Amen. The Premiership Goal Drought Is Over

Maybe it’s those tired legs or managers realizing that they have to score goals in order to win matches. Or maybe it’s the leaky defenses? Whatever it is, it’s working. In the Premiership from December 23rd 2006 until January 1, 2007, we’ve seen 109 goals which is an average of 2.94 goals per match. Take that Bill Edgar!Earlier in the season, the average had been 2.14 goals per match compared with 2.75 in the Bundesliga and 2.5 in Serie A.After Tuesday’s Arsenal v Charlton and Aston Villa v Chelsea matches end, the season of holiday fixtures for the Premiership is over and what an entertaining one it has been.I’ve already commented on how entertaining Saturday’s matches were (and how about the level of noise generated by the Sheffield United supporters at Bramall Lane after that huge win against Arsenal?).But the matches on New Year’s Day were also extremely entertaining. Liverpool’s match against Bolton could have gone either way until Peter Crouch’s brilliance made the difference (how much longer will he be wearing a Liverpool shirt?). The Portsmouth against Spurs match on Setanta Sports was pretty thrilling at times with a draw being a fair result for both sides.And David Edgar from Kitchener, Ontario becomes an overnight superstar by scoring Newcastle’s shocking equalizer against Manchester United to settle the match at 2-2. Man United will be kicking themselves for not increasing the score when they were 2-1 up and were controlling Newcastle.At 2-1 to Man United, the Red Devils were on the brink of being nine points ahead of Chelsea. Now after the draw, the gap is seven points and if Chelsea can beat Villa tomorrow, we’ll be back to a four point gap again. Some are predicting that Villa can beat Chelsea, but I’m anticipating seeing Chelsea be victorious in this match after getting their backsides kicked in public by Jose Mourinho.