From the evening of December 30 to the early morning of December 31, Beijing time, the Premier League opened the first round of the second half of the competition, and the three giants of Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City appeared one after another.
Luton Town 2-3 Chelsea
Chelsea, which has lost 4 consecutive away games, finally met a "soft persimmon". Although it is also a London derby, promoted Madrid Luton Town is still in the relegation zone and is worth only 100 million, while Chelsea is as high as 980 million.
After the opening kick-off, Chelsea showed a clear advantage in quality, with seven shots on goal and six on target throughout the first half. Luton had 5 shots on goal and 0 on target, so there was too much difference in their finishing skills.
In the 12th minute, Palmer's powerful shot from outside the box gave Chelsea the lead, and the Blues saw a chance of victory.
Chelsea doubled their lead in the 37th minute when Palmer provided the assist and Madueke fired home from a tight angle after a series of feints.
Jueke was in fine form, netting in two games in a row, while veteran Blues Palmer also had a good finish.
In the second half, Luton Town stepped up their attack, but it was still inefficient. In the 70th minute, Palmer received a wonderful pass from Jackson and scored twice.
Mauricio Pochettino was starting to get nervous in the final 10 minutes as veteran Ross Barkley netted and Bam Adebayor pulled one back.
In the end, Chelsea won 3-2 away at Luton Town to make it their second back-to-back win of the season and remain 10th despite the rebound.
Manchester City 2-0 Sheffield United
Sheffield United's total value is only 145 million, and they only scored 9 points in 19 rounds, firmly in the position of deputy squad leader. Although the situation of the team has improved after the change of manager, it is still too far from relegation.
Manchester City have returned to winning ways by winning the Club World Cup after a slump of one win in six games, and have won three in a row in all competitions.
At home against Sheffield United, Manchester City directly showed a crushing trend. In the 14th minute, Foden went down to the ground to provide an assist, and Rodri fired home with a powerful shot.
In the first 40 minutes of the first half, Sheffield United didn't even have a single shot on goal and made fewer than 100 passes.
After the start of the second half, Manchester City continued to attack. In the 60th minute, after a series of dazzling combinations, Foden assisted twice, and Alvarez slotted the ball into the empty net.
For the remainder of the game, City remained firmly in control, making more than 1,000 passes. In the end, Manchester City comfortably beat Sheffield United 2-0 to make it four wins in a row in all competitions.
With the victory in this game, Manchester City's real-time points once came to second place, but unfortunately Villa beat Burnley in the 89th minute, and Manchester City could only temporarily rank third.
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Manchester United
In the last round, Manchester United reversed Villa at home, and Ten Hag once again gained the "right to breathe". Away at Nottingham Forest, who have won their last 11 meetings, United played almost disorganized in the first half, with Antony continuing to circle down the right.
In the entire first half, United had only one shot on goal, and it was still Aaron Wan-Bissaka's unthreatening long-range shot, while Nottingham Forest had six shots on goal and zero shots on target, and there were also few chances.
Diogo Dalot's shot hit the post early in the second half and United came close to taking the lead. However, in the 64th minute, the Red Devils' backline was once again leaky, with Dominguez comfortably slotting home from near the penalty spot, leaving the Reds at the back line unresponsive.
In the 78th minute, Garnacho's positivity saved Ten Hag again.
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Turner misplaced the ball, Garnacho provided an assist after a steal, and Marcus Rashford's goal brought the two teams back to the same page.
In the 82nd minute, the door opened wide in front of the United penalty area, and Elanga assisted White's goal to give Forest the lead again.
In the end, Manchester United lost 1-2 away to Forest and remained in seventh place. It was also the first defeat to Nottingham Forest in United's Premier League history (after eight wins in a row), and Ten Hag led the team to a record of humiliation in 31 years.
In addition, in the other game of this round, Aston Villa completed a stunner in the 89th minute with a 11-10 situation, and won 3-2 against promoted Burnley. With this victory, the big dark horse Villa has tied the points of Liverpool at the top of the table, temporarily ranking second, squeezing Manchester City into third place.