Premier League festive period winners and losers
By Jocelyn Taub
Manchester United – 3 wins – 9 points gained – Winners
Jose Mourinho’s side seem to have turned things around. Manchester United was the only other side to win all three of its holiday fixtures.
The Red Devils had a rather soft schedule. They hosted both Sunderland and Middlesbrough at Old Trafford before traveling to London for a meeting with West Ham.
United defeated Sunderland 3-1 with Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s scorpion goal adding gloss to the victory. (Replays showed that Mkhitaryan was offside, but the goal stood).
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Middlesbrough led United by a goal after 85 minutes. The famous victory was not to be. Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba scored in the closing minutes to give United the points.
At the Olympic Stadium Mike Dean played his part in ensuring that United would win. In the 15th minute West Ham’s Sofiane Feghouli appeared to be fouled by United defender Phil Jones. Jones over acted and rolled around as if he had been hit by a Mack truck. This was enough for Dean to issue a red card to Feghouli and leave the Hammers to play 75 minutes with ten men.
West Ham held on for a while but ended up on the losing end. Feghouli’s card was later rescinded but the Red Devils still got all three points.