegaard used a set-piece to assist Gabriel to get a dream start, and then the two teams launched an attack back and forth.
In the 29th minute, Alexander-Arnold made a long pass from the backfield, and Salah singled out Zinchenko to equalize the score with a strong shot, 1:1! Salah has scored 12 goals and 7 assists in the Premier League this season, making him the player with the most goals in the Premier League this season. Liverpool had the advantage in the second half, but in the 70th and 72nd minutes, Elliott and Alexander-Arnold both hit the woodwork, Liverpool missed a big chance, and the focus of the clash ended in a draw.
After this campaign, Arsenal remain at the top of the Premier League with 40 points, followed by Liverpool with one point, so that Arsenal will be the Premier League "Christmas champion" on Christmas Day. This is also the fourth time in Arsenal's history that they have won the Premier League Christmas title, and it is worth mentioning that the Gunners have failed to win the title on three previous occasions, in 2002-03 (in second place), in 2007-08 (in third place) and in 2022-23 (in second place), and it is unclear whether Arteta will be able to complete this curse this season.
West Ham 2:0 Manchester United
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are all vying for the league title, but Manchester United are getting further and further away from a Champions League spot, and the Red Devils have been beaten away to West Ham side led by their predecessor David Moyes. United had few chances in the game, with the exception of Garnacho, who had two chances in the first half, when West Ham opened the scoring in the 72nd minute through Bowen and in the 78th minute, Maynu missed the ball in the middle circle and Paquel set up Kudus to kill the suspense of the game. The defeat puts United on a four-game winless run without scoring a single goal for the first time in 29 years, and the Reds have dropped to eighth, 12 points behind leaders Arsenal and eight points behind Champions League runners Tottenham.
Inter 2:0 Lecce
Inter, who were unexpectedly knocked out of the Coppa Italia in midweek, did not let the upset happen again in this round, facing the middle and lower teams Lecce, the two new signings Bisek and Arnautovic had good performances, Bisek received a set-piece assist from Calhaoğlu before the end of the first half, and looked back to score his first goal in Serie A. Arnautovic assisted Barella with a clever back-heel pass in the second half to seal the victory, and after winning three points, Inter Milan won four consecutive league games, still four points ahead of second-placed Juventus. At the same time, the city's rival AC Milan was forced to draw by Salernitana at the bottom of the round, and the gap between the two sides has come to 11 points!
Rome 2:0 Naples
The two teams were not far away from the Champions League zone before the game, and it can be said that whoever wins can get closer to the Champions League zone, and in the first half, the two teams did not have many chances, Napoli had 6% possession and few shots on goal, and Roma missed the bull's-eye with 6 shots. The turning point came in the 66th minute of the second half, when Politano was dragged and deliberately retaliated for bringing down Zalewski, only to be sent off the field with a red card, and Mourinho immediately made substitutions to strengthen the attack. In the 76th minute, Celik's cross from the right side, Azmoun successfully turned his back to protect the ball, Shaarawy followed up with a kick, and Pellegrini turned and hooked to break the deadlock.
In the 85th minute, Osimhen was also sent off for a second yellow card for a tactical foul, leaving Napoli with only nine men to play, and in the sixth minute of stoppage time, Lukaku received a pass from Ndicka and fired a powerful shot to seal the victory for Roma. Roma beat off Napoli for the first time in four years and are back in sixth place in the table, just three points away from fourth-placed Bologna.